[tlug] Running from USB memory stick (hardware issues)

[Lyle H Saxon <llletters@example.com>]

I've discovered in running some old laptop computers from Linux on a USB memory stick that it seems to be manufacturer specific:

Fujitsu: Seems to always work once the BIOS is set to boot from USB.

NEC: Never works (on multiple machines tried), enough though there is a boot from USB option in the BIOS.

(In both cases above, there is no problem booting from a DVD disk.)

Also, unrelated to this, but on one NEC laptop I recently used, when the BIOS is set to default, one of the default options is to "Disable" wireless.  To use wireless, you have to set that to "Enable".

And on an HP laptop manufactured about... four years ago (I think, certainly it's a relatively recent machine) I discovered that it appears to be a sealed no-changes-ever device (I couldn't find a single screw on the machine anywhere) with no way of upgrading the memory and I could find no model number for the machine anywhere!  I've never seen this before... I suppose it's an ultra-cheap generic OEM POS ordered from somewhere and then they slap the HP name on it.  That particular computer, while having a decent i5 processor, appears to be low spec in every other way.  I gave up on attempting to use it....

- Lyle