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Idea #8437: Include an application to make it easy to install Ubuntu to a USB drive

bug This idea is a duplicate of Idea #16: LiveUSB.
Written by MattBD the 12 May 08 at 19:10. Category: Installation. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
It would be great if the Ubuntu CD included a utility that allowed you to easily install it to a USB flash drive (something like the one in Dreamlinux). While I have managed to do this before, it's not something that's easy for beginners to do and flash drives are more portable than a Live CD and will also work on computers without an optical drive, such as an Eee PC.
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #8437
Written by MattBD the 12 May 08 at 19:10.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #8437 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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Runn3r.cZe wrote on the 12 May 08 at 19:19
i'm just thinking about buying a usb drive just for a linux distro... and have ubuntu on it would be great... my favourite system everywhere with me

amar wrote on the 13 May 08 at 09:46
Good idea, to do it manually see:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

may be a duplicate of:
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/16/

peetie wrote on the 13 May 08 at 17:17
Yeah, this is a duplicate of 16, but it is important to note that installing on flash has problems with reliability. OTOH a "live" image like the CD version is very useful.

FWIW: Here is the simple (10 step version - cribbed from "flounder")

1. fdisk /dev/sdX #create bootable 750M FAT & optionally the rest Linux
2a. mkfs.vfat -n ubuntu804 /dev/sdX1
2b. mkfs.ext2 -n casper-rw /dev/sdX2 # optional step
3. apt-get install lilo;lilo -M /dev/sdX
4. mkdir isomnt; mount -o loop hardy-desktop-i386.iso isomnt
5. mkdir /media/sdX1;mount /dev/sdX1 /media/sdX1;
6. cp -a isomnt/.??* isomnt/* /media/sdX1
7. mv /media/sdX1/isolinux /media/sdX1/syslinux
8. mv /media/sdX1/syslinux/isolinux.cfg /media/sdX1/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
9. vi /media/sdX1/syslinux/syslinux.cfg # :/isolinux/syslinux/g|x
10. syslinux /dev/sdX1;eject /dev/sdX

fluteflute (Idea reviewer) wrote on the 13 May 08 at 19:13
Something very similar is included in today's release of Fedora.

probono wrote on the 21 Jul 08 at 14:02
http://launchpad.net/liveusb


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