USB xPUD Install from Windows: xPUD is an intuitive minimal Linux Operating system. It was created by Penk and functions like a Kiosk. xPUD ships with the Firefox Browser, Gnome Media Player, Transmission Bit torrent Client, Geany Text Editor, Gpicview Picture Viewer, EPDFView and Xterm Terminal Emulator. More apps can be installed for other tasks. xPUD is optimized for Netbooks and can be run from a Desktop or Laptop just as well (drivers are available). The entire xPUD Operating environment can boot in just a few seconds from a USB device.

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USB Moblin Flash Drive Install using Windows: Moblin is a Linux Platform designed for Netbooks, Mobile Internet Devices, and In Vehicle Infotainment Systems. Mobilin now supported by the Linux Foundation, has been tested on Netbooks and devices such as the Acer Aspire One, ASUS EeePC 901 /1000 /1000H, Dell Inspiron 910, MSI Wind, Lenovo S10, Samsung NC10, HP mini 1010 and 1120NR (with wired networking only). Considering that many Netbooks do not use CD Drives, and ship with Windows, having the ability to install and run Moblin from USB is essential.
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Create a USB Boot CD that can be used to boot Xubuntu 9.04 from USB flash drive on computers using a system BIOS that does not natively support booting from USB. The boot CD works by loading the initrd and vmlinuz kernel from the CD. Once the necessary USB drivers have been loaded, the boot CD proceeds to locate and load the filesystem from the USB flash drive. Because the USB driver modules are preloaded from the CD, the compressed filesystem can then be detected and loaded from the USB device even if your system BIOS does not support booting from USB.

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This tutorial explains how to create a USB Boot CD that can be used to boot Kubuntu 9.04 from a USB flash drive on computers utilizing a system BIOS that does not natively support booting from USB. Kubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu that uses the KDE desktop environment instead of Gnome. The USB boot CD created using this tutorial launches the initrd and vmlinuz kernel from the CD along with the necessary USB drivers, and then proceeds to locate the filesystem on the USB drive. Because the USB driver modules are preloaded from the initrd on the CD, the compressed filesystem can then be detected and loaded from the USB device.

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USB Linux Mint 7 persistent flash drive creation. In the following tutorial, we show you how to use Windows to create a Portable Linux Mint 7 USB flash drive. Linux Mint 7 Gloria is based on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and is compatible with it's current repositories. Originally launched as a variant of Ubuntu with integrated media codecs, Linux Mint has developed into an elegant Linux distribution. Currently maintained by Clement Lefebvre, more information about Linux Mint can be found at the Official Linux Mint site.

Note: The persistent feature works just as it does in Ubuntu 9.04, allowing you to save and restore most of your changes.

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The following tutorial explains how to create a USB Boot CD that can be used to boot a Ubuntu 9.04 USB flash drive on computers with a BIOS that does not natively support booting from USB. The boot CD contains a grub bootloader that loads the initrd and vmlinuz kernel from the CD and then proceeds to locate the filesystem on the USB drive. Because the USB driver modules are preloaded from the initrd on the CD, the compressed filesystem can then be detected and loaded from the USB device.

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Persistent Linux – What is it? After looking through some of the tutorials offered on Pendrivelinux.com, you may be wondering what Persistent Linux means. So in the following segment, I will cover my understanding of persistence in relation to Linux, data storage and recovery. In addition, I will try to explain some of the limitations of using a USB Persistent or Persistence Data storage structure.

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USB Kubuntu 9.04 Persistent Install In the following tutorial, I will show you how to quickly install Kubuntu 9.04 to a USB flash drive using our custom batch installer within Windows. A product of canonical ltd, Kubuntu 9.04 features the popular, elegant and awe inspiring KDE desktop environment. This tutorial makes use of the casper persistent loop file (casper-rw) for saving and restoring most preferences, changes and downloads.

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USB Xubuntu 9.04 Persistent Installation. In the following tutorial, we will cover the process of installing Xubuntu 9.04 to a USB flash drive using Windows. Xubuntu is product of Canonical ltd that is based on Ubuntu but utilizes the XFCE desktop environment. Xubuntu is designed to use less resources than it's  counterparts, making it  a great Linux OS to run portably from a USB flash drive or USB Hard Drive.

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USB Persistent Ubuntu 9.04 installation In the following tutorial, we show you how to install, boot and run Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) from a USB flash drive from a Windows PC. Ubuntu 9.04 can then be run natively from your portable USB device. Note that this process does utilize a casper-rw loop file for persistently saving and restoring changes on subsequent boots.

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Install Ubuntu 9.04 NetBook Remix to a Flash Drive using Windows. Ubuntu offers their own Ubuntu Image Writer. This tool enables a user to create a Ubuntu NetBook Remix USB Flash Drive from a disk image. The Portable Ubuntu NetBook operating system can then be run portably from the Flash Drive without installing or installed to your Netbook from the Flash Drive. USB Ubuntu NetBook Remix Flash Drive installation is simple. However, we have created a short tutorial below to offer a heads up on the install.

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USB MoonOS LXDE Flash Drive creation tutorial. In the following tutorial, I will show you how to create your own Portable USB MoonOS LXDE Persistent Linux Operating System from the Live CD by using the USB Creator (created by the Ubuntu Team). MoonOS LXDE edition is a Linux Remix based on Ubuntu, but uses the LXDE desktop environment. The MoonOS project a Mix of Art and Operating System was designed and founded by Chanrithy Thim a Cambodian artist.

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The following tutorial explains how to put Linux Mint 6 Felicia KDE on a USB Flash Drive via the USB-Creator (created by Ubuntu). The Linux Mint 6 KDE edition is based on Kubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex, the Linux 2.6.27 kernel and, Xorg 7.4. The KDE version of Linux Mint ships with KDE 4.2 and Amarok 2.0.

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Portable Ubuntu for Windows is a project headed by Claudio Cacsar Sa¡nchez Tejeda that uses CoLinux (Cooperative Linux) to enable a user to run Ubuntu on top of Windows. CoLinux, a port of the Linux Kernel, is an open source virtual machine that works much like Qemu (some claim it is faster). Ubuntu is a fork of Debian, and a product of Canonical Ltd. In the following tutorial, we will show you how to install and run CoLinux Portable Ubuntu from a USB flash drive or other portable device, all while your still up and running in Windows.

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In the following Knoppix 6.0 (MicroKnoppix) Linux USB installation tutorial, we cover the process of installing Knoppix 6.0 Adriane  to a USB flash drive using the built in "Flash-Knoppix" installer. Knoppix 6.0 Adriane (Audio Desktop Reference Implementation And Networking Environment) v1.1 was released 01/28/2009 by Klaus Knopper and has been completely rebuilt from scratch to be based on the Debian Lenny Kernel.

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The following tutorial explains how to create a larger casper-rw loop file for your Ubuntu based flash drive install. For example: Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Crunchbang or Linux Mint. A larger casper-rw loop file is particularly useful for those who have performed a Linux install to a large thumb drive using a Windows USB tutorial and need more persistent storage space for saving changes. The default casper-rw loop file used in the Windows USB installation tutorials is only 1GB.

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PUD Linux USB Flash Drive Installation. In the following tutorial, we cover the process of installing PUD Linux to a USB Flash Drive using Windows. PUD Linux is a tiny 259MB Ubuntu based remix. It utilizes an (LXDE) Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment and a unique Modular Opt-Get Plugin System to add additional software applications.

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The following SLAX Boot CD can be used to boot SLAX 6.0.9 from a USB device on computers using a system bios that does not natively support booting from USB. It could also be used to boot SLAX Linux from a flash drive on an intel based Apple Mac, MacBook, or MacBook Pro that uses EFI instead of a bios. This SLAX USB Boot CD was created by Tomas M (the creator of SLAX) for SLAX.

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The following tutorial will enable you to create a USB Boot CD that can be used to Boot CrunchBang Linux from a USB Flash Drive on systems that do not natively support booting from USB. The USB Boot CD uses a grub bootloader to launch the vmlinuz kernel and initrd from the CD, loading the necessary USB drivers, and then proceeds to locate and extract the compressed filesystem from the flash drive. CrunchBang Linux is a unique remix based on Ubuntu.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing CrunchBang Linux to a USB Flash Drive via the CrunchBang Live CD. In addition, the persistence feature is being utilized to allow a user to save and restore changes automatically. CrunchBang Linux is based on Ubuntu, featuring a lightweight Openbox window manager.

