Jump to
running Linux from USB disk
Why do I need Linux when I am quite fine with Windows?
Are you paying for Windows? If not, then probably you don't need Linux.
Do you work with any application that is not available in Linux? If yes,
you then have to keep Windows anyway.
Do you use computer for mostly Internet, email, document and spreadsheets?
Do you buy Windows and Office software for that? If yes, then you probably look
into Linux.
The best thing about Linux is that it is free! (some specific
application will cost you but we can say that 99% of Linux is still free).
Even if you can't find out a good reason why you need Linux, think about
this dreaded situation. You Windows system has become corrupt and your computer
refuses to boot up. You need to take out your important documents out of hard
disk (assuming hard disk is fine). So, what to do?
Easy with Linux. Most Linux versions can be booted from CD drive. Once
you boot your computer with Linux CD, you can access (read) your Windows hard
disk partitions. You can then plug an USB device into your computer and can
copy the files from hard disk.
So, even if you don't use Linux, it is a wise idea to keep one boot able
Linux CD at your disposal.
If you use copied versions of Microsoft products (Windows, Office etc.)
you can probably get away without facing any problem at all. However, if you
run any business, you must buy commercial license for all your software. If you
don't and ever get caught – you need to pay a hefty financial penalty. With
Linux, since nearly everything is free, you are never going to face such
trouble.
In fact, corporate business users can save very large amount of money by
shifting to Linux from Windows.
What are the
difference between Linux and Windows?
In one way, they are quite similar (like look and feel, you will get
Windows like feeling and applications like desktop, file browser, word
processor, spreadsheet etc.).
However, there are some differences worth discussing.
All Windows operating systems are solely developed and sold by Microsoft.
Different versions of Windows – like Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP
though differ slightly, most of Windows applications run in all Windows
versions.
However, the case is different in case of Linux. Several vendors develop
and market Linux operating system. The most common versions are – RedHat (now
Fedora), SuSE, Mandrake (now Mandriva), Knoppix, Fedora and Ubuntu.
Out of these, Knoppix and Ubuntu are completely free Linux. As a result,
they don't come with any commercial support. However, the Linux user community
do provide excellent support.
For other Linux, you need to pay a small fee to vendors (to cover
packaging, manual, support etc.). They also offer bit of commercial support for
its users.
In Windows, an executable (EXE file) usually runs in all versions of the
Windows (barring very few exceptions).
In Linux, an application for one version (say Ubuntu) won't run in
another version (say RedHat). So, you always need to get the application
specific to your Linux flavour.
At first, it may seem a big disadvantage. Well, it has some good points
also. I am sure that you agree that viruses are the worst by product of
Windows. Now, since an application will run in all Windows versions, viruses
can spread rapidly and can cause havoc damage. But, in Linux, because of its
inherent version difference among vendors, the viruses will have little chance
to propagate and cause damage. Also, Linux was developed from ground up for
multi-user and security in mind. In Linux, the user has to provide several
permissions to an application to work. So it makes malicious program work much
harder.
Now if you ask me, which applications are better – Microsoft products or
comparable Linux free products?
Honestly speaking, still Microsoft products theoretically offer more
features. Before you jump out, let me tell you something more. Research shows
that 80% or users only use 20% of features of a typical program. So, why do you
pay such huge sum for software to get features which you will never use? You
will be amazed to discover that how sophisticated programs you can get in Linux
for free!
In this document, I shall only discuss Ubuntu Linux as it is completely
free.
Why choose Ubuntu
over other Linux flavors?
Although choosing a Linux flavour is often a matter or personal
preference, Ubuntu does have some advantage over other Linux flavours!
· Its
installation is simpler than other Linux flavours.
· Often
it is a trouble to find proper applications in Linux as one Linux executable
won't work in other Linux flavours. Ubuntu has a large number of readily
available applications.
· Ubuntu
has an excellent on-line community for support.
· Simplicity
is Ubuntu's virtue. It does not come with several redundant applications. By
default, it offers one application per task.
