Install Knoppix On 16 Gb Thumbdrive. Using All Of Drive For Os And Data

[OldChinaHam]

I am trying to install Knoppix on a USB drive using pendrivelinux. Last time I tried this I found that I was not able to use more than about 8 GB of the flash drive for both OS and data. The remaining 7 GB of the 16GB flash drive remains empty and not accessible.

Basically what I am trying to do is to create a couple of extra bootable thumb drives which I can carry with me and then use whenever. Also, since I now only have one laptop, when this laptop bombs out, then I will still have most of my data and a bootable OS which I can use on any computer while I send my laptop out to have it serviced. I happen to be using a Windows laptop at present, but I am not willing to change the configuration using dual boot, or different configuration, I may be exchanging it for another.

In the past, I had also tried using pendrivelinux to setup a flash drive to boot opensuse 12.1, but that did not work last year. Pendrivelinux installed 12.1 but there were problems when using it.

With the pendrivelinux install of knoppix, the remaining disk space is not enough for the files I want to copy onto the flash drive. So I am wondering if there is a better solution where I can really use the whole 16GB of my two thumbs?

Servicing laptops in Thailand, at least for ASUS, may be slow. If I can first prepare a couple of usb flash drives to boot with my data, this would be helpful.

Your two cents about my two thumbs may be helpful.

Thanks.

Edited May 16, 2013 by OldChinaHam

[OldChinaHam]

As I recall when I installed Knoppix using pendrivelinux last year April, the disk space limiting factor was the formatting of the drive using Windows to format the flash drive. I do not know if this is true, but then are there any alternative methods which could create a bootable flash drive installing something like opensuse and have it be persistent, and have the whole flash drive be usable for OS and Data. Last year I was not able to get this to work well, but now that flash drives are becoming cheaper and much higher capacity, then it would be useful to be able to put your whole computer on the thumb drive and carry it around with you, and be able to encrypt it for use such as accessing email from a public network/computer.

[OldChinaHam]

Having just downloaded Knoppix 7.0.5 and created a bootable USB flash drive using pendrivelinux to install the Knoppix DVD ISO, then there is an irritating problem with this Windows 8 Secure Boot Windows invention, when I went to boot from the Knoppix flash drive. The UEFI seems very irritating from the beginning because you cannot just immediately make BIOS setting adjustments so easily after each power on..

[OldChinaHam]

But then tried the following which does not seem to help in booting from the Knoppix 7 flash drive just created:

"I tested the procedure below with an openSUSE 12.2 LiveCD and a Knoppix 6.5 LiveUSB. The two motherboards were running an American Megatrends non-GUI Aptio BIOS and the more common GUI UEFI BIOS.

1. Boot to the BIOS and click the Boot tab. Access the item Secure Boot.
2. In most cases, the BIOS will not provide an option to disable it. Look for an item related to OS Type.
3. The option for OS Type is normally on Windows 8 UEFI by default or Windows UEFI if the hardware came with Windows 8 or was designed for Windows.
4. Change OS Type to Other OS or Legacy OS.
5. Save the BIOS settings and reboot the system with the Linux LiveCD inserted or the LiveUSB connected.

If the process fails, the motherboard or system will bring up the BIOS on boot until you switch back to Windows UEFI or default to Windows if Windows is available. On the rare occasion Secure Boot was implemented poorly, the system won't boot to either the OS or the BIOS. The system will just freeze on the manufacturer's logo. In that case, clear the RTC of the motherboard using the recommended process from the manufacturer to reset your BIOS."

[aarn]

Try installing gparted (or somesuch disk analyzer) from the DEB repositories. Then find that empty space, and format as ex3 or ex4, and then expand your O/S into the space.

You mightn't be able to do this unless you unmount your O/S - of course that won't work. But if you have another flash, put another linux on it, and attack you knoppix using on the other flashdrive. Good luck, AA

[OldChinaHam]

I have 2 x 16GB flash drives

1 Windows laptop

I do not have CD ROM drive

My goal is just to use the easiest method to be able to create a bootable persistent flash drive, hopefully running Knoppix, which will be able to use all/most of the space on the drive. I will use it for everyday, as well as for emergencies should my laptop HD fail. I don't expect to become proficient enough to install these bootable drives every day, because I only need to create 2 or 3 bootable flash drives for my own use.

Last year, I saw that Ubuntu has its own install option designed to create a persistent USB flash drive, but I had thought that this method was also similar to the pendrivelinux option.

It seems kind of strange that more is not done with this to make the process more streamlined to install linux on a flash drive. It is really a great function and tool to be able to carry around a 32 GB or 64 GM flash drive, that is actually your PC which you can plug into any computer and then have your entire PC travel with you. Very secure, too, when encrypted as with Knoppix, with all keys and passwords on the drive.

So it would be really helpful if someone could link to the best way this should be done, even if resorting to Ubuntu.

