 Usb Key Linux Distro |
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 May 21 2007, 12:27 PM
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#16
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 Group: Members Posts: 2,342 Joined: 30-July 06 Member No.: 10,575  |
As a follow-up, I finally found a good distro: Debian. It installs easily (through expert mode), is a "full" distro, and has large numbers of packages. A basic dev environment (X11, fuxbox, GCC/G++, and an editor) and Links2 fits very nicely on a 512MB USB key.
Just thought I'd let people know. |
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Jun 6 2007, 02:24 PM
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#17
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Group: Members Posts: 2,342 Joined: 30-July 06 Member No.: 10,575 |
How do you enable compression on an ext2 filesystem? I've been looking, but I can't find an answer (I get the impression I'm searchingly challenged, though).
I'm looking to have room for a few more apps. |
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Jun 6 2007, 02:51 PM
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#18
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 Group: Admin Posts: 3,693 Joined: 29-July 04 From: Cambridge, England Member No.: 4,149 |
ext2 doesn't have compression, use cramfs or squashfs
try damnsmalllinux for a debian based mini linux that'll fit on a usb key --edit-- missed off the fact there's a specific "how to" for fitting onto a USB key |
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Jun 6 2007, 04:43 PM
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#19
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 Group: Members Posts: 2,808 Joined: 13-September 04 From: Wasilla Ak. Member No.: 4,572 |
QUOTE(Capn_Fish @ Jun 6 2007, 10:24 PM) How do you enable compression on an ext2 filesystem? I've been looking, but I can't find an answer (I get the impression I'm searchingly challenged, though). I'm looking to have room for a few more apps.  You'll probably have to do a squashfs for some directory. Which means you'll have to screw around with your path and init a little, I suspect. This is actually a good reason to use knoppix from usb-it is already compressed and set up to function. Moving it to USB is easy, as per the instructions at pendrivelinux, ansd sufficiently large usb keys are pretty cheap. I think I saw 2Gig usb keys for about 30-40 usd the other day. |
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Jun 6 2007, 05:04 PM
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#20
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Group: Members Posts: 2,342 Joined: 30-July 06 Member No.: 10,575 |
QUOTE(adf @ Jun 6 2007, 07:43 PM) QUOTE(Capn_Fish @ Jun 6 2007, 10:24 PM) How do you enable compression on an ext2 filesystem? I've been looking, but I can't find an answer (I get the impression I'm searchingly challenged, though). I'm looking to have room for a few more apps. You'll probably have to do a squashfs for some directory. Which means you'll have to screw around with your path and init a little, I suspect. This is actually a good reason to use knoppix from usb-it is already compressed and set up to function. Moving it to USB is easy, as per the instructions at pendrivelinux, ansd sufficiently large usb keys are pretty cheap. I think I saw 2Gig usb keys for about 30-40 usd the other day. If I had a 1GB+ USB drive, I wouldn't have to worry about compression.  So there's no way to enable filesystem compression? |
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Jun 6 2007, 05:16 PM
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#21
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Group: Members Posts: 2,808 Joined: 13-September 04 From: Wasilla Ak. Member No.: 4,572 |
Fair enough.
what about something like UPX? Could be a bit of a pain to get setup, but it might do what you want (and you'd have done something kinda cool, too) |
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Jun 6 2007, 05:28 PM
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#22
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Group: Members Posts: 2,342 Joined: 30-July 06 Member No.: 10,575 |
I'll take a look at that...
Of course, if I had a good curses-based text editor, I wouldn't need X, which would free up a lot of space. Know of any? I'm using C++. |
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Jun 6 2007, 06:28 PM
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#23
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Group: Members Posts: 2,808 Joined: 13-September 04 From: Wasilla Ak. Member No.: 4,572 |
Just good ol nano, which I suspect you're already familiar with.
Emacs works with curses I'm pretty sure. Maybe have a look into that? |
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Jun 6 2007, 06:41 PM
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#24
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Group: Members Posts: 2,342 Joined: 30-July 06 Member No.: 10,575 |
Oops, I meant programming editor. Yes, I use Nano a LOT, but it's not very good at syntax highlighting
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Jun 6 2007, 06:46 PM
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#25
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 Group: Members Posts: 900 Joined: 22-May 04 Member No.: 3,385 |
QUOTE(Capn_Fish @ May 21 2007, 09:27 PM) As a follow-up, I finally found a good distro: Debian. It installs easily (through expert mode), is a "full" distro, and has large numbers of packages. A basic dev environment (X11, fuxbox, GCC/G++, and an editor) and Links2 fits very nicely on a 512MB USB key. So how do you install debian to a USB stick from your desktop? |
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Jun 6 2007, 07:17 PM
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#26
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Group: Members Posts: 2,808 Joined: 13-September 04 From: Wasilla Ak. Member No.: 4,572 |
QUOTE(ShiroiKuma @ Jun 7 2007, 02:46 AM) QUOTE(Capn_Fish @ May 21 2007, 09:27 PM) As a follow-up, I finally found a good distro: Debian. It installs easily (through expert mode), is a "full" distro, and has large numbers of packages. A basic dev environment (X11, fuxbox, GCC/G++, and an editor) and Links2 fits very nicely on a 512MB USB key. So how do you install debian to a USB stick from your desktop? I bet if you simply format the usb stick as bootable ext2, and stick to a 386 kernel you can simply install and it will work on most x86 machines (you'd have to have a bunch of modules on board that way, though) I haven't done it-this was what I've been assuming, and now I'm curious to check my guess. |
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Jun 7 2007, 06:37 AM
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#27
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Group: Members Posts: 2,342 Joined: 30-July 06 Member No.: 10,575 |
I basically stuck it in a computer with generic networking and integrated graphics, booted the Debian install CD in expert mode*, and chose the USB key as the install drive, formatting it as EXT2 to prevent excessive wear.
I also added an entry to GRUB to allow for booting on computers with a SATA drive. *I used expert so I could just do that minimal install, then add the packages I wanted later. |
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Jun 7 2007, 09:25 AM
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#28
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Group: Admin Posts: 3,693 Joined: 29-July 04 From: Cambridge, England Member No.: 4,149 |
you'd wear out the usb stick less if you create a small partition on your hard drive which was very slightly smaller than the usb stick, installed linux into it then copied the partition to the usb stick. be sure to change fstab to mount as "noatime"
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Jul 10 2007, 03:47 AM
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#29
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 Group: Members Posts: 122 Joined: 12-January 04 From: Paris, France Member No.: 1,418 |
Does it answer to first question ? here
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Jul 10 2007, 05:12 AM
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#30
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 Group: Members Posts: 16 Joined: 16-January 06 From: Ottawa, Canada Member No.: 8,934 |
QUOTE(Capn_Fish @ Mar 31 2007, 03:25 PM) I'm looking to run Linux off of a USB drive (512MB). I would like to have: -A 2.6.x kernel -Hardware detection so I can use it on any machine -The ability to uninstall whatever came with the distro -GCC readily available -Some space left over so I can actually use it as a USB drive Any suggestions? I'm running slax off a 512 USB and have plenty of space left, I'm not sure if gcc is there to start with, I put the windows install files on there so I could put it on other machnes with DJGCC. |
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