[lubuntu-users] Is it possible to 'multi boot' ISO's with MKUSB?

[Nio Wiklund]

Hi Liam,

Nice post :-)

I will add some comments inline.

Best regards
Nio

Den 2016-07-31 kl. 16:16, skrev Liam Proven:
> On 30 July 2016 at 22:58,  <scrooyahoo at riseup.net> wrote:
>> Would be nice to have 1 stick that can load:
>> 32 bit
>> 64 bit
>> pae
>
>
> Something I seldom see mentioned, but I use a lot, is Linux systems
> _installed_ onto USB stick.
>
> No, you can't install from them, but they are very useful for system recovery.
>
> There are 2 ways to do it.
>
> [1] Use a diskless PC, or disconnect your hard disk.
>
> This is fiddly.
>
> [2] Use a VM.

[3] There is also a third way - to install them from compressed image 
files. See these links for

- 64-bit systems that boots in UEFI as well as in BIOS mode and

- 32-bit systems booting 32-bit as well as 64-bit PC computers but only 
in BIOS mode.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/UEFI-and-BIOS

'Updated system to install [Ubuntu flavours of] Xenial 32-bit alias 
16.04 LTS'

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1958073&page=19&p=13510692#post13510692

[4] and a fourth way via the One Button Installer and a tarball

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OBI

> VirtualBox is free and lets you assign a physical disk drive to a VM.
> It's much harder than in VMware but it does work.
>
> http://www.sysprobs.com/access-physical-disk-virtualbox-desktop-virtualization-software
>
> Read the comments!
>
> Every time you want to run the VM, you must take ownership of the USB
> device's entry in /dev
>
> E.g.
>
> chown /dev/sdc lproven:lproven
>
> N.B. May require sudo.
>
> Then it works. If you don't do this, the VM won't start.
>
> Ubuntu 16.04 will not install on an 8GB USB key, but Lubuntu will.  It
> puts GRUB in the MBR of the key, so it boots like any other disk.
>
> Hints:
>
> * Partition the disk as usual. I suggest no separate /home but it's up
> to you. A single partition is easiest.
>
> * Format the / partition as ext2 to extend flash media life (no
> journalling -> fewer writes)
>
> * Add ``noatime'' to the /etc/fstab entry for the root volume --
> faster & again reduces disk writes
>
> * No swap. Swapping wears out flash media. I install and enable ZRAM
> just in case it's used on low-RAM machines:
>
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/174579/how-do-i-use-zram
>
> * You can add VirtualBox Guest Additions if you like. The key will run
> better in a VM and when booted on bare metal they just don't run.
>
> I then update as normal.
>
> You can update when booted on bare metal, but if it installs a kernel
> update, then it will run ``update-grub'' and this will add entries for
> any OSes on that machine's hard disk into the GRUB menu. I don't like
> this -- it looks messy -- so I try to only update inside a VM.

If you use chmod to turn off the executable bits of 30_os-prober

chmod ugo-x /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober

'sudo update-grub' will not find the other OSes.

If you wish, you can turn it on afterwards

chmod ugo+x /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober

> I usually use a 32-bit edition; the resulting key will boot and run
> 64-bit machines too and modern versions automatically run PAE and use
> all available RAM.

If you have an old laptop with Pentium M or Celeron M, you need the boot 
option 'forcepae', because some of these processors have PAE capability 
but lack the PAE flag. See these links for more details,

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu/AdvancedMethods#Pentium_M_and_Celeron_M

Most processors that lack PAE capability are extremely old, and a 
computer with such a processor may not have enough RAM to run Lubuntu, 
and may be limited in several other ways. See this link about old hardware,

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2130640

> Sadly my Mac does not see such devices as bootable volumes, but the
> keys work on normal PCs fine.
>
> Windows can't see them as it does not natively understand ext* format
> filesystems. If you wish you can partition the drive and have an exFAT
> data partition as well, of course.
>
> I also install some handy tools such as additional filesystem support
> (exFAT, HFS etc.), GParted, things like that.
>
> I find such keys a handy addition to my portable toolkit and have used
> them widely.
>
> If you wish and you used a big enough key, you could install multiple
> distros on a single key this way. But remember, you can't install from
> them.
>
> I've also found that the BootRepair tool won't install on what it
> considers to be an installed system. It insists on being installed on
> a live installer drive.
>
> If you want to carry around lots of ISO files and choose which to
> install, a device like this is the easiest way:
>
> http://www.zalman.com/contents/products/view.html?no=212
>