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Make any PC your own with Linux on a USB key
It's easy to carry around useful files on a USB key, but it's even better to carry around a complete OS and set of apps, customised to just how want them. In this guide, Andrew Spode Miller shows how to install the tiny 25MB Slitaz Linux OS onto a USB key so that you can make any PC feel like your own.
* The first step is to grab a copy of the Slitaz ISO and burn it to a CD. This guide was written with version 1.0 in mind.
STEP 2: GETTING INTO SLITAZ
* Boot from the CD and follow the on screen instructions, selecting English language and English keyboard settings, until you reach a login page. The default login is ‘hacker’ without a password. If you haven’t already inserted your flash drive into a free USB port, do so now.
Throughout the guide, any quoted commands are meant to be typed in verbatim and followed by the return key. Also remember that the Linux filesystem is case sensitive.
* Right click the desktop and open a terminal window – it should be under ‘Favorites.’ Next, we need to login as root, so we have the correct permissions for adjusting things at a low level. ‘Root’ is a bit like the Administrator account in Windows. To do this, use the command ‘su.’ You will be prompted for a password, which is set, by default, to ‘root.’ We’ll be using this terminal window throughout the article.
STEP 3: TESTING THE WATERS
As we will need an internet connection, the first thing we do is test that Slitaz has picked up your network card correctly.
* Open the FireFox web browser by clicking once on the desktop and going to Favourites > Web Browser, and if the internet is working, all is well and you can skip the next steps.
* For those of you who sighed as the Internet didn’t pop up, first use the command ‘ifconfig’ at the terminal, to list the configured network devices. If you can see eth0, but there is no IP address, then it’s as simple as double clicking the network icon in the dock at the top of the screen and setting the IP address of your machine up, as you would in Windows.
If all you see is the ‘lo’ adapter, then we are going to need to load the driver for your network card. Slitaz comes with quite a few drivers, but in version 1.0, these don’t load at boot. This is by far the biggest drawback to Slitaz. From the terminal, type ‘lspci | grep thernet’ – that’s not a typo, we’re just removing the ‘E’ as it’s not always capitalised. You should be greeted with the details of your network card.
Now it’s a case of working out which driver works with your network card. Type ‘modprobe -l | grep /drivers/net | more’ to see a list of available drivers. It’s worth remembering that each driver module usually supports a whole family of network cards. This is great but it makes identifying which is the one for you a little tricky. If a quick glance for your model number is fruitless, you'll have to turn to Google to work out which driver is used for your network card. Once you have worked this out, you can load the driver by typing ‘modprobe drivername’, for example ‘modprobe sis190.’ Once this is done, another check with ‘ifconfig’ should hopefully bring up your network device.
STEP 4: PRIOR TO PARTITION
* Before we can start partitioning, we need to download the an extra package to enable FAT32 support. At the console, use the command ‘tazpkg recharge,’ followed by ‘tazpkg get-install dosfstools.’
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followed your steps , except for downloading dos tools , the drive was already formatted , mounted the files on it , and everything went well , but booting thru Flash Drive does nothing , except for restarting windows XP frm the Hard Drive .
Comment by Rahim at 1:29am 22nd September 2008
hey, ive added this to a pen drive and virtual box, as its easyer to mess about on because im on wireless internet and cannot find the drivers. but i cant find away to edit the boot file so it always loads the same keybored layout, sound card ect.... can any1 help?
Comment by dannyboy1991 at 12:21am 22nd May 2008
hey, ive added this to a pen drive and virtual box, as its easyer to mess about on because im on wireless internet and cannot find the drivers. but i cant find away to edit the boot file so it always loads the same keybored layout, sound card ect.... can any1 help?
Comment by dannyboy1991 at 11:47pm 21st May 2008
Could the auther please do this for Ubuntu to see if it's feasible...from a lot of the tutorials on the net, there seems to be some errors!
Comment by gcd_638000846b0f at 4:54pm 8th May 2008
Could the auther please do this for Ubuntu to see if it's feasible...from a lot of the tutorials on the net, there seems to be some errors!
Comment by gcd_638000846b0f at 4:54pm 8th May 2008
Could you do this with Windows XP Pro? Would there be any performance increase running Windows from a flash drive?
Comment by gary_davies at 12:21am 1st May 2008
Thanks for this Sifter, this was my first ever use of Linux and it was a real eye opener. I plan to add open office to it and then use it whenever I am away from home. Big thanks...
Comment by NHill at 2:24pm 30th April 2008
Yipee, its working. I deleted partition, then created new fat32 before pressing apply. Before, I deleted, applied, new fat32, applied.
Comment by Cerberus_xiii at 1:53pm 25th April 2008
I had the same problem, Dont tell me youve got a SATA cd drive right? SliTaz doesnt mount sata cd drives so the easiest option is to try it on another pc with ata drives. If youve got a ata drive tho im stumped
Comment by TS__Slick at 11:28am 25th April 2008
One issue I had was when formating the USB key in Gparted, it's important to delete the partition already on it and create a new one (i.e. right click, delete partition, then right click and create a new one).
Comment by Sifter3000 at 10:19am 25th April 2008
I've just tried to do this. However when I get to tazusb gen-liveusb and then /dev/sda1 it says 'unable to mount cdrom or to find a filesystem on it (rootfs.gz)' The mem stick is formatted as FAT32, and set as boot in flags. Can't see why this doesn't work, any help?
Comment by Cerberus_xiii at 10:30pm 24th April 2008
steam runs under wine quite fine but only game I've tried is Day of Defeat source which also works quite well
Comment by conholster at 5:14pm 24th April 2008
Steam won't run natively - although I think it will via WINE. UT2004 is available in a Linux version, too...
Comment by Sifter3000 at 2:03pm 24th April 2008
random, since i'm new to linux (but not for long!)...but will apps like Steam run?
Comment by gcd_638000846b0f at 1:44pm 24th April 2008
Thank god for that, thought I was going mental. Thanks Sifter3000, lovely post btw, I know a lot of people are looking for this type of thing these days, Slitaz probably geting massive hits on theyre site too.
Comment by TS__Slick at 1:44pm 24th April 2008
I think once the boot starts up, you get to select the drive to install to, and that's where you select the USB pen drive
Comment by gcd_638000846b0f at 1:19pm 24th April 2008
I think once the boot starts up, you get to select the drive to install to, and that's where you select the USB pen drive
Comment by gcd_638000846b0f at 1:19pm 24th April 2008
CDburnerXP didn't ask for boot options when I loaded the iso this time.
Comment by Nemiro at 9:56pm 23rd April 2008
Make sure you use the "burn image" option, and finish/close the cd when writing it...
Comment by Sifter3000 at 9:24pm 23rd April 2008
I burned the image to a cd-rw, using CDburnerXP, but it won't boot from it. Bootable option in burner? If so, what settings? (I set CD to first boot device in bios already)
Comment by Nemiro at 9:14pm 23rd April 2008
my IT manager would flip if he saw this on my desktop :P
Comment by TBallS at 8:55pm 23rd April 2008
A perfect use for my old(er) 128mb USB stick. Hopefully I'll learn some stuff in the process!
Comment by Nemiro at 8:32pm 23rd April 2008
You're right. No idea where it went - it's in the original file, just not in the CMS - how bizarre! My apologies - now ammended.
Comment by Sifter3000 at 5:37pm 23rd April 2008
Hi Guys Is it me or is there a HUGE section missing about installing Slitaz onto the pen drive?
Comment by TS__Slick at 5:30pm 23rd April 2008
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