how to install mini me on usb

[samilidon]

well im new to this forum and since i like the os i registered
but im having a question:
how to install Pclinuxos minime 2010 on a usb?

because everytime i select my usb drive and want to install it says that the partitions are wiped and that the i need to reboot but then my pc says: no OS


so how to install it?

ty in advance...

[Leiche]

You use PCLinuxOS as system, then try PCLinuxOS Live USB Creator, it's available in repositories.

Welcome to our forums    

[samilidon]

well i know that program but i want the full installation on my usb and persistant...
and i dont think that the livecreator does that...

[Leiche]

well i know that program but i want the full installation on my usb and persistant...
and i dont think that the livecreator does that...

That make it, what you want 
Read here
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,79087.0.html

[Old-Polack]

well i know that program but i want the full installation on my usb and persistant...
and i dont think that the livecreator does that...

It would save a lot of time if you would tell us what you really want, using correct terms. "My USB" could mean anything. I have a USB printer, and know of no way to install PCLinuxOS of any flavor on it. Likewise with my USB scanner, keyboard and mouse. I also have a 1TB USB hard drive, and have quite a few full OS installations on it, including this one I'm typing from, and four or five live sessions on one partition that I use for installing the various flavors of PCLinuxOS. Then again you could be speaking of a USB flash drive, on which either a full installation could be done, or a liveUSB could be made. We need more explicit details of what it is that you want if we are to be of much help. As is, it's a guessing game for us, so how about telling us exactly what you're trying to accomplish.

[Was_Just19]

well i know that program but i want the full installation on my usb and persistant...
and i dont think that the livecreator does that...

That indeed does a 'live' install, but it does include the option for persistence.

Just create an ext partition on the USB device and format it. You can do this either by running Gparted from the repository or from within the PCLOS COntrol Center - Local Disks.

Then run the liveUSB app and see if the results are what you wish.

There is a help thread here if you need to ask about the app .....
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,74879.msg615107.html#msg615107

and for a description of what it actually does here is the forerunner which describes how to achieve the same result manually ...
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,74878.0.html

Using the standard installer in PCLOS you should be able to do a full install on the USB device ....  provided that it is structured properly. Some USB devices have very odd partition tables and structure and can cause problems.
regards.

[samilidon]

oldpolack to  clear up :
im having a usb stick from 4gigs
i want to install pclinux os mini me 2010 on it completely
i dont want to create a live usb drive because it isnt persistent .even if it is persistent i would want that
because i just want the full os ... but i dont know how to do that.

hope this clears up..

[samilidon]

just19

it didn't work out

[Old-Polack]

oldpolack to  clear up :
im having a usb stick from 4gigs
i want to install pclinux os mini me 2010 on it completely
i dont want to create a live usb drive because it isnt persistent .even if it is persistent i would want that
because i just want the full os ... but i dont know how to do that.

hope this clears up..

In the installation app you are asked where you wish to do the installation. If you know which drive the USB stick is seen as, just choose it. I usually partition and format my USB drive before starting the installation, then choose the Custom partitioning option. I select the partitions I want for /, and swap, then on the screen where it asks which partitions to format I un-check the / partition. (it's already formatted as I wish it to be) The installation then goes directly to the copying of files to the designated partition. With a 4GB stick I would have a swap equal to RAM, or 512MB, (whichever is smaller) and a / partition only, covering the rest of the drive, for maximum efficiency of the limited space available.

When the installation reaches the grub installation stage, indicate that it should be installed on the MBR of the USB stick, and remove any references to any additional OS partitions that have been found. (they won't be present on any other computer you use the stick on, so are useless entries)

Once the installation has completed, you should be able to set the computer to boot from USB first, then boot directly to the USB installation.

[Dragynn]

So here's a question O-P, if I wanted to just store the OS on the USB stick, not install it to the stick, but have it available to boot from the stick using the option to load it all into ram (like you can from a liveCD), how would I do that? I assume the stick would still need to be formatted as ext3 or other linux FS, but would you just drag-and-drop the iso file from your computer to the empty stick?

[Old-Polack]

So here's a question O-P, if I wanted to just store the OS on the USB stick, not install it to the stick, but have it available to boot from the stick using the option to load it all into ram (like you can from a liveCD), how would I do that? I assume the stick would still need to be formatted as ext3 or other linux FS, but would you just drag-and-drop the iso file from your computer to the empty stick?

