Blank OS

[Cellulose]

Hey,

Kind of a strange question I guess, but is there anyway to get a quick OS which has no software (no browsing, office etc.) installed? I was hoping to run all my software from a USB key.

Thanks a lot,
Joe

(I may not be able to respond for a few hours sorry)

 

[Netopia]

Install a minimal version of Debian or some other Linux Distro. But you don't say what sort of software you have, or what it is compatible with.

Joe

 

[IamDavid]

There are many "USB" editions of Linux now adays. You can even find a USB version of Windows although not sure how legal it would be..

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Have you checked out Damn Small Linux? That might be what the doctor ordered. Or you could do an extremely minimal install of Win 98SE. I'm pretty sure FreeDOS has no software, but doesn't really support too many modern apps.

 

[Brazen]

Maybe the same method for making a BartPE Windows LiveCD would work for making a LiveUSB?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_USB#Microsoft_DOS_.26_Windows
Here ya go, use Pe2USB to copy a BartPE/WinPE build to the USB stick.

 

[Cellulose]

Thanks a lot for the replies,

I should have said more clearly that I was looking for a HD installation of a bare bare minimal OS to run the software (located on my USB). The software includes Firefox, Office tools, NVU, Music etc.

However running an OS from the USB directly also sounds interesting now, and ill try out some of the examples given here, both booting from, and running embedded in another OS.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[drag]

Ya.. I have a USB key I installed Debian to.

The trick is that you have to give the file system a label edit the bootloader and /etc/fstab to refer to that label instead of the actual device. That way as you go from computer to computer and the devices change then it'll still be able to find the file system.

Then it'll probably help that if your using initramfs you edit the /etc/initramf-tools/modules to include drivers for USB devices. Stuff like echi_hcd, ohci_hcd, and uhci_hcd which will provide USB controller drivers for 99% of PCs out there. Then add usb-storage.

Then you rebuild the initrd and that way you will include support for usb devices at boot up time.


Now the one thing I haven't realy figured out is the bootloader.... I think I had better luck with Lilo.

Not realy the most practical thing to use, but it's interesting to play around with.


The trick to getting the system installed in the easiest way possible is to use Qemu (and Kqemu for acceleration). You plug in your USB device into your Linux computer. If your desktop automounts it then make sure that you umount it before proceeding.

Then you download the ISO image of the OS you want to install.

Then you launch Qemu (try qemu-launcher program for GUI configuration) using sudo or as root and use the ISO image for the cdrom, the usb device for the harddrive and have it boot the cdrom.

Then in the VM environment you can install to the USB drive like a regular harddrive.

Also this way you can boot up the drive in a VM environment to try different things if the computer won't boot in a real computer. No matter what is wrong it would be a fairly easy fix. The main problem I have is that a lot of even fairly modern computers don't support booting from a USB drive.

But it generally works.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: drag
Ya.. I have a USB key I installed Debian to.

The trick is that you have to give the file system a label edit the bootloader and /etc/fstab to refer to that label instead of the actual device. That way as you go from computer to computer and the devices change then it'll still be able to find the file system.

Then it'll probably help that if your using initramfs you edit the /etc/initramf-tools/modules to include drivers for USB devices. Stuff like echi_hcd, ohci_hcd, and uhci_hcd which will provide USB controller drivers for 99% of PCs out there. Then add usb-storage.

Then you rebuild the initrd and that way you will include support for usb devices at boot up time.


Now the one thing I haven't realy figured out is the bootloader.... I think I had better luck with Lilo.

Not realy the most practical thing to use, but it's interesting to play around with.


The trick to getting the system installed in the easiest way possible is to use Qemu (and Kqemu for acceleration). You plug in your USB device into your Linux computer. If your desktop automounts it then make sure that you umount it before proceeding.

Then you download the ISO image of the OS you want to install.

Then you launch Qemu (try qemu-launcher program for GUI configuration) using sudo or as root and use the ISO image for the cdrom, the usb device for the harddrive and have it boot the cdrom.

Then in the VM environment you can install to the USB drive like a regular harddrive.

Also this way you can boot up the drive in a VM environment to try different things if the computer won't boot in a real computer. No matter what is wrong it would be a fairly easy fix. The main problem I have is that a lot of even fairly modern computers don't support booting from a USB drive.

But it generally works.

Nice, maybe you should put this out on Debian Administrator, if not already there.

 

[gus6464]

You could also try puppy linux. Its as small as dsl and has already made packages for openoffice and other apps.

http://www.puppylinux.org

This is a list of some of the apps you can install as well.
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyLinuxMainPage

All apps come in .sfs packages that are very simple to install and you can literally install the distro anywhere. It comes with an installer that automates the install to usb drives too on the livecd.