· Ubuntu
easily recognizes most hardware in the market (not as good as Windows like
recognition but better than some other Linux flavours).
Ubuntu Linux can be ordered free (without any shipping charge) from
Canonical Limited.
It usually takes 4 weeks to get the CDs delivered to you.
You will get 2 CDs in a pack. One is for normal install in your hard
disk. Another one is Live CD – that is boot able Linux CD which you can use to
test Linux without installing anything in your hard disk.
http://help.ubuntu.com/starterguide/C/faqguide-all.html
Make sure your computer is configured to boot from CD.
To check it, enter in your computer's BIOS and see booting sequence.
Start the computer with Ubuntu Live CD in your CD drive.
The computer will boot with Linux. It will ask you some simple questions
and then will configure the system by itself.
Within 5-10 minutes, you should be presented with Ubuntu Linux desktop
(quite similar to Windows desktop).
You can run some utility applications, games and Open Office
applications from the live CD. As live CD does not write anything on your hard disk
(it simulates a virtual hard disk in RAM), none of your settings will be saved
when you shut down Ubuntu. However, you can save your files in external USB
disk or in floppy or FAT hard disk (but not in NTFS hard disk).
For real work with Linux, install it into hard disk.
How to access
Windows files from Linux?
Before explaining it further, we need to understand what a file system
is.
The type of file system determines how files are physically stored in
the hard disk.
There are several file systems used.
Windows use either FAT or NTFS (NT/2000/XP and upward)
Floppy disks and USB drives usually use FAT (in both Windows and Linux)
Linux use either ext2 (common) or ext3.
Windows cannot access Linux's ext file system.
Linux can read (but not write) NTFS file system.
Linux can read and write on FAT file system.
Unlike in Windows, when you start Ubuntu Linux, you won't see all your
hard disks by default!
You need to “mount” them yourself.
In the Linux's Terminal window (similar to DOS command prompt in
Windows), type
sudo mkdir /media/windows_system
sudo mount /dev/hda1 /media/windows_system -t ntfs -o
umask=0222
Now you should be able to see your Windows primary partition.
To see Windows secondary partition, use this command
sudo mkdir /media/windows_data
sudo mount /dev/hda1 /media/windows_data -t ntfs -o
umask=0222
To see floppy drive, first put a floppy on the drive, and then issue
this command
sudo mount /dev/hda1 /media/floppy -t vfat -o
umask=000
To “unmount” any drive, use this command
If you have multiple floppies to use in single session, after each
floppy insert, you need to unmount previous floppy and re-mount the new one.
Irritating? Yes!
To access files in USB drive, just plug the USB drive in USB port when
Ubuntu is running ( not during boot up time) The USB disk will be shown under /media/usbdisk directory.
How will Linux
recognize my devices?
Usually your display, sound card etc. are automatically recognized by
Linux
External modems are also detected.
However, the biggest pain is if you have internal modem (also known as
WinModem). These are not just hardware but they have a built in software
instructions which works only with Windows. The installation of WinModem under
Ubuntu is very complicated.
To make your software modem work in Linux, first check what type of
modem you have.
You can download WinModem driver for Linux from this site.
http://www.linuxant.com/drivers/
Then install the driver as per instructions.
An example of modem driver installation steps is given below.
wget -c http://frankandjacq.com/ubuntuguide/scanModem.gz
gunzip -c scanModem.gz > scanModem
Read the ModemData.txt file to see which modem driver you need to
download.
Download the appropriate driver from http://www.linuxant.com/drivers/.
You must download the suitable driver for your Linux kernel version.
Install the driver using following command
sudo dpkg -i hsfmodem_driver_file_name.deb
Answer the questions that Ubuntu asks during installation.
Then use this command to change modem setting configuration.
To disconnect, press Ctrl + C.
