Other Help Topics :: USB install HOWTO



Thanks for rewriting the directions.  First off, the flonix.zip file you linked appears to be corrupted.  I tried downloading it twice and both times my uncompressing software choked on it.  This is no big deal for me, since I just got the full version of flonix and extracted what I needed.

But unfortunately, I still wasn't able to get DSL (or Flonix) to fully boot on my computer.  Whether I have the /knoppix directory from the DSL iso or from the Flonix download, when I boot up the computer, it fails to mount /dev/sda1.  I'm guessing it's simply not finding it, but I don't really know why.

I saw in another thread that enabling USB keyboard support sometimes helped, so I did that...  But no luck.  No matter what I do, it boots, but ends up panicking a few steps after it fails to mount /dev/sda1.

I may fiddle around with miniroot.gz and try to figure out if my USB drive is for some reason somewhere other than /dev/sda1, but if anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know.
What kind of computer is this? There are basically two standards for USB devices based on manufacturer of the computer/motherboard. Have you tried the latest bootusb.img from the DSL site and the readme on the CD in the other documentation area of Getting Started?
Well, it's a Shuttle SN41G2 SFF PC.  When I try to boot, it finds USB devices handled by:  usbcore.o, ehci-hcd.o, usb-ohci.o and usb-storage.o.  But then when it tries to mount, I get "No such device or address."

As for messing with the bootusb.img, I don't have a floppy drive on this computer, and thought I would try to get this working before pulling out an old computer with a floppy drive to try booting that way.  If I can't get something figured out in the next few days, though, I guess I'll throw another computer together (I think I have a floppy drive around here somewhere) and try it that way.

** Edit **
Well, I got an old floppy up and running and used rawrite to create the bootusb.img disk, then copied that to the root of my USB drive, and finally used syslinux.

It booted up just like when it used the flonix booter (only it looked like DSL this time), but after it did all of the USB drive searching, it said it could not find the filesystem.  While there wasn't any specific mount error, I'm guessing that it was once again unable to mount the USB device after booting from it.
Quote (ratatosk @ July 19 2004,22:39)
Well, it's a Shuttle SN41G2 SFF PC.  When I try to boot, it finds USB devices handled by:  usbcore.o, ehci-hcd.o, usb-ohci.o and usb-storage.o.  But then when it tries to mount, I get "No such device or address."

As for messing with the bootusb.img, I don't have a floppy drive on this computer, and thought I would try to get this working before pulling out an old computer with a floppy drive to try booting that way.  If I can't get something figured out in the next few days, though, I guess I'll throw another computer together (I think I have a floppy drive around here somewhere) and try it that way.

** Edit **
Well, I got an old floppy up and running and used rawrite to create the bootusb.img disk, then copied that to the root of my USB drive, and finally used syslinux.

It booted up just like when it used the flonix booter (only it looked like DSL this time), but after it did all of the USB drive searching, it said it could not find the filesystem.  While there wasn't any specific mount error, I'm guessing that it was once again unable to mount the USB device after booting from it.

Have you checked my notes in this article?
I found the instructions a little hard to follow, but then again I don't run windose. So I was hoping to help those that need an easier way for DSL to go onto the USB memory toys.
after downloading the bookusb.img and damsmall*.iso
su; exit                                   - you know the program
mount /mnt/USB                       - what ever your fstab reflects
syslinux -o bootusb.img /dev/sdb - typically sda for most users
mount -o loop damsmall...iso /mnt/cdrom
mount -o loop bootusb.img /mnt/floppy
cp -v /mnt/floppy/* /mnt/USB
cp -vr /mnt/cdrom/KNOPPIX/ /mnt/USB
umount /mnt/USB /mnt/cdrom /mnt/floppy

I have to say that this little JetFlash stick works like a charm running linux, even only using 1.1 rather than USB2 it's still amazingly slick!
Ok it's not going to make me retire Gentoo but I have to say thanks to those that made this all work so easy and well.
;)
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