How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

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nooby
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#31 Post by nooby »

I planned to use it on that Asus but have not decided yet.
I have to find out which linux that uses grub2 that have
least impact on the SD harddrive. The machine is from 2008
so if it has been used much during all these years with the built
in Xandros then who knows how well the SD is now after such
extensive usage? So just now I have only their grub legacy
the original boot where I added puppy.
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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jason.b.c
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Re: bootin on old pc without usb support?

#32 Post by jason.b.c »

rcrsn51 wrote:
pacer106 wrote:does this method of booting from a usb flash stick work on a pc that does not support booting from a usb device?
No. If the BIOS does not support booting from USB, it doesn't matter which bootloader you pick.

http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/download.html
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jrb
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#33 Post by jrb »

Thanks again rcrsn51!

I gave this a try last night and it worked beautifully with Ubuntu 10.10. :D Can't say I was anymore impressed with Ubuntu than the last time I tried it several years ago but its nice to have such a painless way to see how it interacts with Puppy.

Has anyone come up with a grub.conf entry for Ubuntu 11.04?

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rcrsn51
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#34 Post by rcrsn51 »

The first post now has instructions for setting up persistent storage when running Ubuntu off a flash drive or Live CD.

nooby
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#35 Post by nooby »

rcrsn51 wrote:The first post now has instructions for setting up persistent storage when running Ubuntu off a flash drive or Live CD.
Jay thanks indeed.

May I ask about this part?
3. Give the ISO file the generic name "ubuntu.iso".
I guess that explains why some of my entries refuse to be visible.

What is it about grub2 or this version? that require it to be generic names
for to be visible?

Can one change something that allow them to be visible and bootable?
I will try the grub4dos thing tomorrow and maybe the grub2 thing Friday.
Unless that is the get the bike together day :) Spring will come sooner or later.
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nooby
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#36 Post by nooby »

I wonder about this part.
8. Once Ubuntu starts, go to System > Administration > Users and Groups

9. Create a new user. Under Account Type, make it an Administrator. However, you will still have to use "sudo" to perform admin tasks!

10. Go to System > Administration > Login Screen. Click Unlock and set the login screen as desired.

11. Reboot.
Edit. May I guess that for to be able to save things I need to be a real user
and when I boot then I am still a "Live User" and they are not supposed
to save anything?

So buy logging in as Admin then it knows that it shall save changes?
10. Go to System > Administration > Login Screen. Click Unlock and set the login screen as desired.
What is that about? Okay I have to test it. Now it remember some things and not other things I am booted in LM12 and it fail to do Swedish kebd

It remember Firefox homepage but not keyboard setkbmap se

As a "live user" LM12 force me to have everything in Swedish instead
of just the keyboard in Swedish.

So maybe being an Admin they would allow me to use our umlaut chars
like åäö

Anyway thanks for all the time and effort you have put into this.
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johnywhy
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#37 Post by johnywhy »

hello

thanks for this very helpful tute.

i'm trying to install a debian derivative, AVLinux, to a USB flash drive.

your great instructions gave me a grub.cfg containing the following.

Code: Select all

menuentry "Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop ISO" {
 loopback loop /ubuntu.iso
 linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/ubuntu.iso noeject noprompt splash --
 initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

menuentry "Linux Mint 10 Gnome ISO" {
 loopback loop /linuxmint10.iso
 linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/mint.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz iso-scan/filename=/linuxmint10.iso noeject noprompt splash --
 initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

menuentry "DBAN ISO" {
 loopback loop /dban.iso
 linux (loop)/DBAN.BZI nuke="dwipe" iso-scan/filename=/dban.iso silent --
} 

menuentry "Tinycore ISO" {
 loopback loop /tinycore.iso
 linux (loop)/boot/bzImage --
 initrd (loop)/boot/tinycore.gz
}

menuentry "Memtest 86+" {
 linux16 /memtest86+.bin
}

menuentry "SystemRescueCd" {
 loopback loop /systemrescuecd.iso
 linux (loop)/isolinux/rescuecd isoloop=/systemrescuecd.iso setkmap=us docache dostartx
 initrd (loop)/isolinux/initram.igz
}
I'm not sure if they are "generic" as you describe, so i'm not sure how to create the AVLinux entry. I tried the following, and i got "kernal not found" on boot:

Code: Select all

menuentry "AVLinux" {
 loopback loop /avlinux.iso
 initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img
}
something tells me i need a line that starts with "linux", but not sure how to write it.

any ideas?

many thanks!
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rcrsn51
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#38 Post by rcrsn51 »

Not all Linuxes can be booted this way. Open the ISO and look at its bootloader components. Can you find any references to GRUB or casper? If not, it probably boots using the conventional isolinux procedure instead. So this method won't work.

nooby
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#39 Post by nooby »

The problem that I encountered where that
some entries got invisible so one could neither
correct any error in the code or look into them
for to spot any error they never showed up at all.