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This USB Boot CD can be used to boot Linux Mint 6 from a USB flash drive on computers with a BIOS that does not support booting from USB. Linux Mint is a remix based on Ubuntu. The USB Boot CD uses a grub bootloader to launch the vmlinuz kernel and initrd from the CD, loading the necessary USB drivers, and then proceeds to locate and extract the compressed filesystem from the flash drive.

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USB CrunchBang Linux Flash Drive Install. The following tutorial covers the process of installing CrunchBang Linux to a USB Flash Drive. CrunchBang Linux is remix based on Ubuntu, but features a lightweight Openbox window manager with GTK+ applications. CrunchBang was designed with speed and functionality in mind.

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Linux Mint Flash Drive installation via the Live CD. The following tutorial covers the process of installing Linux Mint 6 to a USB flash drive using the USB Creator created by the Ubuntu team. Linux Mint 6 is a remix based on Ubuntu 8.10. More information about Linux Mint can be found at the Official Linux Mint site.

Note: Installing Linux Mint to a flash drive via the following method makes use of the persistence feature (via a persistence loop file) to save your changes and restore them on subsequent boots.

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USB Linux Mint 6 persistent flash drive creation. The following tutorial covers how to install, boot and run Linux Mint from a USB device using Windows to create the portable Mint flash drive. Linux Mint 6 Felicia is a remix of Ubuntu Linux 8.10. Originally launched as a variant of Ubuntu with integrated media codecs, Linux Mint has developed into an elegant Linux distribution. Currently maintained by Clement Lefebvre, more information about Linux Mint can be found at the Official Linux Mint site.

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In the following tutorial, we cover the process of installing SLAX 6.0.9 to a USB Flash Drive or other portable device. SLAX is a tiny Linux distribution (190MB) created by Tomas Matejicek. SLAX is essentially a stripped down version of Slackware Linux. Currently available as an ISO for Live CD creation or as a tar file for extraction to a USB stick, SLAX Linux also utilizes the ability to save your changes persistently and add or remove modules on the fly.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing gOS 3 Gadgets Linux OS to a USB flash drive using the gOS 3 Live CD. In addition, the persistence option can being utilized for saving and restoring changes automatically. gOS 3 is based on Ubuntu and features the Gnome desktop environment with Wbar. Wbar features a dock and stack that looks and functions much like Mac OSX fan view. The gOS 3 Gadgets version also incorporates many useful Google Apps, open office, wine, skype and more.

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Kubuntu 8.10 USB Creator: The following tutorial covers the process of installing Kubuntu 8.10 to a USB flash drive using the USB Creator created by the Ubuntu team. Kubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu but uses the popular KDE desktop environment instead of Gnome. Installing Kubuntu 8.10 to a flash drive via the following method makes use of the persistence feature (via a persistence loop file) to save your changes and restore them on subsequent boots.

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This USB Boot CD can be used to boot Kubuntu 8.10 from a USB flash drive on computers with a BIOS that does not support booting from USB (including the Apple Mac, Macbook and, Macbook Pro). Kubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu that uses the KDE desktop environment instead of Gnome. This boot CD loads the initrd and vmlinuz kernel from the CD and then loads the necessary USB drivers, proceeding to locate and extract the filesystem from the USB flash drive.

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Much like a USB Boot CD that can be used to boot Ubuntu 8.10 from USB, this USB Boot CD can be used to boot a prepared Xubuntu 8.10 USB flash drive on computers containing a system BIOS that does not natively support booting from USB. The boot CD works by loading the initrd and vmlinuz kernel from the CD. Once the necessary USB drivers have been loaded, the boot CD proceeds to locate and load the filesystem from the USB flash drive.

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This USB Boot CD can be used to boot a Ubuntu 8.10 USB flash drive on computers with a BIOS that does not natively support booting from USB. The boot CD contains a grub bootloader that loads the initrd and vmlinuz kernel from the CD and then proceeds to locate the filesystem on the USB flash drive. Because the USB drivers are preloaded from the initrd on the CD, the USB flash drive can then easily be detected.

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XUbuntu 8.10 USB Creator: The following tutorial covers the process of installing Xubuntu 8.10 to a USB flash drive, or other portable USB device using USB Creator created by the Ubuntu team. Installing Xubuntu 8.10 to a flash drive via this method allows the use of the persistence feature (via a persistence loop file) to save and restore your changes on subsequent boots.

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USB Xubuntu 8.10 Persistent Flash Drive Install. The following tutorial covers the process of installing Xubuntu 8.10 to a USB flash drive using Windows. Xubuntu a product of Canonical ltd is based on Ubuntu but utilizes the XFCE desktop environment. It was designed to use less resources than Ubuntu or Kubuntu, which makes Xubuntu a great candidate to run from a USB flash drive or Live USB.

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USB Kubuntu 8.10 The following tutorial covers the process of installing Kubuntu 8.10 to a USB flash drive. Kubuntu 8.10 is a product of canonical ltd and is based on Ubuntu but sports a KDE 4 desktop instead of Gnome. Some people prefer the KDE desktop due to it's unique graphical look and feel. Upon completion of this tutorial, you should have a bootable Live USB Kubuntu 8.10 that utilizes a persistent loop file (casper-rw) for saving and restoring changes.

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Live Persistent Ubuntu 8.10 USB installation The following tutorial covers how to install, boot and run Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) from a USB flash drive using a Windows computer to perform the install. Ubuntu 8.10 will be run natively from the portable device utilizing a persistent casper-rw loop file for saving and restoring changes. Ubuntu is a product of Canonical Ltd.

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UNetbootin is a Live USB creation tool that can be used to create a Live Linux USB flash drive from an ISO. Many Linux distributions are supported out of the box with custom install options available for Linux distributions that are not. It is important to mention that Live Linux USB flash drives created with this tool, do not currently utilize a persistence feature. The resulting USB Linux install will function just as it does from a CD. By default you will not be able to save and restore your changes.

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Ubuntu 8.10 USB Creator The following tutorial covers the process of installing Ubuntu 8.10 to a USB flash drive, thumb drive or portable external hard drive using the built in USB Creator (produced by the Ubuntu team) to create a "USB Startup Disk". Installing with this method allows the use of the persistence feature (via a persistence loop file, FINALLY) to save and restore your changes on subsequent boots.

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Ubuntu 8.10 Persistent flash drive install using the Live CD. This tutorial will enable a user to install Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex to a USB flash drive while booted from the Live CD. In addition the persistence or casper persistent feature will be utilized to automatically save changes back to the thumb drive as you work, and then restore those saved changes upon subsequent boots.

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How to Access BIOS. Computer and motherboard manufacturers and BIOS suppliers may use varying keyboard keys or key combinations that can be pressed during system post to access your system BIOS. Unfortunately there is no standard method to universally access or enter a motherboard BIOS. The following is a list of some popular BIOS suppliers, Computer Vendors and the keyboard key combinations that have been known to work with them.

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In the following tutorial, we show you how to move your existing Wubi Ubuntu install to an external USB drive. This enables you to take your Wubi install of Ubuntu with you. Moreover, because Wubi is using loopfiles (files that once mounted, act as partitions), the remaining NTFS partitioned drive space is still completely usable by Windows for storage. If you ever should decide you no longer want to play with Ubuntu, you can simply delete it from the external USB drive without the need to delete partitions etc.

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The Could not find kernel image: linux error typically occurs on USB flash drive Linux installations if syslinux could not find the configuration file syslinux.cfg. This configuration file is used to tell syslinux where your kernel image and initrd files are located. In the following section we will cover some of the basic things to look for if you are encountering this boot error.

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Ubuntu 8.10 USB Live installation from Windows: This simple tutorial covers how to install, boot and then run Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) from a USB flash drive. Upon completion of this simple tutorial, Ubuntu 8.10 can be run from the portable flash device in the same fashion (but much faster) than it would from the Live CD. This specific tutorial does not cover a Ubuntu 8.10 persistence (persistent) feature option. Hence the user cannot save changes back to the USB device using this tutorial.

