[nmglug] Things to do to fill the day

Brian O'Keefe okeefe at cybermesa.com
Thu Jul 30 12:49:12 PDT 2020 

All good Tom. Thanks

On 7/30/20 11:50 AM, Tom Ashcraft wrote:
>
> Not sure about working directly from an optical drive to a thumb drive 
> as I haven't tried that for maybe two years.  But what I do know for 
> sure is that I have several different distros installed to USB sticks, 
> each of which boot and run just fine on multiple machines directly 
> from the USB stick, no problems with GRUB.
>
> *Usually* I create these in two stages.  First, I download the distro 
> iso file, verify checksum (and often signatures) and then dd copy the 
> iso to a cheap USB 2.0 drive to create an installation device, aka a 
> 'bootable USB' or 'live USB'. Second, I reboot the computer into this 
> new 'live USB' and then use the distro's provided installation program 
> to install permanently to a better quality USB 3.0 drive--this to 
> create the final "live USB with persistence".  During the install from 
> the first USB to the second USB there is most often an explicit 
> opportunity to specify where GRUB should be installed.  This of course 
> is a new GRUB and it should be installed to the second USB along with 
> everything else.  Also, when booting into a live USB or the new 
> permanent installation on the second USB for the first time, the host 
> computer boot order device precedence must be reset so that UEFI or 
> BIOS sees the USB before it sees the hard drive and boots into that.  
> Otherwise, you have to interrupt the boot process by hitting F12 or 
> whatever each time you want to boot into the USB, which is annoying.
>
> Probably you already know most or all of the above possibly better 
> than I.  But I take it from your comment below that there is still 
> something or other that one of us is missing.  Also, I'm going into it 
> a little because the subject happens to be a current fetish of mine 
> and I've been trying to develop my knowledge a bit.  So I'll continue.
>
> When making a "live USB with persistence" there are about a million 
> ways to install the OS and to configure partitions, home directories, 
> GRUB, UEFI/BIOS, etc., -- all of which usually confuse the daylights 
> out of me so that I usually opt for whatever appears to be the most 
> painless default nuke-n-pave option available and leave it at that.  
> But there are two points about which I always make sure I am 
> absolutely lucid because to do otherwise is really dangerous.  The 
> first is that I am very certain I am installing everything to the USB 
> stick and not to my host computer hard drive so that I don't destroy 
> my existing system.  The second is that I know whether the new 
> installation is fully encrypted so that I don't inadvertently expose 
> any sensitive data or personal information to theft.  It is altogether 
> too easy to lose or misplace a USB stick.
>
> A couple of months ago Jared of abqlug.com, who was aware of my USB 
> and antiX fetishes, asked me if I might try to write an article for 
> the website because I suggested to him that I thought using Linux 
> installed to USB sticks might be a great way to introduce noobs and 
> wannabes.  Here it is:
>
> https://www.abqlug.com/uncategorized/getting-started-with-an-mx-or-antix-linux-writable-liveusb/#fromwin
>
> A bit overwrought here and there but gathers in one place a lot of 
> information that might otherwise be hard to find in one place when 
> someone wants it.  If anyone is so inclined please have a look and 
> tell me what you think.
>
> Tom
>
> On 7/30/20 6:45 AM, Don Crowder wrote:
>> I've got a copy of Slax on a thumb drive and have used various live 
>> media distros on a flash drive to install Linux on machines that 
>> didn't have optical drives (or had optical drives that didn't work) 
>> but if you install from optical media to a thumb drive then GRUB is 
>> gonna want to know where that drive went every time you boot up the 
>> machine.
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 8:56 PM Tom Ashcraft 
>> <trailerdog234 at comcast.net <mailto:trailerdog234 at comcast.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     Install to a USB stick.  A 64 GB USB 3.0 SanDisk Ultra Flair is
>>     ideal.  $15 at Walmart.  Weighs exactly 5 grams, same as a
>>     nickel.  Great form factor and mechanically solid:  3/16" x 7/16"
>>     x 1-1/4" and you can keep it stashed in your pocket encrypted
>>     with all essential records and files for use on multiple
>>     machines.  Great for testing and experimenting, redundancy, extra
>>     space, cheap insurance, etc.  Not that I'm a fan of Walmart or
>>     that better deals can't be had, but certainly cheaper and less
>>     hassle than another computer to worry about.
>>
>>     On 7/29/20 1:39 PM, Don Crowder wrote:
>>>     Thanks, I ran across it, as GNU/Linux OS, a couple of days ago
>>>     and was curious about it but I don't currently have a machine
>>>     I'm willing to use for distro-hopping so I did no more than read
>>>     about it.
>>>
>>>     On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 11:36 AM Brian O'Keefe
>>>     <okeefe at cybermesa.com <mailto:okeefe at cybermesa.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>         Hello All,
>>>
>>>         I was poking around and looking at a website specifically
>>>         re: Gnu and the Hurd OS. Hurd doesn't really work much at
>>>         all but there were 6 OSes listed that were certified FOSS
>>>         and approved by Stallman. They each used the linux kernel. I
>>>         downloaded PureOS and installed in as a virtual machine (in
>>>         the non-FOSS Vbox). After a few tweaks it was up and running
>>>         and I really like it. I would migrate to it if I had a clue
>>>         how to keep everything. It's fast and clean, the FOSS
>>>         browser works perfectly. No issues with sound nor anything
>>>         else. It's Debian based so its Gnome GUI is very familiar.
>>>
>>>         Just thought that I'd let you all know.
>>>
>>>         Ciao
>>>
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