So I gave up on it.
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rcrsn51
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#40 Post by rcrsn51 »

The new ISObooter method is much simpler than the original GRUB2 method.

But please use it on a USB drive. The hard drive method requires a separate partition, and I don't think that you have one.

1. Plug in your USB drive.

2. Run Gparted from the System menu. Select your USB drive.

3. Right-click on the current partition and reformat it to FAT32.

4. Right-click again and set the Boot flag.

Then follow the steps for ISObooter.

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#41 Post by nooby »

Ooops sorry now I see that text.
thanks
Last edited by nooby on Sat 09 Feb 2013, 14:10, edited 2 times in total.
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rcrsn51
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#42 Post by rcrsn51 »

Read half-way down the post for ISObooter. It is new.

nooby
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#43 Post by nooby »

Thanks I did as it said and are writing from Peppermint
booted that way. So that was success. I reboot
and test if Porteus will boot too.

Edit writing from Porteus so that is good

Now I will test other isos
Last edited by nooby on Sat 09 Feb 2013, 15:20, edited 1 time in total.
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rcrsn51
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#44 Post by rcrsn51 »

Excellent. If you get the "dis-contiguous" problem, just reformat the drive and start again.

Or get a second drive, set it up with ISObooter and copy all the ISOs from the first drive to the second.

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#45 Post by nooby »

The Error 60 discontig thing seems to happen to me
each time I transfer a new iso to it. So that is a disappointment :)

I am trying to check out crunchbang now but have to start all over
with formatting and moving the files.
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rcrsn51
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#46 Post by rcrsn51 »

nooby wrote:The Error 60 discontig thing seems to happen to me each time I transfer a new iso to it. So that is a disappointment.
Did you delete any ISOs from the USB drive before adding new ones? That would be a sure way to cause the problem.

Other than running a Windows defragging tool or starting over, there is no way around this.

nooby
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#47 Post by nooby »

Oops did not know that was a No No to do. Sorry.

Another error surfaces. Error 62 Number of heads
--heads=0 may not work for you

and it did not. Second time me have that error.

Damn I hate using Ms Windows.

Why did all those Linux fans tell me to discard Ms Win
all together. It is obvious one need it at time.

Take Smartphones. They only upgrade if one have Ms Windows
for the phone maker does not do it over linux. Crazy.

But Puppyluvr told about this trick that one should copy files too and fro
but he recommend ext3 for to make it work best?

Is that something you remember? Maybe only work of the fat32
is low level formatted and not the fast format by Gparted?
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#48 Post by rcrsn51 »

nooby wrote:Oops did not know that was a No No to do. Sorry.
That was my mistake for not mentioning it in the instructions. If you will continue testing on a new setup, I would like to know how many ISOs you can load without getting the error.
Another error surfaces. Error 62 Number of heads --heads=0 may not work for you
This problem is mentioned in the instructions with TInyCore Linux. I have seen several other distros that do it.

You must manually edit the menu.lst file and make this change

Code: Select all

title xxx
....
map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (hd0,0)/xxx.iso (0xff)
....
Damn I hate using Ms Windows.
What does this have to do with Windows?
But Puppyluvr told about this trick that one should copy files too and fro
This was my other suggestion - to get a second USB drive and copy all the ISOs from one to the other. But it's probably easier for you to just start over.

nooby
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#49 Post by nooby »

Thanks I used your code to edit that menu.lst and that made wonder
It booted Crunchbang and I use that OS now to write in the forum.
So what other Linux OS should I try? I have only tested on small
cheap USBflash 1GB so that is too small I should try bigger ones
and several Os on each.

I will most likely use gparted to wipe these clean each time.
Hopefully that work.

I am not sure but I got the impression they get corrupted each time
but that could be me deleted for to free up space for the next OS
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#50 Post by rcrsn51 »

nooby wrote:I am not sure but I got the impression they get corrupted each time but that could be me deleted for to free up space for the next OS
When you delete a file, that leaves a "hole" in your filesystem. When you add a new file, your OS will eventually want to use the empty space in that hole. But if the new file is too big to fit in the hole, the OS will need to split it up into pieces. Now the file is discontiguous.

If you have a large USB drive, the OS may not need to use the hole. But with only 1 GB, you will definitely run into problems.
So what other Linux OS should I try?
I thought that you had hundreds of them :wink:
I will most likely use gparted to wipe these clean each time. Hopefully that work.
It will definitely work.

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