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USB Ophcrack: Ophcrack is a free Windows password cracker or Windows Login Password Recovery tool that uses rainbow tables to retrieve Windows login passwords from password hashes. The tool is available in two versions (Vista Ophcrack and XP Ophcrack). In the following tutorial, we explain how to create an All In One USB Ophcrack flash drive from both versions. This bootable flash drive utility can then be used to recover, reveal or crack both Windows XP and Windows Vista login passwords.

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This ALL In One version of Pendrivelinux 2008 can be run from a USB thumbdrive either natively (as a stand alone Operating System at boot), or within Windows using qemu emulation. Moreover, the user can save installed software, changes, bookmarks, email, contacts and more automatically via a persistent loop image and then restore those changes upon subsequent qemu or native boots. This is a major breakthrough as the user can now run Pendrivelinux 2008 from a USB device even if the computer cannot natively boot from USB and still save changes persistently to be restored regardless of whether booting natively or from qemu.

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USB Knoppix 5.3.1 This tutorial will show you how to install Knoppix Linux version 5.3.1 to a USB flash drive using Windows. Knoppix is based on Debian GNU/Linux and includes hundreds of useful applications. Here we will show you how to make your own Portable Knoppix 5.3.1 from the Live DVD. You can then boot your portable version of Knoppix Linux from any PC that fully supports USB boot. Note that you will need a large capacity USB flash drive for this tutorial. We personally used a 16GB OCZ ATV flash drive, however an 8GB flash drive should do fine.

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In the following tutorial we show you how to use Qemu to run Ubuntu 8.04.1 from a flash drive, within Windows without rebooting. In addition, you will be able to mount the shared folder on the flash drive and use it between Windows and Ubuntu to share files between the two operating systems. Please note that you should only access the files in the shared folder with one operating system at a time. The running Ubuntu 8.04.1 OS will function like the Live CD. The persistence option is not being utilized.

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The following tutorial explains how to run MCNLive from within a running Windows XP or Vista operating environment without rebooting. This is accomplished by using Qemu virtual machine emulation software. MCNLive can be run from a folder on your Windows PC or from a folder on your USB flash drive or other portable device. In addition, a loopfile is included within the changes.img. This image is mounted as an ext3 partition during persistent boot allowing you to save and restore changes made on subsequent boots. Note that the image will hold up to 244MB worth of data.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing CentOS 5 to a USB flash drive using a Windows host. Once CentOS is installed, it will operate just like the CentOS live cd. A persistence feature is not being utilized in this tutorial so you will NOT be able to save and restore your changes on subsequent boots. A little background info on CentOS; CentOS is an Enterprise class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public. This version of Linux is commonly used by many popular web hosting companies as a Linux server platform due to it's extreme stability. We can use the Fedora LiveUSB Creator to install CentOS to a flash drive.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing gOS to a USB flash drive using the gOS Live CD. In addition, the persistence option is being utilized for saving and restoring changes persistently on the fly. gOS is based on Ubuntu and features the enlightenment desktop environment. Enlightenment features a dock and stack that looks and functions much like "fan view" used in Mac OSX 10.5. We prefer gOS Rocket with also includes many useful google apps. gOS was produced by the Good OS LLC corporation and is commonly found on Everex PC's.

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Along with the final release of Ubuntu 8.04 came a bug which broke the persistence feature, ultimately dropping the user to a shell when booting with the persistent option. As it turns out, the problem lies with permissions being set to 755 for the cow device (strangely enough the prereleases did not have this problem). In the following tutorial, I will show you how to quickly fix the problem. This is the same process we used to create the custom initrd.gz file that is distributed with our Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron related USB flash drive installation tutorials.

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This tutorial covers the process of installing Xubuntu 8.04.1 to a USB flash drive from within a running (Ubuntu) Linux environment. Xubuntu uses the xfce desktop environment as opposed to Gnome or KDE. Xfce helps Xubuntu run smoother and quicker on older and slower PC's. In addition, this installation tutorial utilizes the casper persistence feature to enable changes to be saved and restored on subsequent boots. If you have access to a working Ubuntu Linux installation and your system does not have a CD drive, this tutorial is for you.

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USB Xubuntu 8.04.1 Persistent installation using the Live CD. This tutorial covers the process of installing Xubuntu 8.04.1 Hardy Heron to a USB flash drive via a running Xubuntu 8 Live CD. Xubuntu uses the xfce desktop environment. The xfce desktop environment is a slim yet very powerful GUI. Making Xubuntu less of a resource hog than KDE or Gnome. Xubuntu works well on slower or older computers. In this Linux USB installation tutorial, the casper persistence feature is used to retain and retrieve changes on subsequent boots.

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The following tutorial will show you how to install Fedora 8 or 9 to a USB flash drive using Windows. Fedora is a Linux distribution that is sponsored by Red Hat and is both driven and maintained by the community. It is comprised of only free and open source software and will always remain free to use, modify and redistribute. Recently, Luke Macken and Kushal Das, both active in the Fedora community have put together an intuitive and super easy to use liveusb-creator which can be used to make a Fedora Live USB flash drive. In addition, USB Fedora utilizes a Persistent feature, enabling a user to save and restore changes on subsequent boots. In the following, we will show you how it works.

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USB Ubuntu 8.04.1 Persistent install from Linux without using a CDROM. This tutorial will enable a user to install Ubuntu 8.04.1 Hardy Heron to a USB flash drive via a running (Ubuntu) Linux environment. The persistence feature is being utilized to allow the user to save and restore changes on subsequent boots. If you already have a working Ubuntu Linux installation on your PC and do not wish to use or your system does not have a CD drive, this tutorial is for you.

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USB Kubuntu 8.04.1 Persistent Linux installation from Linux without using a CDROM. Some Linux users prefer Kubuntu over Ubuntu because it uses the KDE desktop environment instead of Gnome. In the following, we cover the process of installing Kubuntu 8.04.1 Hardy Heron to a USB flash drive from within Linux. The persistence feature is used to allow the user to save and restore changes on subsequent boots. If you already have a working Linux installation on your PC and do not wish to use or your system does not have a CD drive, this tutorial is for you.

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USB Kubuntu 8.04.1 Persistent Linux installation via the Live CD. Kubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu based on the KDE desktop environment. In the following tutorial we cover the process of installing Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron to a USB flash drive via a running Kubuntu 8 Live CD. Similar to the Ubuntu 8.04 persistent install, the casper persistence feature is being utilized to enable a user to save and restore changes on subsequent boots.

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STUX is a Linux distribution based on a combination of Slackware Linux 11.0 for packages and Knoppix 5.0.1 for kernel, modules and scripts. Like many Linux distro's today, it includes automatic hardware detection, and supports a vast majority of graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. STUX also includes Apache and PHP for those who like to dabble with serving.

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USB Ubuntu 8.04.1 Persistent install via the Live CD. This tutorial will enable a user to install Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron to a USB flash drive via a running Ubuntu 8 Live CD. The process is similar to the Live CD install via Windows with the exception that you will be performing the process entirely from Ubuntu. This process uses a few less steps, thus could be performed in less time. In addition the persistence feature is being used to save and restore changes on subsequent boots.

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USB Ubuntu 8.04.2 Persistent install tutorial for current Windows users. This tutorial covers the process of installing Ubuntu Hardy Heron to a USB flash drive using the Live CD to create the partitions and a Windows host to perform the build. Ubuntu will uses the persistence feature to save and restore changes back to the flash drive. Hence your changes and settings can be saved and restored upon subsequent boots. The persistence feature was broken with the release of Ubuntu 8.04.2 and this tutorial includes a fixed initrd.gz that addresses the permissions problem which was pointed out here

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This tutorial covers the process of creating a shared fat32 partition on your USB flash drive. This partition can be used to share files between your Windows Operating System and Linux. By default, flash drives contain a removable media bit (RMB) that tells Windows XP/Vista that the flash drive is removable media. In order for Windows to see more than one partition on the flash drive, we must flip the removable media bit on the flash drive to off. Then the flash drive will be seen by any Windows XP/Vista system as a fixed disk (just like an external USB hard drive).

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The following tutorial enables the average computer user to run gOS Linux from within Windows without rebooting. gOS can be run from a folder on your Windows PC or from a folder on your USB flash drive or other portable device. Keep in mind that there is currently no persistence feature being utilized in this tutorial. The installation acts just like the Live CD and the gOS operating system is being emulated using Qemu, a virtual machine emulation software. Qemu emulation makes for a great and easy way to test out a Linux distro without modifying the host computers hardware.

