Our local Linux Users Group (oclug.on.ca) has been finding unfortunately that the issue becomes one of which USB sticks will boot in which laptops. So far we keep finding some combinations work fine, but others don't. That is, stick 1 that boots fine on A B and C laptops won't boot on D and E, while stick 2 boots on A B and D but not C and E etc. This has stopped us doing Linux promotions by offering a live-USB because we found too many cases where novice users can't get their machine to boot.
I've had good success with several different USB CD/DVD reader/burners as long as I make sure they are properly powered (there is usually a separate power input), especially on burning. Some USB ports e.g., the LH one on some Asus Eee and UL30, don't seem to be fully powered, so I tend to use a 5V "brick" or a nice little Belkin power bar that has a couple of USB power slots meant for charging cell phones. I'm probably getting into off-list territory here, but I've been finding in the last while that a lot of "failures" or "unreliability" alleged in technical lists turn out to be silly things like devices not getting power when apparently plugged in. JN On 12/04/2011 11:02 AM, denis brion wrote: > Well, the idea of being lent (or buying) an USB/CD drive might be unpleasant: > cheap USB CD/DVD readers can be unreliable, and there is a better (IMHO) > solution based on unetbootin (a google search can find the link, a nice > review is here: > http://distrowatch.gds.tuwien.ac.at/weekly.php?issue=20110404 ): > unetbootin transforms CD images (*.iso) into an USB bootable stick (and > leaves the unused space free for Window$ and Linux : linux-sect specific > tools do not). > You then can use the USB stick as a live CD/DVD (but it is _faster_, as there > are no mechanical parts) or as an installation device. > > It works on Scientific Linux (which has already R installed on its live > version) , Gentoo(live installer) , Sabayon and Vector Linux {vers.6} (from > what I tried, on a MSI wind "net""book" and on my nephews eeePCs). > > and it is claimed to work with Ubuntu and SlitaZ (debian derived). > > This HW problems are independent on the GNU linux sects... > > > > ________________________________ > De : Mike Cheetham <[email protected]> > À : [email protected]; Michael Dewey <[email protected]> > Envoyé le : Jeudi 1 Décembre 2011 20h48 > Objet : Re: [R-sig-Debian] Upgrading R on my EEE PC netbook > > I think switching from Xandros may be the simplest answer in the long term. > > I abandoned Xandros on my Eee 701 and switched it to Ubuntu 10.10 which > I found an OK combination (I haven't upgraded as I hardly ever use that > machine now, I use 11.10 on my main PC). Installation (rather than > running the entire OS) from a USB stick was not too difficult as I > recall, although if you can find someone who will lend you a USB CD > drive installation from a CD would be incredibly simple. > > Regards > > Mike > > On 12/01/2011 03:00 AM, [email protected] wrote: >> Message: 1 >> Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:33:10 +0000 >> From: Michael Dewey<[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: [R-sig-Debian] Upgrading R on my EEE PC netbook >> Message-ID:<[email protected]> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed >> >> I have been successfully been using R on my EEE PC for some while >> now. Although it uses Xandros I have been able to install various >> pieces of software by pretending that it was Debian etch. Johannes >> was kind enough to continue providing binaries on CRAN for a while >> but I think I am the only person still living in the past as CRAN >> etch is currently stuck at 2.11.0 and I cannot rely on him to be my >> personal IT support for ever. So I decided to go it alone despite all >> the warnings against such behaviour on this list. >> >> My plan A was to go for a mixed installation by installing from >> squeeze and risk that this would update some other software and >> chance it breaking something. >> So I pointed my entries in sources.list at the squeeze Debian >> repository and at the CRAN squeeze repository and did >> sudo apt-get update >> sudo -s install r-base r-base-dev >> and got the following response >> Reading package lists... >> Building dependency tree... >> Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have >> requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable >> distribution that some required packages have not yet been created >> or been moved out of Incoming. >> The following information may help to resolve the situation: >> >> The following packages have unmet dependencies: >> r-base-dev: Depends: build-essential but it is not going to be installed >> Depends: g++ but it is not going to be installed >> Depends: gfortran but it is not going to be installed >> Depends: libncurses5-dev but it is not going to be installed >> Depends: libreadline-dev >> Depends: libjpeg-dev >> Depends: libpcre3-dev but it is not going to be installed >> Depends: libpng12-dev but it is not going to be installed >> Depends: zlib1g-dev but it is not going to be installed >> Depends: libbz2-dev but it is not going to be installed >> >> Now the funny thing is that if I do >> which gfortran >> it tells me I have gfortran on my path. >> >> Before I move on to Plan B which is to download the sources and >> compile them myself would anyone like to advise me what is going >> wrong and whether this will mean that