boot from usb key?

[Matt Price]

hi daniel,


On Sun, 2007-10-28 at 19:42 -0400, Daniel Wayne Armstrong wrote:
> On 10/28/07, Matt Price <matt.price-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> >
> > i'm trying to install ubuntu on a thinkpad x31, which doesn't have a
> > disk drive.  So i want to do it from a usb key, though i'd accept other
> > methods if people think they're better.  Anyway, I tried following the
> > directions on:
> 
> Hi Matt... I just bought a x31 myself off ebay and installed debian
> using a usb stick. I don't know how transferable the steps taken are
> to a ubuntu install... but this is what I did:
> 
> STEP 1
> 
> - configure the bios to support usb hd booting and place it before hd
> booting... and enable usb bios support
> 

check

> STEP 2
> 
> - create a single FAT16 partition on the usb stick using cfdisk
> 
check (i used fdisk, is cfdisk better?)

> STEP 3
> 
> - grab some files...
> 
> ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-i386/20070308etch1/images/hd-media/vmlinuz
> ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-i386/20070308etch1/images/hd-media/initrd.gz
> http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/4.0_r1/i386/iso-cd/debian-40r1-i386-netinst.iso
> 

very helpful, thanks!

> STEP 4
> 
> - on my debian system I used to prepare the usb stick... install these pkgs...
> 
> apt-get install syslinux mtools dosfstools mbr
> 
check

> STEP 5
> 
> - configure the usb stick (**with the assumption that the device is sda**)
> 
> mkdosfs /dev/sda1
> install-mbr /dev/sda
> syslinux /dev/sda1
> mount -t msdos /dev/sda1 /mnt
> mv debian-40r1-i386-netinst.iso net40r1.iso
> cp -v initrd.gz vmlinuz net40r1.iso /mnt/
> 

excellent, check

> STEP 6
> 
> - create the 'syslinux.cfg' file on the usb stick with these parameters...
> 
> default vmlinuz
> append initrd=initrd.gz ramdisk_size=12000 root=/dev/ram rw
> 
check, see below

> STEP 7
> 
> - save and unmount...
> 
> sync
> umount /dev/sda1
> 
> STEP 8
> 
> - plug the usb stick into the x31 and reboot... when you see...
> 
> MBR FA:
> 
> ...hit 'a', which changes the prompt to...
> 
> MBR 1234A:
> 
> ...hit '1' and the debian installer starts...
> 
on my system the pen drive just booted right into linux without any
prompts, and...  left me where i'd been with my ubuntu attempt, at a
blankc screen.  but this particular set of instructions clarified
something for me, i guess:  now i understand that syslinux is just a
bootloader! & so i tried what i would have done on grub, namely, added
the parameters "vesa vga=771" to the append= line.  and voila, on the
next boot the old, familiar, blue debian installer screen was there.
hooray!  In the end i decided to install ubuntu on this machine again,
though i'm sort of regretting it now -- but since i understand the
process now i suppose i can reinstall as often and as absurdly as  i
like.  


> Hope this helps... Best of luck!

yes, helped indeed.  thanks!

matt


> --
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
> TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists
-- 
Matt Price
matt.price-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <http://gtalug.org/pipermail/legacy/attachments/20071028/7184b8bc/attachment.sig>