installing linux from USB?

[Kerry Hoath]

Now i'm really confused. You don't burn an iso to a thumb drive, as a thumb 
drive is a USB storage device not a cdrom/dvdrom style device.

If you want the files off the .iso onto the thumb drive, you'd have to loop 
mount the iso under linux and copy them off, or copy them off under Windows 
with daemon tools, virtual drive, power iso etc etc etc.

Many installers just let you put the .iso onto the thumb drive along with 
the boot loader and initial ram disk.
there are automated scripts and programs on www.pendrivelinux.com that given 
the correct Linux Iso give you a bootable installer flash drive.
This hides the complexity from the user.

Of course if you are building these drives from the command-line, you either 
follow a guide or use a script.

Regards, Kerry.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cody" <churst35 at verizon.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 8:04 PM
Subject: Re: installing linux from USB?


> My point wasn't to place the iso on the drive itself but format the drive, 
> then manually extract the files fromt he iso. I don't think any iso 
> program such as burn cdcc will see a thumb drive as a burnable device.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry at gotss.net>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
> <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 12:20 AM
> Subject: Re: installing linux from USB?
>
>
>> Many installers do loop mount an iso off the thumb drive and are 
>> configured to do so. Debian's installer can do that, as can Ubuntu's.
>>
>> They expect to load the kernel and initial ram disk, and then find the 
>> rest of the installer after that.
>> Usually the kernel is loaded by a boot loader such as syslinux, grub lilo 
>> or similar. The boot loader also has to understand and load an initial 
>> ramdisk, then once that is all set the installer finds components from 
>> there.
>> It can pick the files directly up off the thumb drive, however depending 
>> what file system you have on the drive depends whether Linux or the Bios 
>> can recognize it.
>> Whatever file system you use needs to be supported by Linux and 
>> preferably support long file names unless you use the .iso file and the 
>> installer loop mounts it.
>>
>>
>> Many bioses won't boot a USB drive unless it contains a FAT file system 
>> either in floppy mode, (no partition table)
>> or on a primary fat partition complete with boot sector and partition 
>> table.
>> This is the difference between booting USB floppy, and USB HDD support.
>> If booting from an USB CDROM it's an eltorato boot and different again.
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Cody" <churst35 at verizon.net>
>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>> <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
>> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 1:24 PM
>> Subject: Re: installing linux from USB?
>>
>>
>>> Why burn the iso? just extract the files from the iso and then copy them 
>>> onto the drive and boot with it. an iso program is not going to pick up 
>>> a USB thumb drive because it is looking for a opticle drive/that is what 
>>> those apps are designed to burn on.
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler at tysdomain.com>
>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>>> <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
>>> Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 11:36 AM
>>> Subject: installing linux from USB?
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>> Is it possible for me somehow to take an iso and write it to a USB key 
>>>> so I can install debian like that? the computer I want deb on has a 
>>>> messed up cd drive.
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