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This tutorial covers the process of installing Ubuntu 8.04.1 (Hardy Heron) to an external USB Hard drive. It is possible to install Ubuntu 8.04.2 to a 4GB+ flash drive using this method as we did, however, due to the additional read/write cycles that occur on a full blown install, the life of your flash drive may be slightly reduced. This simple tutorial utilizes the Install script that is included with Ubuntu 8.04.1 making it easy to run and test the latest offering of Ubuntu without installing to a fixed internal system disk.
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Ubuntu 8.04 USB Live installation from Windows: This simple tutorial covers how to install, boot and then run Ubuntu 8.04.2 (Hardy Heron) from a USB flash drive. Upon completion of this tutorial, Ubuntu 8.04 can be run from the portable flash device in the same fashion (but much faster) than it would from the Live CD. This specific tutorial does not cover a Ubuntu 8.04.2 persistence (persistent) feature option. Hence the user cannot save changes back to the USB device using this tutorial.

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This tutorial covers the process of installing SUSE Linux to a USB flash drive using the OpenSUSE Live CD. This tutorial works much like the install to an External USB Hard drive with the exception that the user is performing a full OpenSUSE install to a USB flash drive. The process does differ slightly! This tutorial was made possible due to a custom Portable SUSE script created and provided by James Rhodes. Please note that due to the limited number of write functions a flash drive can handle before going bad, you may reduce the life of your flash drive by performing this installation.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing SUSE Linux to an external USB Hard Drive using the OpenSUSE Live CD. The process is made possible due to a custom Portable SUSE script created by James Rhodes. The user basically boots from the Live OpenSUSE CD and performs the installation via the included YaST2 Install script to install SUSE to a USB Hard drive. Then the user reboots from the Portable SUSE installation and launches the custom script to convert some files in the running SUSE system for portable compatibility.

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The following tutorial covers how to quickly and easily install gOS to a USB flash drive using Windows. gOS is a Debian derivative based on Ubuntu with a unique Enlightenment desktop window manager (similar to what is used on Mac OS X 10.5 systems), making gOS a very attractive Linux package. Everex Computers offered at Walmart often ship with this intuitive Operating System pre-installed. Although the GUI takes a little getting used to, we really enjoyed installing and using the latest release of gOS and think you will enjoy running it portably from a USB device as well. It's clean, simple, graphically appealing, elegant and fun to play with.

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BackTrack is a Live Linux distribution based on SLAX that is focused purely on penetration testing. Distributed by remote-exploit.org, BackTrack is the successor to Auditor. It comes prepackaged with security tools including network analyzers, password crackers, wireless tools and fuzzers. Although originally designed to Boot from a CD or DVD, BackTrack contains USB installation scripts that make portable installation to a USB device a snap. In the following tutorial, we cover the process of installing BackTrack to a USB flash drive from within a working Windows environment.

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This tutorial covers the process of installing Pendrivelinux 2008 (a remaster created from MCNLive) to a USB flash drive using an existing Linux host computer. Pendrivelinux 2008 allows it's user to save "ALL" changes back to the USB device via a persistent loop image. Changes are saved and restored via a loop file that resides on the USB device by booting "Boot with Persistent changes" boot option.

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Pendrivelinux 2008 is a remaster created from MCNLive and based purely on Mandriva Linux. Like Mandriva Flash and MCNLive, Pendrivelinux 2008 allows the user to save most installed software, changes, bookmarks, email, contacts and more by utilizing a persistent loop image. This means that you no longer needs to create a partition on the USB device for saving changes. Changes are saved and restored via a loop file that resides on the USB device by booting "Boot with Persistent changes" boot option.

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The following tutorial covers the process of creating or making your own Mandriva Flash drive. If you already have a USB flash drive, why not put it to use? The MCNLive team has done some outstanding work with their latest Mandriva based MCNLive CD releases. The persistent loop features and USB installer are nearly flawless. The persist boot option allows a user to save "ALL" system changes and settings back to the loop image file. This remastering process is fairly simple, so let's get started.

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The following tutorial will show you how to easily install PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008 to a USB flash drive using Windows. This enables a user to quickly create a portable version of PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008 without having to go through the redundant steps of burning the iso to a CD and then booting from the CD to perform the USB flash drive install from another iso. We really like the latest release of MiniMe from PCLinuxOS and think you will enjoy it as well.

PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008 is simple, small, clean and works very well on a USB flash pendrive.

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The following tutorial will show you how to easily install MCNLive Toronto to a USB flash pen drive in just a few steps from within Windows. By using this tutorial, you don't need to burn the ISO to a CD and then run the installer from Linux. Instead, the user simply runs the batch installer, moves the content from the created folder to the USB flash drive and then launches the makeboot batch file to make the USB device bootable. In addition, the second part of this tutorial explains how to make MCNLive "save all" of your changes to a persistent mcnlive.loop file.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008 to a USB flash pendrive via the intuitive Make LiveUSB installer that is included with the Live CD. Although the MakeLiveUSB script is not perfect, it does get most of the job done. However, there are some additional steps necessary to make your Portable PCLinuxOS MiniMe work properly.

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Some Windows Vista users may experience an issue when attempting to run the makeboot.bat file from their USB drive. The makeboot.bat file is suppose to install a syslinux hidden ldlinux.sys file and the MBR to make the drive bootable. However, in such cases, the script may display an error that looks something like the following:

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This tutorial explains How To Run Ubuntu 7.10 from a portable USB device or from a folder within Windows. As noted before, the advantage to using Qemu hardware emulation as opposed to a native USB boot is that you can to plug your USB stick or portable hard drive into any available Windows PC and run a completely separate Linux operating system without rebooting the Windows Host PC. In addition, by utilizing the casper persistent feature, you can save your personal settings and changes back to the img located in the installation directory and then restore those saved settings on each boot.

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The following tutorial covers the process of remotely accessing and controlling a Ubuntu installation from another PC that is using Windows or Ubuntu. This process should also work for other Debian based operating systems (with minimal changes) running either from a local hard disk, CD or portable USB device as long as the system is connected to a network and or has an internet connection established and has Remote Desktop (vino vncviewer) installed.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing PCLinuxOS 2007 to a USB flash drive via Windows. PCLinuxOS 2007 is based on Mandriva kernel 2.6.18.8 and utilizes an easy to navigate KDE desktop environment. With over 2GB of compressed data, Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Frostwire, Ktorrent, Amarok, Flash, Java JRE and Beryl 3D are just a few of the many included applications you will find on the Live CD making PCLinuxOS 2007 a great candidate to install to a USB flash drive.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing NimbleX to a portable USB flash drive, pendrive, USB stick or thumbdrive. Much like SLAX, NimbleX is a tiny Slackware based release (less than 200MB) that was designed to fit on a 8cm CD. The screenshots and tutorial was put together and submitted by Georgescu Ciprian.

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The following tutorial covers the process of running Knoppix persistently from a portable USB flash drive using Qemu from a Windows 98, XP or Vista host PC without ever rebooting. Most of your personal settings and changes are automatically saved back to the stick and restored at boot via the Persistence image. This is accomplished using Qemu emulation software in conjunction with a persistent virtual hard disk image file for saving and restoring changes.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing Qemu Ubuntu to a USB flash drive and then running Orca. This should allow a visually impaired (Blind) user to have access to Linux using any Windows computer. Accomplished by running Orca on Ubuntu Linux emulated via Qemu directly from the portable USB memory stick.

This idea is a work in progress and was originally inspired by Jim
Vaglia who is blind.

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This tutorial is for those who use Ubuntu, Debian or a derivative of Debian Linux and have downloaded a .deb package that they want to install. Typically you can use synaptic, apt-get or aptitude. However, if the package is not available via the repositories you may need to download and install them yourself.

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One of the drawbacks to installing NVIDIA Proprietary drivers in Linux is that when the kernel is updated, you have to reinstall (recompile) the software to match the new kernel. This tutorial explains how to upgrade Proprietary NVIDIA video card drivers after your Debian Lenny Linux system has been upgraded to a new kernel version. The process is pretty much the same as installing Proprietary video card drivers from scratch with the exception that we assume your already at the shell, unable to boot into X windows due to a kernel upgrade.

