Linux LiveCD on USB (Update)

[acole1]

I was wanting to take a LiveCD version of SimplyMEPIS or SantaFe and use my USB stick instead of a CD. I am certain it can be done, but I am not sure how to do it.

I have tried burning the ISO to a CD, then copied the CD to my USB and tried to boot to "USB Device" but it keeps saying "Invalid System Disk."

How does the BIOS handle booting to a USB stick differently from booting to a CDROM? Did I miss some files? It shouldn't need an INI file should it?

Thanks!

(I am dealing with a 1GB Memorex drive, and I have a friend who has the 4GB Corsair stick and would like to partition his and do the same.)



Update:

I was able to get knoppix to boot, but I was unable to use it because I am using a Dell with support for only USB for keyboard and mouse, no PS2, so I am unable to "Hit Enter to load Knoppix." :frown:

When I try and use SantaFe I follow the general directions of the Knoppix how to, but I get the error :
"Could not find Kernal image: /install./vm"

I looked through the boot files and the code and it looks like it is looking for the file "vmlinuz" in the location of %drive%\install\vmlinuz.

So it apears that, somehow, something has changed in how it points to the "vmlinuz" file. When I boot from the CD, this is the first file that is called, and I verified that it is "install/vmlinuz" that is called first.

I have also tried taking all the files from the "install" folder and putting them in the root, but this didn't work either.

I have looked around to see if I could find the pointer file, but I don't know what is called before "vmlinuz," and the "isolinux.cfg" that I changed to "syslinux.cfg" didn't tell me much.

Any ideas?

 

[drag]

It's a bit different booting up a usb device then a cdrom device.

Here is a guide for doing it with a gentoo live cd in Linux, shouldn't be that much different for anything else.
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/liveusb.xml

However it would probably be easier to use something that is specificly designed to boot from a usb device, such as damn small linux.

 

[phisrow]

http://www.howudune.com/knoppix.php

Those directions are for knoppix; but they should, in theory, apply to your distro of choice, as well, assuming no weirdness.

 

[acole1]

I am looking into Feather Linux and reading some stuff about how to use that on a USB. Apperantly it is designed to be able to work on USB... it's 51mb.

http://featherlinux.berlios.de/usb-instructions.htm

 

[acole1]

syslinux.exe isn't working for me

I extracted the files and then run this:
"C:\syslinux-3.06\win32\syslinux.exe Z:"

All the paths and names are correct but I get the error:
"C:\syslinux-3.06\win32\syslinux.exe Z:\ is not accessible. The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect."

Any ideas?

Edit: took the "s off and I lost the error message but it blinks up and dissapears... did it run?

Edit 2: Run-box didn't work. I had to go into command prompt and run it.... should have known better.

 

[acole1]

Bump

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Download and burn DamnSmallLinux to a blank cd-r. Boot it up. When booted in (make sure you have your usb thumb drive plugged in) right-click on the desktop and look for somthing that says to 'install to usb thumb drive' or something like that.