Linux Live for USB

 

If you got a USB memory stick you can boot gNewSense live as with the cd. What you will need:

 

• A USB stick 1 GB+
• A motherboard that support booting from removables.
• A computer with usb ports with GNU/Linux or Windows running.

 

Make your stick bootable

 

This will guide you to make the stick bootable. We are going to use syslinux for it.

 

Install syslinux

 

Choose the operating system you run. GNU/Linux or Windows.

GNU/Linux

 

Syslinux may already be installed in your system. Type syslinux in a terminal. If the command is not found you have to install it from your distribution's repository. On a Debian/Ubuntu system this is done like this:

 

apt-get install syslinux

 You can also run the following commands in a terminal:

wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/syslinux-4.04.tar.bz2
tar -xvjf syslinux-4.04.tar.bz2 
cd syslinux-4.04/unix

 

Now you got syslinux ready to use. Keep the terminal window up so you can use it later.

Windows

 

Download a syslinux zip-file from http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/.

Unpack it. 

Have up your terminal by clicking Start and then Run, type cmd and press Enter.

Cd to the directory where you unpacked syslinux, cd Desktop should work if you unpacked it to your desktop and if the terminal started in your user directory.

Type cd syslinux-4.04 or whatever version you have downloaded.

Finally type cd win32 to get into the windows binary.

Now you got syslinux ready to use. Keep the terminal window up so you can use it later.

 

Partition the stick

 

Usually USB sticks are already partitioned with a FAT partition. If your USB stick is completely empty, you need to use fdisk to partition it:

 

# fdisk /dev/sdf

Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel

 

Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x85934366.

Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.

After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

 

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

 

Command (m for help): p

 

Disk /dev/sdf: 2021 MB, 2021654528 bytes

63 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1010 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 3906 * 512 = 1999872 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x85934366

 

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

 

Command (m for help): n

Command action

   e   extended

   p   primary partition (1-4)

p

Partition number (1-4): 1

First cylinder (1-1010, default 1): 

Using default value 1

Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-1010, default 1010): 

Using default value 1010

Command (m for help): t

Selected partition 1

Hex code (type L to list codes): b

Changed system type of partition 1 to b (W95 FAT32)

Command (m for help): a

Partition number (1-4): 1

 

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdf: 2021 MB, 2021654528 bytes

63 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1010 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 3906 * 512 = 1999872 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x85934366

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdf1   *           1        1010     1972499    b  W95 FAT32

Command (m for help): w

The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

 

WARNING: If you have created or modified any DOS 6.x

partitions, please see the fdisk manual page for additional

information.

Syncing disks.

mocca:~# 

 

Format the stick

 

Again, usually USB sticks are already formatted. If you want to-reformat it, you can do it like this:

 

In GNU/Linux:

 

mkfs.vfat /dev/sdf1

 

 

Run syslinux

 

Run the syslinux command shown below, in the window we set up earlier, assuming drive name is sdb1 or F:. 

 

In GNU/Linux:

 

syslinux -s /dev/sdb1

In Windows:

 

 

syslinux.exe -s -m F:

 

 

Mount the stick

 

In the most modern operating systems USB memory sticks get mounted automatically.

 

If not and if you use a GNU/Linux distribution run mount: 

 

mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb

You have to run the command as root or sudo. You also have to create the directory usb with mkdir /media/usb, or choose a mount point at your opinion. 

The device name may also be different. Run dmesg | tail in a terminal after you have plugged in the stick.

Look for [sdb] or any similar. Add a 1 to it so it knows it is the first partition.

Copy files from the gNewSense iso

 

Download a gNewSense iso from http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/ You can burn the iso to a cd and copy the files to the stick, but it is faster to mount the iso.

note：you can use any distribute like: ubuntu, mint or something alse. all of them works.

 

In GNU/Linux:

 

mkdir /media/iso
mount -oloop /path/to/gnewsense-livecd-deltah-2.3.iso /media/iso

 Again, it has to be done as root or sudo.

 

In Windows you can use a program called Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel. Download it, unpack it and read it's readme for how to use it.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/b/6/7b6abd84-7841-4978-96f5-bd58df02efa2/winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel_21.exe

 

Copy the casper directory to the memory stick. Copy the content of the isolinux directory to the memory stick. Rename isolinux.bin to syslinux.bin. Rename isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg.

In GNU/Linux:

 

cp -r /media/iso/casper/ /media/usb/
cp /media/iso/isolinux/* /media/usb/
mv /media/usb/isolinux.bin /media/usb/syslinux.bin
mv /media/usb/isolinux.cfg /media/usb/syslinux.cfg

 

Unmount the memory stick to write cache.

In GNU/Linux:

 

umount /media/usb

Unmount the ISO image. In GNU/Linux:

 

umount /media/iso

Memory sticks not automounted-fix

 

If you installed gNewSense from the memory stick the same memory stick is not automatically mounted. This is caused by the stick being added to the fstab file. Plug in your memory stick and check in dmesg what it got for a device name.

 dmesg | tail

Then edit fstab and remove the line containing the device name.

 sudo gedit /etc/fstab

For example: /dev/sdb1 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

 

 

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD/Persistence

 

http://forum.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=14209&p=192127