File system Hierarchy Standard
/bin - Essential user command binaries (for
use by all users)
/boot - Static files of the boot loader
/dev - Devices and special files
/etc - Host-specific system configuration
(static file - no binaries)
/home - User home directories (optional)
/lib - Essential shared libraries and kernel
modules
/media - Mount point for removable media
/mnt - Mount point for a temporarily mounted
file system
/opt - Add-on application software packages
/root - Home directory for the root user (optional)
/srv - Data for services provided by this
system
/usr is shareable, read-only data
/usr/include - Directory for standard include
files
/usr/lib - Libraries for programming and
packages
/usr/sbin - Non-essential standard system
binaries
/usr/share - Architecture-independent data
/usr/share/dict - Word lists (optional)
/var contains variable data files such as
logs, databases, web sites and temporary e-mail files
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard
Comparison of
common Linux equivalent of Microsoft products
Please note: All or most Windows applications are not freeware. But most
Linux applications are freeware. They are marked with * if Linux application is
not freeware.
How to install new
applications/programs in Ubuntu?
In Windows, you can get an installer package (downloaded or from a CD),
often in setup.exe or .msi format. You then executed it and the program gets
installed in you computer.
For Ubuntu, it is different. There is a special application called
Synaptic (similar to Add/Remove program in Windows Control Panel). There you'll
find list of programs that you can install (known as repository). When you
select the required applications that you want to install, Ubuntu will download
the relevant files from Internet and will install the new application in your
system.
There is a command line version of Synaptic. It is apt-get.
But the problem with this approach is that it requires Internet
connection and without broadband such downloading can be frustrating.
Where from can I
download other applications?
You should remember that till now applications are fairy limited for
Linux compared to Windows. There are few sites where from you can download
version specific Linux applications.
Difference between
Windows and Linux
How do I connect to Internet using Broadband from Linux?
If
you are using an USB modem it may not always be possible. However, if you are
using a cable model thru Ethernet, it is often easy.
For
Knoppix I verified that following trick works with ether net cable modem.
· Switch on the
modem first, before switching on the computer
·
Now boot up the computer with Linux
· After Linux
boots up, open the browser in Linux. You should be able to navigate to any
website.
Most recent versions of Linux
can also access wireless internet (as long as your computer hardware is
wireless enabled).
What is the best Linux distro for running from of USB
disk?
It is possible to
install latest version of Ubuntu (8.10 at the time of this writing) on a USB
disk using the steps described here
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ubuntu-810-install-using-the-built-in-usb-installer/
So, I found
an alternative Linux distro (which is a scaled down Mandriva) from here
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2008/02/13/pendrivelinux-2008-install-from-windows/
This is called Pendrive
Linux and it perfectly boots up from USB disk (at least 1 GB size). It
saves all Linux session data (so it is persistence) in a loop file (i.e. the
file itself is a full Linux file system). This file is visible from Windows.
But access any "file" within this loop file from Windows, you need to
use programs like Explorer FS (freeware).
The Pendrive Linux can also access wireless
internet (provided your computer hardware is wireless enabled AND Linux has the
driver for your WiFi card!).
Recently I
also tried Fedora 10 which can be easily installed on USB disk using liveusb-creator. First you
need to download Fedora from here.
Then use the liveusb-creator and the downloaded iso file to create a bootable
USB disk. You can also save your changes in the disk using persistent option.
Fedora is a
full fledged Linux operating system. It doesn’t come with too many installed
applications, but you can add them easily. For example, you can download Open
Office and install on Fedora.
Fedora is
also very fast! It only takes 50 seconds to boot up from USB in my computer
compared to same time taken by Windows Vista to boot from hard disk.
Fedora is
also very good at recognizing hardware. It’s the only Linux distro which
recognized my WiFi card and integrated web cam without fuss.
Remember, installing an operating system in USB disk might reduce
its lifespan as OS reads/writes to disk very frequently. So, you may suddenly
find your USB disk OS corrupt after several times of use. If it happens, simply
reformat the disk and re-install Linux again.
February 2009