[ale] anyone installed linux on to a flash drive

[Michael H. Warfield]

On Mon, 2012-10-01 at 11:01 -0400, Narahari 'n' Savitha wrote:
> Mr. Warfield:

> When do you propose to give that talk and is it at Central or Atlanta
> NW ?

It's not currently scheduled but will probably be early next year.
We've kicked the idea around ever since before the grub2 talk several
months ago.  This would be at Central.

> -Narahari

Regards,
Mike

> On Sun, Sep 30, 2012 at 1:13 PM, Michael H. Warfield
> <mhw at wittsend.com> wrote:
>         Wow...  And I'm suppose to give a talk on my "multiboot" keys
>         sooner or
>         later...  Reminder to self...
>         
>         Yeah, I've done this...  I have a pair of 64G USB keys (always
>         have a
>         backup if you are going to do this).  It's a multiboot key
>         using a
>         custom rolled grub2 configuration (which would be what my talk
>         would be
>         about)...
>         
>         What's on that key (in order)...
>         
>         * Boot Images for my encrypted laptop (3 most recent kernel
>         images).
>         
>         * Chainloaders to drive 1 and 2 of the system.
>         
>         * OpenClient (and IBM customized RHEL image) run live and
>         testdrive
>         images...
>         
>         * CentOS 6 desktop run live.
>         
>         * Fedora 15, 16, and 17 Desktop run lives for i686 and x86_64.
>         
>         * Network Security Toolkit 2.16 (various configurations).
>         
>         * Parted Magic.
>         
>         * Ubuntu
>         
>         * Backtrack (another forensic related distro).
>         
>         * TinyCore (minimalist busybox based distro).
>         
>         All totaled, probably a couple dozen menu entries including
>         sub-menus
>         and what not.
>         
>         Takes a little over 1/2 of that 64G key including persistent
>         image store
>         and a common encrypted home directory.
>         
>         Why?  It's my Swiss Army Knife.  I can (have to) boot my
>         totally
>         encrypted laptop from the key.  No key - no boot.  End of
>         discussion.
>         In addition, I can walk up to any computer and boot the
>         computer from
>         any one of my boot selections and have a run live for
>         demonstration or
>         for forensic purposes.
>         
>         It's actually pretty easy to install a run-live to a USB key
>         with a
>         persistent store for updates and a home partition for use.  We
>         typically
>         refer to these as a "Computer On A Stick".  Building a
>         multiboot that
>         works like that (ESPECIALLY if you have a common home) is a
>         lot tricker
>         but grub2 makes it easier than syslinux or the old grub.
>         
>         Regards,
>         Mike
>         
>         On Sun, 2012-09-30 at 10:02 -0400, Narahari 'n' Savitha wrote:
>         > Friends:
>         >
>         > I want to install Linux on to a flash drive.
>         >
>         > Has anyone in the ALE family done this ?
>         >
>         > When I install Linux on to a Flash drive, does it mean that
>         I can take it
>         > from machine to machine or is it specific to the hardware
>         that I installed
>         > for ?
>         >
>         > What about taking the flash drive out and plugging it back
>         to the same
>         > machine, that should be doable right ?  I am trying to use
>         this as an
>         > alternate os at work on the same hardware.
>         >
>         > What is the diff between installing the OS on a Flash drive
>         vs running Live
>         > CD (Puppy or Linux Mint that saves data) ?
>         >
>         > My Flash drive is 2GB and I am not sure if Arch can be
>         installed there with
>         > XFace.
>         >
>         > Is it feasible to do so ?
>         >
>         > I would like all kinds of comments to help out.
>         >
>         > -Narahari
>         >
>         
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>         
>         --
>         Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 985-6132 |
>          mhw at WittsEnd.com
>            /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/          | (678) 463-0932 |
>          http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
>            NIC whois: MHW9          | An optimist believes we live in
>         the best of all
>          PGP Key: 0x674627FF        | possible worlds.  A pessimist is
>         sure of it!
>         
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-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 985-6132 |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/          | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9          | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0x674627FF        | possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!
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