[higgy88]

I've been doing what you want to do for a number of years, except I'm using two flash drives, one 8 GB for the OS and the other a 16 GB for my data. That way I can change OSes whenever I want to without affecting my data. My current distro of choice is the Xubuntu LTS, and I have been using it this way since 4/2012. I have also installed a few other distros this way, but not with your favorite, SUSE, although I did play with their live CD once a while back, and I have never tried Knoppix. If you can make a live SUSE USB, I can't see why it wouldn't work with that.

What I did was make a live Xubuntu USB from the iso, and used that to do a full installation onto the 8 GB flash drive, using a very old Pentium 4 HP Pavilion desktop which no longer has a functional CD drive. I did physically disconnect the hard drive to make sure that the Windows MBR was not written over during the installation.

I just took a look at it, and of the 8 GB, 2.1 is for the swap and 5.9 is usable, and the installation, along with all of the additional apps I have installed, comes out to 4.5 GB, which still leaves me with 1.2 GB free. I am able to get all updates, including kernel updates, but I need to keep it clean by getting rid of all of the old kernels and other removeable residual stuff no longer needed. I just now did an update to the new 3.2.0-43 kernel.

I have used this to boot a number of different computers with no problems, but these have all been relatively old computers (the newest being a 2 year old Sony Vaio) before the secure UFEI bios, which after reading about I am afraid to go near. I must also say that it is very slow running from a USB flash drive this way.

[OldChinaHam]

Thank you for telling me about your experience with your flash drive installation. One thing you mentioned is that you have noticed "very slow running". When I installed Knoppix using pendrivelinux I did not see any change in running fast or slow, compared to running Suse from the PC's HD.

One thing I do recall however is reading in the documentation that with the swap file located on the flash drive, after just a normal install of a linux OS such as Ubuntu or Suse, this will mean that your flash drive will constantly be reading and writing the swap file during normal usage and this will decrease the life of the drive. My understanding, which may be wrong, is that the Pendrivelinux installation avoids this problem.

Over the next day or two, I will try to look again at Ubuntu and see if this distribution has a better ready made solution for what I am trying to do.

Also, as far as I know, this usb bootable flash drive will not work on older computers where you can not change the settings of the bios to boot not from the HD, but from the usb flash drive (of course). These older computers are probably not so frequently encountered now. So if the bios is too old, it won't work. And if the bios is too new, then you run into the UFEI problem, which is what I am now trying to use to boot my just-created Knoppix 7.0.5 bootable flash drive.

There must be a best solution to this, one would think.

Edited May 17, 2013 by OldChinaHam

[aarn]

I only use unetbootin to create live usb sticks, found pendrivelinux had some problems (some time ago).

Lubuntu and Xubuntu are smaller (~700Mb) than Ubuntu.

I use Lub 13.04 (64bit) on main machine, and Zorin 6.2 lite on older 32bit machine. In Lub chrome is default browser, gnumeric for broadsheet, abiword is like the old MS word 6.0, but you can create (unetbootin) persistence and download firefox, libreoffice, calibre etc. from repositories. Zorin - not sure - have to download the .iso with FFox for starters.

<I've been doing what you want to do for a number of years, except I'm using two flash drives, one 8 GB for the OS and the other a 16 GB for my data.>

top idea! After making the live usb, you can remove the HDD (very easy - google youtube with your computer brand etc., if unsure - generally only need small philips-head screwdriver) and thereby I think even UEFI BIOS will recognise your usb, however might require a little tinkering. AA

[Morakot]

Try installing gparted (or somesuch disk analyzer) from the DEB repositories. Then find that empty space, and format as ex3 or ex4,

I don't think you want to have a journalled FS. The standard for flash disk is ext2. You can also use ext4 but need to tune it to non-journalled (this is not possible for ext3).

I think a partition would be useful; you don't want /home to be mixed with the rest.

[OldChinaHam]

What I had been using in most cases was the Universal USB Installer 1.9.3.4 available

here:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

[aarn]

I tried a few things, found http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ best

[Morakot]

What I had been using in most cases was the Universal USB Installer 1.9.3.4 available

here:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

In that case you don't need to worry about the file system, as the installer does the formatting for you. You will mostly likely have FAT32.

Can you summarise the situation with your lost space (again)?

[OldChinaHam]

Under this install, using the Universal USB Installer 1.9.3.4, the flash drive will be formatted as you say, using FAT32, and (I think) due to this file system having size constraints, then this means that only about 8GB of the flash drive is usable. This is only MY understanding of the problem and I could very well be wrong. Also, I am not sure how much space on these drives could be utilized while maintaining fast running speed, or if the more space used, the slower the flash drive becomes, this I also do not know.

The Installer I mentioned here is very easy to use and will install many different distributions of linux, as well as some other software I think. My only problem is that I want to be able to use more than 8GB, because last time I tried this I very quickly ran out of disk space when using it after a short while. The DVD installation is 4GB, right off the bat, so this does not leave you with much if you want to use it on a daily basis.