Plan B is doomed to fail before I >> start. >> >> Plan C is to run one of the Debian or Ubuntu tailored EEE PC versions >> off a USB stuck but I find the documentation for doing that hard to grasp. >> >> You might find it helpful to know that more or less all I know of >> Linux is gained from reading this list and that I am still at the >> stage where I regard setting up a symbolic link as a major achievement. >> >> >> Michael Dewey >> [email protected] >> http://www.aghmed.fsnet.co.uk/home.html >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 2 >> Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:51:30 -0500 >> From: John C Nash<[email protected]> >> To: Michael Dewey<[email protected]> >> Cc: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [R-sig-Debian] Upgrading R on my EEE PC netbook >> Message-ID:<[email protected]> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 >> >> I don't know how committed you are to the Xandros interface. I am friends >> with some of the >> people who built that distro here in Ottawa. They did a good job, but the >> distro is now >> dead, and they don't use it themselves any more, so you will definitely be >> on your own. >> >> For what it is worth, I've found R runs very nicely on the Eee's using >> CrunchBang linux, >> which is a debian squeeze variant. I can use the R debian packages. >> >> Best, JN >> >> >> On 11/30/2011 10:33 AM, Michael Dewey wrote: >>> I have been successfully been using R on my EEE PC for some while now. >>> Although it uses >>> Xandros I have been able to install various pieces of software by >>> pretending that it was >>> Debian etch. Johannes was kind enough to continue providing binaries on >>> CRAN for a while >>> but I think I am the only person still living in the past as CRAN etch is >>> currently stuck >>> at 2.11.0 and I cannot rely on him to be my personal IT support for ever. >>> So I decided to >>> go it alone despite all the warnings against such behaviour on this list. >>> >>> My plan A was to go for a mixed installation by installing from squeeze and >>> risk that this >>> would update some other software and chance it breaking something. >>> So I pointed my entries in sources.list at the squeeze Debian repository >>> and at the CRAN >>> squeeze repository and did >>> sudo apt-get update >>> sudo -s install r-base r-base-dev >>> and got the following response >>> Reading package lists... >>> Building dependency tree... >>> Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have >>> requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable >>> distribution that some required packages have not yet been created >>> or been moved out of Incoming. >>> The following information may help to resolve the situation: >>> >>> The following packages have unmet dependencies: >>> r-base-dev: Depends: build-essential but it is not going to be installed >>> Depends: g++ but it is not going to be installed >>> Depends: gfortran but it is not going to be installed >>> Depends: libncurses5-dev but it is not going to be installed >>> Depends: libreadline-dev >>> Depends: libjpeg-dev >>> Depends: libpcre3-dev but it is not going to be installed >>> Depends: libpng12-dev but it is not going to be installed >>> Depends: zlib1g-dev but it is not going to be installed >>> Depends: libbz2-dev but it is not going to be installed >>> >>> Now the funny thing is that if I do >>> which gfortran >>> it tells me I have gfortran on my path. >>> >>> Before I move on to Plan B which is to download the sources and compile >>> them myself would >>> anyone like to advise me what is going wrong and whether this will mean >>> that Plan B is >>> doomed to fail before I start. >>> >>> Plan C is to run one of the Debian or Ubuntu tailored EEE PC versions off a >>> USB stuck but >>> I find the documentation for doing that hard to grasp. >>> >>> You might find it helpful to know that more or less all I know of Linux is >>> gained from >>> reading this list and that I am still at the stage where I regard setting >>> up a symbolic >>> link as a major achievement. >>> >>> >>> Michael Dewey >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.aghmed.fsnet.co.uk/home.html >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> R-SIG-Debian mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-debian >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 3 >> Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:52:42 -0800 >> From: "Kingsley G. Morse Jr."<[email protected]> >> To: John C Nash<[email protected]> >> Cc: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [R-sig-Debian] Upgrading R on my EEE PC netbook >> Message-ID:<[email protected]> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> >> On 11/30/11 10:51, John C Nash wrote: >>> [...] >>> CrunchBang linux, which is a debian squeeze >>> variant. I can use the R debian packages. >> Nice! >> >> ~K >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> R-SIG-Debian mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-debian >> >> >> End of R-SIG-Debian Digest, Vol 76, Issue 1 >> ******************************************* > > > > _______________________________________________ > R-SIG-Debian mailing list > [email protected] > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-debian _______________________________________________ R-SIG-Debian mailing list [email protected] https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-debian
