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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.
* Once done, run ‘gparted,’ which will launch Gparted in a new window. It’s easy to use but make sure you’re working on the USB flash drive, not your hard disk. You can select which drive to work on in the top right hand corner of the screen, and you should be able to tell which disk is which as their capacities are clearly displayed. You should note down the device name too – for example /dev/sda – but remember this changes from computer to computer and depending on how many devices are in your machine.
STEP 5: PREPARING THE USB KEY
If there is any data on your flash disk that you want to keep, back this up, as all information will be wiped in the partitioning process.
* If you’re lucky, your flash drive will already be formatted as FAT32, in which case all you need to do is set the ‘boot’ flag to on. This is done by right clicking the partition, clicking ‘manage flags’ and ticking the boot box. If your drive has more than one partition, or it isn’t formatted, then delete the partitions and create a new FAT32 partition. This is all self explanatory through the menus – just right click on the drive in the main window to bring it up. When all is done, close the program.
STEP 6: INSTALLING SLITAZ
* Now it’s time to install Slitaz to your USB drive. From the terminal, type ‘tazusb gen-liveusb.’ When prompted, put in the device name you saw in Gparted - in my case /dev/sda1. When the process is finished, type ‘exit’ to return to the prompt, then ‘cd /media/flash/boot/syslinux’ to change to the USB drive, and ‘nano syslinux.cfg’ to edit our boot file.
* We’re going to add some text to the end of the the fifth line, which begins ‘append initrd=/boot/rootfs.gz.’ If like me, you’re always going to want Slitaz to run in English with a UK keyboard layout, add ‘lang=en kmap=en’ at the end of the line. If you had to install a driver for your network card, you can tell it to load on boot by putting ‘modprobe=mydriver.’
* Nano works like any file editing program, but you’ll find it will often drop a line of code down to the next line. This isn’t wanted, so if this happens, move to the beginning of the dropped line and press backspace to move it back to the end of the previous line. [b]The entire ‘append’ line must be a single line![/b]. When you’re done, press CTRL+o to save, and then CTRL+x to exit.
* At this point, you can remove the CD from your drive and boot from your USB drive. If all goes well, you should end up back at the login menu. Removing software is optional, but it will help reduce the size of the filesystem. The smaller the filesystem, the less RAM is needed.
* To remove unnecessary fripperies, load a terminal window and become root again by typing ‘su’ and providing the password ‘root.’ Then run ‘tazpkg recharge’ so Slitaz has a list of available software packages. Then use the command ‘tazpkg remove packagename’ to remove packages. I removed packages lighthttpd, sqlite, php, mtpaint, gcolor2, gitmail, grsync, rsync, lostirc and retawq as these are aimed at developers.
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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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