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The following tutorial explains how to permanently remove deleted information from your USB flash drive or any other partition making the deleted information (for the most part) non-recoverable. We are able to accomplish this task by zeroing out the empty space on the drive using dd. There are many great uses for dd, from forensic data recovery and data backup to zeroing out empty drive space.

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If you have a system that does not support booting from a USB device, but do have a floppy drive, you can try to boot Pendrive Linux from a USB flash drive using a Grub Boot floppy disk. When using a Boot floppy with a Grub boot loader, Grub locates the USB partition and then attempts to boot loading vmlinuz and initrd.gz from the USB device.

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The following tutorial will show you how to install Pendrivelinux V1 Full Blown (non compressed) to an external USB Hard Drive (Rotating Platter, not a USB flash drive or flash memory stick) via Pendrivelinux V1. To do this, we create an ext2 partition on the USB Hard Drive. Next we extract or decompress filesystem.squashfs, add a Grub Boot Menu and reconfigure xserver-xorg.

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A complete Ubuntu install to a USB hard drive is a relatively simple process. As a matter of fact, it is almost as simple as a regular Ubuntu internal hard drive or compact flash card installation. Due to popular e-mail demand from our subscribers, we have decided to write a simple tutorial on the Ubuntu USB hard drive installation procedure. So go grab an available external USB hard drive and a nice cold beverage and lets get started.

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Looking to build your own Debian Linux Mirror? Use your local hard drive or a network drive and share your mirror over a network or even on the internet. Having your our own Debian/Ubuntu Linux Mirror enables you to drastically speed up the process of installing packages or complete netbuilds on your single or networked Linux PC (s).

Using the following tutorial, the same method can be used for building a Ubuntu Mirror if desired.

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The following tutorial covers the process of easily installing the Pendrivelinux V1 remix (Based purely on Debian) to a USB flash pen drive using Windows. Due to the overly simplified flash drive installation process, this tutorial is especially tailored for current Windows users being freshly introduced to Linux. However, even the seasoned Linux user "who also owns a Windows box" and would like to quickly try out Linux on a USB device should find this tutorial useful.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing Compiz Fusion on Debian Lenny. Compiz is the original compositing window manager. By using 3D graphics acceleration via OpenGL to render, Compiz provided intense immersing graphical effects on Gnome and KDE desktop environments. The Beryl window manager was a fork of Compiz and had shown great success. Currently, Compiz Fusion is the result of a merge between Beryl composite window manager and Compiz. It exposes the best features of both products.
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The following tutorial covers the process of installing ipw3945 drivers in Debian. Enabling you to get your Intel® PRO Wireless 3945ABG Wireless network card working in Debian. The Intel® PRO Wireless 3945ABG network cards are commonly used in various laptops ranging from HP to Dell. These drivers are in the non-free section and thus are not included with Debian or Debian remixes by default.

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How do I exit a man page when finished viewing? Although the answer to this question is well known, due to how many times I have been asked how to exit a man page or info page once done viewing, I thought I should put up a quick answer. Linux manual pages aka. man pages are provided with almost all software available for Linux and house important documentation about a program and explain how to use it.

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The following USB Linux Mint tutorial covers how to install, boot and run Linux Mint from a USB device using Windows. Linux Mint is a popular remix of Ubuntu Linux. Originally launched as a variant of Ubuntu with integrated media codecs, Linux Mint has developed into a very user-friendly Linux distribution. Currently maintained by Clement Lefebvre, more information about Linux Mint can be found at the Official Linux Mint site.

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Installing Compiz in Debian is a relatively simple process. What is Compiz? Compiz is an advanced compositing window manager that uses 3D Graphics acceleration to produce neat graphical desktop effects. Originally succeeded by Beryl (a fork of Compiz), Berl has since merged back with Compiz and both efforts are now one. If you have a decent video card and a 3D Linux graphics hardware driver enabled, there is good reason to install and take full advantage of Compiz.

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The following tutorial covers the process of installing the Proprietary NVIDIA video card drivers from the Nvidia Website into your Debian Lenny Linux system. We have known a lot of people who have had some issues trying to get the NVIDIA drivers to install and work with Lenny, so we decided to write this tutorial to offer up some tips and help. This tutorial should have you up and running video hardware accelerated in just a few minutes.

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At some point in time, almost every Linux user will have updated their kernel image. After you've used Linux with the new kernel image for a while and your content everything is working properly, you might want to remove the old Linux image or images that still reside on your system and appear as grub boot options. The following process explains how to entirely remove the old Linux image which in turn also unclutters your grub menu.

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In Linux, if your mouse pointer disappears after switching users or after logging out and then back in, the problem is most likely caused by a bug with your video card driver. In most cases the mouse will still continue to work even though the mouse pointer is hidden or has disappeared completely from screen view. The fix is actually quite simple and only involves adding a single options line to the xorg.conf file.

I've personally seen this problem occur in various Linux distributions including Debian, Ubuntu and Pendrivelinux.
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The following tutorial is for Debian or Ubuntu users who are looking to install proprietary drivers for their ATI or Nvidia video card. Installation of proprietary ATI or Nvidia video card drivers will allow you to take full advantage of all the 3d capabilities your Video card may have to offer. In this tutorial, we will be using a script called "envy" created by Alberto Milone.

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The following tutorial covers the process of changing the default Debian Menu Icon to a custom Icon and in addition change the Debian Menu name. This is for those of us that prefer to use a pure Debian Linux Operating environment or a remix that is based on Debian. This process was tested using a clean install of Debian Etch. Other Debian releases may vary.

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The following tutorial covers the process of changing or replacing the Gnome start menu panel icon with your own custom gnome panel icon. Enabling you to customize the look of your Ubuntu. The process was tested using Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon but should work with previous versions just as well.

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The following tutorial explains how to fix the Compiz Ubuntu Desktop Effects missing titlebar problem. If you've been toying around with Ubuntu 7.04 and have enabled Desktop Effects "Compiz", you might notice that the titlebar or window decorations have disappeared. This is a fairly common problem amongst systems using ATI or Nvidia video cards and commonly occurs after switching to a higher resolution. The fix is fairly simple.

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How to remove the Ubuntu eject CD prompt. The following tutorial covers the process of removing the "Please remove the disk, close the tray (if any) and press ENTER to continue" prompt entirely from your USB Ubuntu installation. The process is fairly simple and will allow your system to shutdown or restart without prompting you to remove the CD. Those of us booting from a USB stick, will surely be glad to get rid of the remove CD annoyance.

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This tutorial explains how to fix the Boot to Ram or "toram" feature that is currently broken in Ubuntu 7.04. Boot to Ram will enable a user to copy the entire Ubuntu live environment to system ram and run the Ubuntu Operating System entirely from there. You can then remove the CD or USB device and continue to do your work from system memory. BootToRam is also commonly referred to as CopyToRam.

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A lot of the downloadable Linux or Unix files found on the internet are compressed using a tar or tar.gz compression format. So, knowing how to open or untar these compressed files becomes very important. In the following examples, we will explain how to untar both popular formats and how to extract the contents to a different directory.

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The following tutorial covers the process of making Totem Media Player play encrypted DVD's. This tutorial assumes that your using Debian Linux or a distro based purely on Debian. It will allow you to have your own Debian DVD portable media center. If your getting error messages like the following, this tutorial is for you:

Totem could not play 'dvd:/ There is no plugin to handle this movie.

An error occurred: The source seems encrypted, and can't be read. Are you trying to play an encrypted DVD without libdvdcss?

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How do I upgrade from Debian Etch to Lenny? The other day, one of our subscribers had asked us just that. Upgrading to a newer version of Debian is actually relatively simple and for the most part, can be done in very short time with just a few quick steps. So if you have Debian Linux installed on your PC and are eager to try out Lenny, go grab yourself a Soda and read on.

Please note that this tutorial assumes that your upgrading from a local hard drive installation of Debian Etch (This wont work on a compressed file-system)

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How to add a user to the sudoers list? Beleive it or not, this is a fairly common question and in all reality the answer is quite simple. Adding a user to the sudoers list on a fully installed Linux system such as Debian is only possible via the command visudo. Users in the sudoers list are allowed the privileges to run commands and open files as the root user. In the following quick tutorial, we will show you how adding a new sudoer is quickly done.

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The following USB Simply MEPIS installation tutorial was created per the request of Jason Frothingham. He couldn't fathom why we didn't list a USB install tutorial for the ever so popular MEPIS Linux. Well Jason, here it is. In the following tutorial we cover how to install, boot and run MEPIS from a USB device using your Windows PC.