INTEresting that I just checked pricewatch to see the going price for usb Imation flash drives 64GB. The price is only about USD40.00, which is nothing compared to what this would have cost a short time ago. This project is worth doing I think if one is traveling around, with the chance that one's computer might be lost or damaged, or in a country where things are not so secure. Having an encrypted bootable Knoppix with all your important files sounds like a great idea.

USD40.00, at this price, might as well buy 2.

[OldChinaHam]

"I tried a few things, found http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ best"

Looking on this link, I found that Opensuse 11.1 is supported when the latest version now is 12.3, I think.

Also, I did not see any mention of Knoppix. But this may be possible too.

[Morakot]

Not sure if this is really the case. FAT32's limitation is the 4GB file size. What ever it is, a workaround could be creating partitions for /home /tmp and or /var on the unused space. Should be relatively easy if the OS is up and running.

Btw, Knoppix is probably a better choice of this live set up.

Good luck!

[aarn]

I have a bias towards unetbootin because, I think, that is the only live-usb-creator that can be used from windoze and/or linux.

Are you using knoppix/opensuse 'coz they were the first ones you were introduced to?

Anyway, you can always try to unetbootin knoppix.

I think unetbootin-583 is latest, developer (GKovacs) updates from time-to-time.

Believe me, the ubuntu repos are massive, lub/xub/edU can access them, so please try an Ub/derivative.

$US40 for 64Gb flash - sounds OK. usb3 should be faster than usb2. AA

[OldChinaHam]

aarn,

I am only using Opensuse basically because this was my first choice in 2002 when I began using 8.1 on all my PCs, and have just continued using this OS and now have 12.3 on my PCs. I don't really use anything else, and I also do not use Windows PCs. This laptop happens to be Win 8 because that was what was installed when I purchased it.

Knoppix I very much like! after using it after installation on two flash drives last year. It has good encryption with the default install. So I would prefer to use this.

Yes, you are right about the usb2 usb3 speed issue. But I just purchased what was available in one of those Macro (sorry Makro) stores yesterday to see if I could finally get this install working properly. If this works, then I can just buy and install a different flash drive.

Thank you very much for your thoughts, I do need to get this working so that I have peace of mind when my laptop fails, and although new I know that it will fail when most needed.

Edited May 17, 2013 by OldChinaHam

[aarn]

If your laptop gonna fail because of HDD rather than motherboard problems, replace with new HDD (or ssd) and install your knoppix/other linux.

If can still access old HDD after changing, use old HDD for storage.

Changed my life already... Cheers, AA

[WonnabeBiker]

My notebook doesn't boot after a memory upgrade (battery hadn't been disconnected - that might be one possible reason for the issue). The manufacturer's name is now whowing up tiled and 6 x, 3 times on each side of the LCD.

The computer shop tried to sell me a new LCD, but that was nonsense.

Q: Is there some mail-order place selling Knoppix on a memory stick or a CD? Or some other distribution, like UBUNTU? Just wondering. I need a live OS CD.

Ordering something in the U.s. would take too long.

Cheers!

[dharmabm]

i read the other thread about your problem, and at the risk of stating the obvious - have you tried repeatedly hitting f2 and/or delete at boot to see if you can get into the bios? the manufacturer's logo usually only covers the post process, so if you're not getting past that i really doubt alternate boot media will help you, especially if your bios is not already set to boot from cd first. does hitting f12 give you a boot options menu? did you try removing the new memory and putting the old back in? tried booting without the battery installed (doubtful that will help but can occasionally eliminate problems)? i can make you a cd of any OS of choice if you want, but i honestly do not think that will help in your situation. PM me with your location and i will see what i can do to help.

[JSixpack]

I'm not aware of any installer specifically named "pendrivelinux."

Having said that, I've use yumi to create multiboot flashdrives successfully--on larger drives. http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

[OldChinaHam]

The one I always use is the following, and also, all the software required, including "live" CDs, and so forth, are easily downloadable. If you do not have a connection, then visit a coffee shop. Knoppix does still sell CDs. And even some companies sell loaded and prepared USB thumbdrives with Knoppix already installed.

If you don't have a computer, then there is always the coffee shop, as well.

The mailed copy of the CD or DVD, or USB, will take a long time, comparatively, especially if you live in Thailand.

They are still sold and can be located by Googling.

This is the best place to go to install a bootable USB thumb drive with persistent functionality:

Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3

Universal USB Installer aka UUI is a Live Linux USB Creator that allows you to choose from a selection of Linux Distributions to put on your USB Flash Drive. The Universal USB Installer is easy to use. Simply choose a Live Linux Distribution, the ISO file, your Flash Drive and, Click Install. Upon completion, you should have a ready to run bootable USB Flash Drive with your select operating system installed. Other features include; Persistence (if available) – note that casper persistence will only work with fat16 or fat32 formatted drives.

Universal USB Installer (UUI) Screenshots

Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.4.4.exe – October 17, 2013 – Changes

Added Ubuntu, Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu 13.10