Thumb drive linux.

[Dragonbate]

I've been trying to install linux on my new 512 MB Sandisk Micro Cruzer. Puppy gets an error reading a file it needs to start X. I got Feather to run but only in failsafe mode and so far I'm not real crazy about it as a distro. What I'd really like is something small enough to fit on the drive that still runs KDE. But I'll settle for anything I can get running "out of the box". Thanks for any suggestions/links.

 

[Nothinman]

I thought flash drives could only be written to a set number of times, wouldn't running an OS on one kill it pretty quickly?

 

[Dragonbate]

Supposedly but some are sold with lifetime warranties. And further still I bought this particular drive for $10 (Hot Deals) for the sole purpose of installing Linux on it.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Dragonbate
Supposedly but some are sold with lifetime warranties. And further still I bought this particular drive for $10 (Hot Deals) for the sole purpose of installing Linux on it.

Well, it's not KDE, but I think Damn Small Linux (with Fluxbox) can be installed on a USB drive. Very nice collection of apps and utilities for 50mb.

 

[Haden]

I've installed Debian to quite a few now, using debootstrap (I'm still using my patched kernel which waits for root device instead of panicing).
After it boots it's fully functional Debian system (with apt-get) and I'm quite sure KDE should fit to 512MB.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I thought flash drives could only be written to a set number of times, wouldn't running an OS on one kill it pretty quickly?

exactly...and since log files are being written to all the time, i would think that the life of the drive will go down the tubes rather quickly...not worth the effort in my eyes.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I thought flash drives could only be written to a set number of times, wouldn't running an OS on one kill it pretty quickly?

Flash linux uses a new kind of filesystem that minimizes writes, and I believe the OS uses a ramdisk or maybe a hard drive or something for all of the logs. They address the issue for sure.