MEPIS is a popular Linux version founded by Warren Woodford in November 2002. It was created because Warren didn't like how other desktops worked, so he decided to create his own. The first version was released to the public in May 2003. MEPIS originally used Debian packages and now includes and is based on Ubuntu packages.

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The following tutorial explains how to add a context menu item that enables a Linux user to open files as the root user when browsing their file system using nautilus. This script feature allows the user to navigate their file system and open or edit any file or directory as the root user of the system. It's a perfect solution for those that are not completely comfortable using terminal commands.

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USB Ubuntu 7.10 install from Linux: This tutorial enables you to install, boot and run Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) from a USB flash drive. In addition to installing Ubuntu to a USB device and then booting Ubuntu from the memory stick, this tutorial will enable you to automatically save your changes and settings back to the thumb drive and further restore them on each boot using a second "casper-rw" persistent partition. The tutorial was written for those already familiar with working from Ubuntu or another Linux desktop environment. If you do not have access to or prefer not to use a Windows computer, this Ubuntu Linux on a stick tutorial is for you.

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Making a casper persistent Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon): With the coming release of Ubuntu 7.10 code named "Gutsy Gibbon", most of the portable linux community is likely going to want to run Ubuntu Gutsy from CD, USB or emulated using Qemu. So it only makes sense that, at the very least, we should be able to save and restore settings changes via a persistent partition or img (image).

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USB Ubuntu 7.04 install from Linux This tutorial enables you to install, boot and run Ubuntu Linux 7.04 from USB "and save your changes back to the stick". When booting Ubuntu in persistent mode, it uses a "casper-rw" partition to save your changes back to the drive, restoring them on each boot. The tutorial was written for those already somewhat familiar with working from Ubuntu or another Linux desktop environment. If you do not have access to or prefer not to use a Windows computer, this Ubuntu Linux on a stick tutorial is for you.

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USB Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn install This tutorial explains how to install, boot and run Ubuntu 7.04 from a USB flash thumb drive using Windows, the Ubuntu Linux CD and a new custom FIXED initrd.gz to correct the persistent feature that was previously broken with the original 7.04 release. Upon completion of this tutorial, the user will be able to save changes and settings back to the flash drive making for a completely Portable Ubuntu version 7.04. Now you can take your Feisty Fawn with you!

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In the following USB Gentoo tutorial we cover how to install, boot and run Gentoo 2007.0 from a USB device using Windows. Gentoo is a popular Linux version named after the Gentoo Penguin. Gentoo was originally created by Daniel Robbins with a goal to create a smaller portable Linux distribution that only included required programs. This Gentoo USB installation tutorial was developed per the request and with a little help from Brendan Jocson, a Pendrivelinux.com subscriber. Kudo's goes to Brendan for helping establish this Portable Gentoo tutorial.

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Making a casper persistent Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn): Since the initial release of Ubuntu 7.04, much of the portable linux community has been eager to run Ubuntu 7.04 persistently from a USB device or emulated using Qemu. It only makes sense that we should be able to save and restore settings changes via a persistent partition or img (image). In the following tutorial, we are simply re-enabling the old casper system.

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This tutorial enables a user to boot and run a Portable USB Pendrivelinux compilation (based on Debian), directly from a folder on a portable USB device, USB flash drive, external hard drive, internal hard drive, Ipod, etc… all without ever restarting your Windows computer. In addition, the user can install new programs, make changes and save personal files, allowing the operating system and any changes to be optionally restored on the next boot.

Using this tutorial, Pendrivelinux can be run from within Windows 98, 2000, NT, XP or Vista without rebooting. It runs from its own directory requiring absolutely no installation on the host PC. This is the perfect solution for those whose computer can not boot from a USB flash drive.

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How to access a Linux ext2 or ext3 partition from Windows. Do you have files on your Linux system you would like to share with Windows? This is especially useful if you dual boot Windows and Linux on your machine. Maybe you have some mp3's, Video's, Favorites, e-Mail and more you would like to have access to from both operating environments? You no longer have to shut down Windows and boot Linux!

Accessing a Linux partition from Windows is relatively easy to accomplish and can be done via the download of a Free utility called Explore2fs.

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How to access a Windows XP or Vista NTFS partition from Linux. The following tutorial explains how to gain access to a Windows NTFS partition using Linux. Reading or accessing NTFS partitions in Linux is important for many reasons. Some users repair Windows Operating environments using Linux, while others use a dual boot operating environment and would like to have access to their Windows File system.

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Normally, the tutorials featured here pertain to running Linux from a USB flash pen drive or other portable USB device. However, this tutorial explains how to run that Live Linux CD/DVD you might have sitting around from within Windows. That's right, you can run a Live Linux CD using your CD/DVD drive from your windows desktop without rebooting. The advantages are two fold. You can run Linux on top of Windows from a CD or DVD without any installation to another storage media. In addition, this process eliminates the need to restart your PC and set your BIOS options to boot Linux from CD or USB.

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The following tutorial will enable a user to check if a computer system can boot from a USB device and ultimately help determine if the computer can boot a Linux version from USB. In most cases if the test is successful, you should have no problem running Linux portably. In addition to testing your PC for USB Linux boot capability, the "Memtest86" system memory diagnostics program that is included, allows the user to scan their system memory for errors by simply booting memtest from a USB device or flash drive.

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Help! I'm getting a Grub 1.5 Error 21 after a Ubuntu USB hard drive install: We received this email the other day from someone who was trying to do a full Ubuntu Linux install to an external USB hard drive. This person already had Debian Linux installed on their local hard drive and was attempting to do an install of Ubuntu to an external USB hard drive.

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After having tooled around with a USB Linux version using your multi partitioned flash pen drive, you might find it necessary to revert it back to a single fat partition (restore the flash pen drive to it's original state) that can again be read by all computers. For those working from Linux this task can easily be accomplished via the following Linux tutorial. Windows users can Download and use either the SP27608 HP-USB Format tool or follow the Windows instructions below that utilizes the newer HP USB Format tool.

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Ophcrack is an open source Windows password cracking utility that uses rainbow tables to find passwords. It can be run from Windows, Linux or Live CD. The following tutorial explains how to install and boot Ophcrack from a portable USB device. Since the Live CD version (running from a SLAX core) is already available, creating USB Ophcrack is similar to converting any other Live Linux CD to USB.

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Scheduled for launch in October 2007, Canonical Ltd. has recently said that they plan to provide a Ubuntu version for mobile internet devices. This includes Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded editions. It won't be long before we are all using Linux in one way or another. The following information has been quoted directly from here

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The following tutorial will enable a user to install USB Pen Drive Linux to a flash pen drive or other USB device via a customized basic Debian Linux Live CD. This installation method is especially convenient for those who may currently be running Windows on their computer and or do not have easy access to a Linux PC to otherwise perform the installation to USB via Linux.

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Creating your own custom Live Linux CD or USB distribution is not complicated. However, there are many different approaches depending mainly on which Linux base you decide to use. Many popular Linux distro's such as Knoppix, Ubuntu and DSL are based on Debian so for the following tutorial, we are going to focus on the simple creation of a Live Linux CD using Debian Linux as our base.

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A simple way to set your screen resolution and color depth for most Live Linux distro's is via the use of the vga=parameter boot option. For example at boot you might type: Live vga=795. This would set your system to boot using the Live label with a screen resolution to 24bit 1280X1024. Here are some more examples of common vga boot values.

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The Pendrivelinux team has put together a USB Pen Drive Linux package based purely on Debian Linux. The USB Linux package is currently available in .img format. Installation is simple and just requires copying the .img to a USB device and then creating a live-rw partition if you wish to store your changes. We think you will find this personalized USB Linux version easy to install, navigate and use.

Credits extend to the Debian-Live team for creating Live-Helper script used in this project. (Aicrom) Márcio Santos for the custom Penguin artwork, Theme-Graphics thanks to Carlos

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Clearing typed commands from terminal history: By default, up to the last 500 command lines a user types in the terminal window are saved into a hidden .bash_history file. The previously typed commands can be readily accessed by using the up and down arrow keys. This makes it easy to retrieve and reuse your recently used commands. However, maybe you want to clear the terminal command history list and start fresh?

This simple tutorial explains the process of viewing and then optionally clearing the terminal history.

