Installing Salix OS on a USB flash drive?

[Maximilian]

Hello,

I have just started using Salix Live by booting it from a USB flash drive, and I really like this distribution! It looks great and has all the necessary software for most common tasks. I just have a question about saving one's settings on a Salix USB flash drive.

I know that one could use the Persistence Wizard to create a persistent file, slxsave.xfs, on the computer hard drive. However, since a USB flash drive, unlike a CD-ROM, is writable, I wonder if it is possible to make a regular install of Salix OS onto such drive and use it as a regular OS, including saving customized settings, installing programs, etc. I think I have heard that one can do this sort of thing with Knoppix via the "Create a persistent KNOPPIX disk image" option. Can this be done with Salix? Thank you very much. Best regards.

Maximilian

[flux]

It is possible to install SalixOS to an USB flash drive or a SDHC.

Make sure to add to /etc/lilo.conf of the installed system in the append line the option

Code: Select all

rootdelay=10

and install LiLO again, to give the kernel the time to initialize the usb modules before starting to boot from the usb device.

flux.

[gapan]

You know, you could store the persistence file in your flash drive too.

[thenktor]

@ flux: rootdelay is a very good point!
But without ever having tried this: I wonder how this is done: install lilo on the usb stick and boot from it? Then probably there will be problems when using the stick on another system because of different hard disk setup (sda, sdb, ...). Someone plese enlighten me, I don't want to test it

[Shador]

I guess you're better of with grub2 (/legacy) then as it supports UUIDs. You'd only need an initrd with root=UUID=... support.
Apart I'm not completely sure whether all needed usb modules are compiled into the huge kernel. If not an initrd would need to contain them.

[Akuna]

You could use UUID in Lilo too:
root = /dev/disk/by-uuid/xxxxx

[flux]

I use GRUB to install the bootloader to USB flash drive or SDHC. With LiLO there might be a problem with the device /dev/sda or /dev/sdb, depending on the internal harddisk of the pc, this is correct. With GRUB you can change the rootdevice at the bootprompt if neccessary.

I never experienced any problem.

flux.

[Maximilian]

Hello,

Thank you all very much for a fascinating discussion. It looks as though the technique of performing a full install of Salix OS to a flash drive is a bit experimental at this time. I think for now I will stick with gapan's suggestion and try putting the persistent file onto the USB flash drive. By the way, is it necessary to partition the flash drive? Regards.

Maximilian

[gapan]

By the way, is it necessary to partition the flash drive?

No, I don't think it is.

[Akuna]

You'll find the needed instructions for setting up a USB key on Salix Startup Guide: http://salix.enialis.net/i486/live-13.0 ... ide-en.pdf (the very last chapter on page 37)