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Author Topic: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro  (Read 12967 times)

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Helpmeh

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Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« on: February 21, 2010, 12:35:31 PM »
Hey guys, I'm looking for a small, but easy to use (for a person who normally uses Win XP), linux distro. I have a 1.85 GB flashdrive that I just formatted and I've always wanted to try Linux.
Requirements:
1. Doesn't have to be too small. (~50-200MB)
2. NEEDS to be user-friendly
3. It would be nice if it came pre-packaged with programs (Firefox, etc.)
4. Easy installation (or at least easy to follow instructions).

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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2010, 05:51:50 PM »
Linux Mint would be my reccomendation.
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Helpmeh

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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2010, 06:03:37 PM »
Quote from: BC_Programmer on February 21, 2010, 05:51:50 PM
Linux Mint would be my reccomendation.
Ok, so how would I attach that to my flash drive? It also would be nice if it could be in a virtual machine, but LinuxLive has never worked in my tests (boot medium error with JVM java virtual machine), and Universal USB Installer from pendrivelinux.com says the flash drive won't be bootable, so I don't know how it will work.
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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2010, 06:11:57 PM »
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Helpmeh

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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2010, 06:19:52 PM »
Quote from: BC_Programmer on February 21, 2010, 06:11:57 PM
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-linux-mint-install-from-windows/
Linux Mint iso link was dead, so I found the newer version, but I will report back in ~2 hours.
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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2010, 06:36:14 PM »
Quote from: Helpmeh on February 21, 2010, 06:19:52 PM
Linux Mint iso link was dead, so I found the newer version, but I will report back in ~2 hours.

OK, I know I used the same portable-installer thing to install a later version of the ISO, and it works.
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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2010, 06:48:20 PM »
Quote from: BC_Programmer on February 21, 2010, 06:36:14 PM
OK, I know I used the same portable-installer thing to install a later version of the ISO, and it works.
Is there anyway to have it in a virtual machine? I haven't had much experience so, if possible, can you give me step by step instructions?
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Helpmeh

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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2010, 07:07:18 PM »
Quote from: BC_Programmer on February 21, 2010, 06:36:14 PM
OK, I know I used the same portable-installer thing to install a later version of the ISO, and it works.
I got at least 3 data errors...and it failed to read the boot sector, causing it to fail again.

EDIT: I am not trying again, except this time I will not attempt to see why it appeared to have frozen on
EXTRACTING casper\filesystem.squashfs

Which by the way, was the first data error. The other 2 data errors occurred directly afterwords.

I retried...same errors.
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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2010, 06:24:14 PM »
Anyone?
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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2010, 04:59:41 PM »
There are others...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

I have used DSL, Knoppix and Puppy.

Pulpy has easy instructions to put it on a USB.


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Helpmeh

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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2010, 05:10:01 PM »
Quote from: Geek-9pm on March 01, 2010, 04:59:41 PM
There are others...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions

I have used DSL, Knoppix and Puppy.

Pulpy has easy instructions to put it on a USB.



It says I need burn it to a CD, AND THEN add it to a USB...is there any way to jump that step? I do have burning software, just not a cd.
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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2010, 07:43:49 PM »
Yes, you can install it without a CD!

Here is one solution:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNetbootin
That, of course explains what can be done for many distros.

Here are two more links you should see.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/unetbootin/files/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1242550/how_to_install_puppy_linux_onto_a_usb.html

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Helpmeh

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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #12 on: March 02, 2010, 09:12:34 AM »
Ok...I've tried using LinuxLive (or LiveLinux, I can't remember) and Pendrivelinux's installer and neither work. LinuxLive screws up the virtual box and Pendrive hasn't been able to make the drive bootable...I will try unetbootin soon.
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Helpmeh

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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #13 on: March 02, 2010, 04:33:54 PM »
It works! Well, it at least installed fine.. :-\ I'm just feeling apprehensive about changing the bios settings, and in fact, I doubt it will even stay changed. Deepfreeze can be a real pain in the you-know-where sometimes...

Is there a way I can use it in an emulator, similar to JVM (except for some reason, that didn't work)?
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Re: Looking for a good PORTABLE distro
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2010, 04:36:41 PM »
Quote from: Helpmeh on March 02, 2010, 04:33:54 PM
It works! Well, it at least installed fine.. :-\ I'm just feeling apprehensive about changing the bios settings, and in fact, I doubt it will even stay changed. Deepfreeze can be a real pain in the you-know-where sometimes...

Is there a way I can use it in an emulator, similar to JVM (except for some reason, that didn't work)?

The JVM is for running Java programs.... I guess you mean Sun VirtualBox?

I've never had to boot USB via emulation, but if I ever needed to, it turns out that VMWare has a feature called "ACE" whereby I could place any Virtual Machine configuration on a USB flash drive and run it anywhere. Not sure if that feature is in any other VM programs.
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