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Setting the default root password: Some Live Linux distributions are created without a root password by default (the root account is inactive). This is particularly true with Debian based distributions like Ubuntu. Setting a root password enables us to access some essential tools such as the synaptic installer. In most cases, having no root password is fine when your running from a Live CD and don't need to do administration tasks, make changes or install additional packages. But for those of us who do want to make administrative changes and save them back to a USB device or local storage device on for example a properly created "casper-rw" partition. Setting the root password might then be necessary.

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Checking your Linux Kernel Version: Once your up and running with your favorite Linux distribution, you might find the need to install additional software packages or drivers. Some of these software applications or drivers can be specific to a Linux Kernel version in which case you will need to find this information. Finding the Kernel Version, Release information and Operating System from a running system is fairly straight forward and can be done directly from a terminal.

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Recommended USB flash drives for portable Linux installation: Recently, we have been testing many different USB flash devices, commonly referred to as flash drives, pen drives, thumb drives and memory sticks for Linux and BIOS booting compatibility. We have come to the conclusion that there are some drives that work great with the USB Linux tutorials and others that don't work so well for this purpose. This page lists the flash drives we have had success with.

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Canonical Ltd announced the official release of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn this morning. It's considered a secure and feature rich alternative to Windows. Including the Linux 2.6.20 kernel and the GNOME 2.18 desktop environment. Some feature highlites of the Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Linux desktop edition are as follows:

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The following process enables you to bring SLAX with you on a portable USB device and then proceed to run QemuSLAX from a Windows 98, XP or Vista host PC without ever rebooting. In addition, your personal settings and changes are automatically saved back to the stick and restored at boot. This is accomplished using Qemu emulation software in conjunction with a pre-built image file for saving and restoring the changes. Read the rest of this entry…

The main advantage to using Qemu hardware emulation as opposed to a native USB boot is that it allows you to plug your USB stick or portable hard drive into any available PC and run a complete operating system without restarting. The additional advantage of using Ubuntu's persistent feature is that you can save your personal settings, files and changes back to the stick. Qemu and persistent Ubuntu 6.10 make for a nice and simple combination. In the following tutorial we explain how to make it all work together.

Using this tutorial, Ubuntu can be run from within Windows 98, NT, 2000, XP or Vista without ever rebooting. It runs from it's own directory either on a portable device or directly from an internal hard drive if you so choose.

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This step by step tutorial explains how a user can install Beryl on Ubuntu Edgy. Beryl is a fork of the Compiz desktop window manager. It is an openGL accelerated desktop that allows the Linux user to attain awesome breathtaking special 3D effects with their personal desktop environment. The desktop effects are reminiscent to that of Windows Vista but were established long before Vista's arrival. Beryl uses a graphical user interface and is easy to navigate.

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The following tutorial explains how to easily run a "full installation of Ubuntu" directly from a Windows PC without the need to reboot. Our example is run from a portable USB Hard drive that we can take with us anywhere. Through emulation, Ubuntu can be run from the portable device using a host Windows 98, NT, XP, 2000 or Vista computer to launch the emulator. This enables the user to run Ubuntu and Windows simultaneously. Were using Qemu hardware emulation software with the Kqemu accelerator to accomplish this.

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The following tutorial explains how to use Qemu to boot any Linux ISO version from a portable USB flash device while still working within Windows 98, 2000, NT, XP and Vista. This Enables the user to have both systems running at the same time eliminating the need to restart the PC and set your BIOS options to boot Linux from USB.

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Some USB flash drives are notorious for having problems with corrupted master boot records. If your system refuses to boot from the flash memory stick, the mbr may be at fault. To fix this, you can use the mbr package to install a new master boot record. Credit goes to BHSPitMonkey for pointing out this fix. The troubled drive encountered was a Kingston Data Traveler 2GB unit.

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Once you have migrated from Windows to Linux you may notice that the file system is not what your accustomed to. Of the first things the average user needs to understand is the inner workings of the root file system and Linux core directory structure. To help you understand this structure, we have listed each directory explaining what it is commonly used for.

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The following is a quick reference list of some useful Ubuntu shell commands along with a short description of common usage. There are more, but this basic list was created to help familiarize the newly introduced Ubuntu user who might be migrating from a Windows operating environment.

*Ubuntu is a product of Canonical Ltd

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This tutorial covers the process of installing PCLinuxOS MiniMe to a USB flash thumb drive from within a Linux operating environment. PCLinuxOS ranks as our second favorite Distro, trailing just behind Ubuntu. For this tutorial, we are booting from the PCLinuxOS MiniMe CD and using this as the installation platform, however, the installation procedure will work from other environments as well.

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This tutorial covers how to easily install proprietary drivers for your Nvidia or ATI video card using envy. These are the drivers that are listed in the download section of the ATI and NVIDIA Websites. Advantage to installing these drivers over the nvidia-glx or xorg-driver-fglrx are that you get a nice GUI control panel and advanced features to work with.

We will be using a script called "envy" created by Alberto Milone.

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Ubuntu does not ship with NVIDIA 3D acceleration enabled. Getting the NVIDIA Geforce video card working to it's full potential requires the installation of an additional glx driver package. The nvidia-glx driver will allow us to make better use of the Geforce type video card. The process is simple, however many tutorials make it more complex than need be.

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The following tutorial will show you how to install Knoppix 5.1.1 to a USB flash pen drive. It is also possible to use the persistent feature after completing this tutorial allowing you to save changes back to the stick. Knoppix is a fully featured Linux distribution based on Debian. It was created by Klaus Knopper. Knoppix has always been feature packed, including hundreds of useful tools and applications not included by default with most other Live Linux distributions.

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If you have an older computer system, your BIOS might not support USB-HDD boot. In this case, it may still be possible to boot Linux from USB if your BIOS does list USB-ZIP as a boot option. In order for this to happen, we need to trick the BIOS into thinking that the USB flash drive is a zip drive.

We can trick the BIOS by modifying the number of heads and sectors being displayed from the USB flash device to match that of a zip drive. Then we partition the drive using partition 4 (the partition that zip drives typically use). For this tutorial we will use the mkdiskimage application that comes with syslinux.

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USB Ubuntu install from Linux This tutorial enables you to install, boot and run Ubuntu Linux from USB. When booting Ubuntu in persistent mode, it uses a "casper-rw" partition to save your changes back to the drive, restoring them on each boot. The tutorial is similar to the USB Ubuntu installation tutorial for Windows users with the exception that it was written with a Linux user in mind. If your already working from a Ubuntu Linux desktop environment and do not have access to or prefer not to use a Windows computer, this tutorial is for you.

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Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 Herd 3 has officially been released today for alpha testing. This is the third alpha release of the Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. The project is planned to be finished and ready for production machines by April 19th. Feisty Fawn includes many exciting new features, a few of which are listed below.

We are experimenting with the alpha release on a USB flash drive.

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PCLinuxOS Cheatcodes These PCLinuxOS cheat or boot codes allow you to override PCLinuxOS defaults by modifying the boot process to suite your specific needs. The codes can be used on their own as specified on the syslinux initial boot command line or can be combined with more than one boot code option listed below.

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Cheatcodes for SLAX Booting parameters or cheatcodes, are used to manipulate the booting process of Linux. Some of them are common for all Linux versions, others are specific to SLAX only. You can use cheatcodes to enable or disable specific hardware detection, to start SLAX from a harddisk or other media, to skip the login prompt and start GUI, etc.

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Knoppix Cheatcodes Here is a complete list of almost every available Cheatcode option for KNOPPIX. Cheatcodes enable you to modify the boot parameters and are used to pass options to KNOPPIX which help get it working on difficult hardware. Any of the Cheatcodes in the following list, can be combined to work at boot from the SYSLINUX bootprompt:

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Live CD/DVD repository list: This is just a simple link repository of some of the hottest and most well known Live Linux CD/DVD compilations available today. Each version listed contains direct link to the download page for that version. We hope you find this list useful. If there is a Live Linux version that you feel should be added to the list, feel free to contact us and let us know.

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TexStar's PCLinuxOS team has released a new 2007 test candidate. This release is not final, but is available for the public to download and try. One of the major differences we have noticed, revolves around the Look and Feel of this version. The PCLinuxOS design team has spent some quality time revamping the bootsplash, Icons and more, giving this release much eye candy. This version appears to boot much quicker than previous releases as well.

