Hi -
I wasn't able to attend the Linux Lab as I had to work. Hope it went well.
I did narrow down the problem a bit. I loaded Ubuntu 9.04 to the USB and
took it to work. (Unbuntu as a program just for putting it on a USB.) It
worked on both computers (both running Windows XP). But it doesn't work on
my computers at home - one debian lenny 5.01 and one XP.
On my home debian computer I can get in to the boot menu and select USB-FFD,
USB-HDD, USB-CDROM, ZIP or USB-ZIP, and none of them will load Ubuntu from
the USB. I know the USB port works because the computer "sees" the USB,
recognizes it as a USB stick and I can open it and see the programs. When I
say the USB doesn't work, I mean I go into the BIOS Menu, select
one of the USB options, hit enter, the computer thinks a bit and then just
loads my debian OS ("Verifying DMI Pool date, Grub Loading, etc") as if it
doesn't see the USB at all. (My other home computer is an older Dell
running XP, but I really don't care if I can't get it to work on it.)
Anyway, to make a long question short: If I am NOT able to load a stick
that I know works (on the XP boxes at work) on a linux computer that sees
the stick, is that a BIOS problem or a software problem? I get the idea
that both the elive and the ubuntu programs are meant to work on Windows
computers. The elive recommends using a Windows box to load itself to the
USB and has different programs if you are doing it on Windows or Linux. On
Ubuntu it doesn't say anything about windows vs linux, but I think they
would assume you are probably going to use the USB on a windows computer.
So, does it make a difference what type of computer (Windows or Linux) you
are using to try to boot from the USB? Would they have different programs
that wouldn't work on each other? Or is this a BIOS problem coming from
using a mother board and BIOS that is probably 3 years old?
Thanks,
Phil
PS I am going to try the unetbootin method and take that in to work, now
that I know the USB can work on my work computers.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Lowenstein" <carl.lowenst...@gmail.com>
To: "Friendly list for people new to Linux" <kplug-newbie@kernel-panic.org>
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 9:12 PM
Subject: Re: Installation to a USB
On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 8:34 PM, Phil Mullane<pmull...@san.rr.com> wrote:
Well, I've had some luck. I was able to get unetbootin installed and load
a
distro to the USB (when I check the USB properties I can see the distro).
I
was never able to get a distro to install from a USB, but that may be my
home computers not being able to boot from the USB. In a separate
experiement, I found that "elive" has a special program to load elive to a
usb. I did that and took the usb to work where I have a newer computer and
it booted there absolutely no problem. In fact, it happened so fast I
missed it. But I think it booted without going through the usual loading.
My question now is: so far, on my home computers I have been going into
the
boot menu and clicking on usb to be first in boot sequence. This hasn't
worked so far. Then I went into BIOS Setup and put usb first in boot
sequence. That didn't work either. There is another BIOS setting (other
than boot sequence), called HARD DISK DRIVE. The choices there are: 1)
"System BIOS boot devices" and 2) "USB Device". I am able to switch the
order so "USB Device" is first and "System BIOS boot devices" is second,
but
I thought I better run it past you guys first. I'd hate to do it and find
I
can't boot from the USB and I can no longer get into BIOS to switch it
back
to "System BIOS boot devices". Should I leave HARD DISK DRIVE alone? Or
should I change it to "USB Device"
Certainly if your BIOS is like most, you can put USB device first, and
if there is no USB device present the BIOS will go on to the next in
the list.
Can't you get to BIOS setup without booting anything?
Are you by any chance able to come to tomorrow's Linux Lab and BBQ?
See posting by Gus Wirth for details.
carl
--
carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego
clowenst...@ucsd.edu
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