Re: [tlug] USB Flash Drive Install

[Leo Howell <leo@example.com>]

On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 11:28:01PM +0900, Curt Sampson wrote:
> So, after a "minor issue"[1] I've discovered that my attempt to try
> out 9.10 ...

<snip bitching>

I assume you're aware that 9.10 is still in beta and won't be 
declared working until the end of the month?

> So what do I need to do to install one one of these darn things [USB 
> key], and not get strange error messages out the wazoo?

You neglected to mention what error messages you got, so I'm shooting in 
the dark here.

Have you tried the ubuntu wiki page which details several ways to 
achieve this?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent

>     1. Say, 128 GB instead of the usual 256 GB for /boot. That should be
>     enough for three kernels and initrds and all, easy.

I assume you mean MB above. If this is just to see if ubuntu will work 
on your PC (and for web cafes), why not just stick everything into one 
filesystem?

>     2. The basic encryption of root that everybody expects these days.

Really? I don't. Especially not if I'm going to be typing in my 
passphrase on an untrusted machine, which may well have any number of 
malicious things lurking in the firmware / hardware.

>     3. No swap. It's a fricking USB key, after all. I use this on
>     machines I don't trust in Internet cafes; it's not like I care if my
>     session comes back[2].

If you don't want swap, then don't set any up in the installer. It will 
ask once if you're really sure, but then you are, right?

When you say that you don't care if your session comes back, do you mean 
that you don't mind if the system isn't persistent (like a live cd)? 
That's the easiest to set up, but the various USB-specific installers 
can allow for saving data, as detailed in the wiki page above.


Leo