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Making a Virtual Machine – Have you ever contemplated running Linux from within Windows via a simple virtual desktop environment? Here is a nice solution that allows you to do just that. Run a Linux ISO from within your native Windows operating environment. It's called VirtualBox, and it's fast! In the following tutorial, we explain the complete process of installing VirtualBox and running virtual Linux from within Windows.

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USB Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy install This tutorial explains how to install, boot and run Ubuntu Edgy portably from a USB flash thumb drive using Windows and the Ubuntu Live Linux CD. By utilizing multiple partitions, the user can save all changes and settings back to the flash thumb drive making for a completely Portable Ubuntu. Note that the second partition must be labeled "casper-rw" to use the "persistent" feature and save changes back to the stick.

Ubuntu® was produced by Canonical ltd and is based on Debian Linux. It is both user friendly and stable. Ubuntu's famous slogan is (it should "Just Work", TM)

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Once you have accomplished a sucessful boot of SLAX Linux and have begun to make changes and customizations to the SLAX environment, you might wish to save those configuration settings back to the USB stick. This will allow you to restore those changes upon next reboot.

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USB Damn Small Linux (DSL) This is a revisit of the Windows DSL USB installation tutorial: "Putting damn small linux on a USB pendrive". Damn Small Linux was created by John Andrews, and is basically a trimmed down version of an early Knoppix build, making it perfect for smaller drives. Based on the 2.4 kernel, DSL is great to use for older and slower computers as well. It will fit and run on portable devices or drives as small as 64MB.

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Knoppix 5.1.0 has just recently been released. The quoted information listed below is an excerpt taken from the Knoppix source website. In addition, the flaming desktop screenshot as seen here can be attained by booting the by booting the beryl desktop environment. I.E. Use the boot option: knoppix desktop=beryl

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Once you have your SLAX installation up and running, you might want to add additional software applications. These applications can be added to SLAX Linux via the installation of compressed modules.

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USB Knoppix 5.1 This tutorial covers how to install and run Knoppix Linux from a USB Flash Pen Drive through Windows. Knoppix is based on Debian GNU/Linux and includes many useful applications such as Abiword, OpenOffice, Gimp, Konqueror, Mozilla, Apache, PHP, MySQL along with hundreds of other Open Source applications. This guide will show you how to make your own Portable Knoppix that you can then boot from any PC that supports USB boot.

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When working from a Windows environment (particularly Windows XP), you may experience difficulty using the default Windows format tool to format your large external USB hard drive as Fat32.

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SLAX is a small Live Linux CD distribution created by Tomas Matejicek. SLAX is basically a stripped down version of Slackware Linux. It uses the unification file system or (unionfs) allowing a read only filesystem to behave as a writable filesystem which allows the user to save system wide changes without a secondary persistent partition. The following tutorial explains how to create a Portable SLAX. This guide will show you how to easily install SLAX to a portable USB device via Windows.

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PCLinuxOS is a clean, compact and beautiful Live Linux CD compilation created by Texstar of pclinuxos.com. PCLOS is based on Mandriva Linux and will comfortably fit on a 512MB USB stick. PCLinuxOS is one of our favorite Live Linux distributions. In the following tutorial, we show you how to convert it to run from USB to make for a Portable PCLinuxOS that you can bring with you on a flash drive.

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This tutorial will show you how to use a persistent home from within PCLinuxOS MiniMe on a USB stick. A persistent home should allow you to save your settings and changes to the USB stick so that they may easily be restored upon subsequent reboots. Please note that this tutorial will only work on the older releases of PCLinuxOS (releases previous to this post date 03/09/06).

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This tutorial explains how to access the Boot Menu on a newer Phoenix-Award system to enable USB boot from a flash memory stick. The system used for this demonstration sports a MSI K8N Neo4 (MS-7125) motherboard. To date, this system has easily been able to boot from any properly setup flash drive or USB hard drive we have thrown at it.

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Due to a lack of participation and growth, we have closed the forum for good.

The system BIOS can be complicated to someone who is not yet familiar with all of the settings. Here are a few tips to help increase your chances of successfully booting a USB Linux system. If the flash memory stick fails to boot, go back into the system BIOS and try changing some of the following settings (Be sure to take note on any changes you have made). In addition, we have included some other tips to help achieve a successful boot.

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Syslinux can be run under many different Windows operating environments including DOS. The following document lists a couple examples of how to use syslinux depending on your operating environment. Note that these paths may change with newer releases of syslinux and this information is being provided for reference only.

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The following list of USB BIOS boot options have been thoroughly tested with various Linux USB installs. There may be others but this is meant to be a simple checklist to familiarize you with the boot options and which ones to use. Be sure to check back often as we will be constantly adding new information to this list over time.

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Once you have successfully booted Knoppix Linux from your USB flash thumbdrive, you might find that there are changes you would like to make and settings you need to adjust. After getting everything the way you want it, you will need to save your changed settings back to the stick and have them automatically applied at boot. The following instructions illustrate how to boot from Knoppix Linux, save your settings to the USB thumbdrive and then restore those saved settings upon reboot.

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How to easily Remove the U3 smart software from your USB Flash Pen Drive. "The U3 uninstaller application is available directly from U3".

Most avid users of USB storage media have recently begun to realize that a vast majority of USB flash pen drives manufactured today are packaged with the U3 software. While this software has some neat features and package includes, a seasoned computer user may not need or desire to use the U3 smart software.

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In this carnival edition, we will discuss the latest embedded Linux trends. How and why people are using the Linux operating system on USB.

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I received an e-mail from Tomas today stating that he has just released another updated version of Slax. 5-23-06

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In this simplified USB Ultimate Boot CD walkthrough tutorial, we will demonstrate How To create a USB bootable Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) using a Windows host PC to create the USB UBCD. Ultimate Boot CD is an awesome PC diagnostics tool that condenses over 100 useful PC diagnostics and hardware troubleshooting tools into a single easy to use interface.

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MCNLive is a live CD based purely on Mandriva Linux and was designed for use with most common desktop and notebook computers. Like Mandriva, MCNLive comes with almost every essential tool including networking utilities, internet tools, multimedia software, graphical tools and office applications. Just about everything the average Linux computer user might need can be found in MCNLive. Another great feature is the included easy to use graphical installer that allows a user to install MCNLive to a USB device. There is even an installer to install to an internal hard disk.

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The following walkthrough will illustrate how to install Feather Linux to a USB flash pen drive through Windows and make Feather boot from the USB device. Feather is yet another very small (under 128MB) clean and simple Knoppix Linux remix (based on Debian) that is straight forward and easy to use. The following tutorial covers the process of installing Feather to a USB device using Windows to produce the USB version.

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In this simple USB Puppy Linux tutorial we illustrate how to easily install Puppy linux on a USB flash pen drive using the Universal installer included on the Puppy Linux CD. Puppy is a unique Linux compilation that is super small, yet contains many useful tools and utilities. Most versions of Puppy Linux will fit on even a 128MB USB stick. Making it great to install to those older tiny thumb drives you might have sitting around.

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This walk through illustrates how to do a simple install of RUNT linux on a USB Thumb drive and then boot and run it from USB. RUNT Linux is a super super tiny and very basic Linux version and is only recommended for intermediate to advanced Linux users who prefer to do work without using a graphical interface like X. You can learn more about RUNT from the official RUNT Linux website.

Beware that RUNT by default does not use GUI. It's a text only based distro.

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My Slax Creator is a great tool to use for remastering your ISO's. You can also use it to extract your ISO to a USB Stick or burn to a CD. There are quite a few nice options in My Slax Creator… I have not found it to be 100% bug-proof, but it does have some great features and will get the job done.

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This walkthrough tutorial will illustrate how to install a basic SLAX Linux compilation to a USB flash memory stick through windows. SLAX is a relatively robust yet simple Linux environment based on Slackware.

This (fat) USB SLAX tutorial has been replaced with a newer version which can be found HERE

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This simplified USB SLAX walkthrough tutorial will illustrate how to install a SLAX compilation to a USB stick through Windows NT, XP, 2003.

Use this method if your bios supports USB-HDD boot (or USB-ZIP with the flash drive listed as a hard drive. Example: generic USB-HDD0)

This fat32 SLAX USB Pen drive installation tutorial has been replaced with a newer version which can be found HERE

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