No, you'd need to install it as a liveUSB. There are threads in the forum dealing with that procedure.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,74878.0.html

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,79087.0.html

[Was_Just19]

So here's a question O-P, if I wanted to just store the OS on the USB stick, not install it to the stick, but have it available to boot from the stick using the option to load it all into ram (like you can from a liveCD), how would I do that? I assume the stick would still need to be formatted as ext3 or other linux FS, but would you just drag-and-drop the iso file from your computer to the empty stick?

From what little testing I did, it is not presently possible to run PCLOS (live) from a device other than a CD/DVD and utilise copy2ram.

There may be a way ..  but if so I have not yet come across it.

[Dragynn]

So here's a question O-P, if I wanted to just store the OS on the USB stick, not install it to the stick, but have it available to boot from the stick using the option to load it all into ram (like you can from a liveCD), how would I do that? I assume the stick would still need to be formatted as ext3 or other linux FS, but would you just drag-and-drop the iso file from your computer to the empty stick?

From what little testing I did, it is not presently possible to run PCLOS from a device other than a CD/DVD and utilise copy2ram.

There may be a way ..  but if so I have not yet come across it.

Well that seems counter-intuitive, USB 2 is still slow running an OS.  Now USB 3 is a different story as it has much faster throughput, but it's still an attractive option to copy to ram.  If you have USB 3 on your mobo to start with, then you've probably got DDR3 and quite a bit of it, 4-8 gigs + using one of the "Mini" versions of PCLOS = lightning on a stick.

[CaptainSarcastic]

Are you using a function key at start-up to load a one-time boot menu?  Unless you have specifically set the BIOS to boot from USB then it probably isn't seeing a bootable device.  The most common key for the one-time boot menu is F12, although I have seen others (the machine I am on right now uses F8, for instance).

The USB drive should show up as a removable hard drive or just as a hard drive.  If it shows up as a removable device then it might not be bootable.  Out of four USB thumb drives I have around here one of them shows up as a removable device, and won't boot.  The others show as hard drives and I boot from them fairly often with no problems.

I did an install to a 4GB thumb drive a while back, although I didn't use it a lot and have been meaning to repeat the process.  For what it's worth I formatted it to a single ext3 partition with no swap, relying on my machines' actual RAM instead (they all have more than 2GB of memory).  Ran a normal install otherwise.  It seemed to work pretty well.

[Was_Just19]

So here's a question O-P, if I wanted to just store the OS on the USB stick, not install it to the stick, but have it available to boot from the stick using the option to load it all into ram (like you can from a liveCD), how would I do that? I assume the stick would still need to be formatted as ext3 or other linux FS, but would you just drag-and-drop the iso file from your computer to the empty stick?

From what little testing I did, it is not presently possible to run PCLOS from a device other than a CD/DVD and utilise copy2ram.

There may be a way ..  but if so I have not yet come across it.

Well that seems counter-intuitive, USB 2 is still slow running an OS.  Now USB 3 is a different story as it has much faster throughput, but it's still an attractive option to copy to ram.  If you have USB 3 on your mobo to start with, then you've probably got DDR3 and quite a bit of it, 4-8 gigs + using one of the "Mini" versions of PCLOS = lightning on a stick.

Running live from optical media is not very old, and indeed was not taken up universally by Linux Distros at the time.
Running live from USB devices is even younger ...  by a long way ...  and a lot of distros still do not make it a simple matter.

In the case of PCLOS, the "live" running for USB was achieved by adapting the live optical use. The copy2ram section apparently was not done, or maybe wasn't possible, at the time.

That is not to say that it will not or can not ....  just that it has not yet been done.
I have no idea if it has even been looked at or maybe it has and some problems have not yet been overcome. I have been considering it for some weeks now, but have not had any real time to devote to it.

A truly portable USB live session on an external drive is only possible in PCLOS less than 2 years now. Flash sticks can be treated as external drives for the best variety in uses, rather than be seen as 'floppy' or 'cdrom'. This is mighty important as the flash stick sizes grow, and people realise they can have multiple partitions on those as well as their internal HDDs, and can have, maybe, a variety of Linux installs on the stick booting from different partitions etc etc. It will happen ....  although I know of no other OS besides PCLOS which has a utility for putting a live session on different partitions of a USB drive - yet.

I fully expect, given some development time, that we will have the facility to copy2ram from a USB live session in the coming year. That coupled with multiple partition use, and the ability to have several PCLOS versions reside together on one partition of the USB device, will make it all very adaptable and interesting for the future.

At least I hope so 

regards.