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Topic: to usb or not usb, which one to get?

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libretto

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Posts: 336
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Jan. 04 2004,00:54

Hi all, just tested DSL 5.2, very nice, but the laptop install will have to wait. As a quick suggestion, could a volume control be included, eg aumix? this would be 'very' useful in my view.

Anyway, back to the main point.....

I have found some nice cheap USB memory sticks http://www.dabs.com/uk....tid=216

So of course I would like to get DSL running on one, could even get apt-get running on a 128MB size!

Now, can anyone recommend a particular manufacturer? Or are they all reasonably compatible?

Cheers for any ideas in advance.

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Small Radio, Small Laptop, DSL Linux

cbagger01

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Posts: 4264
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Jan. 04 2004,07:07

Most USB flash devices are compatible with Linux. If the device is "Mass Storage Compliant" then it should work fine with the generic Linuc Mass Storage driver.

If the manufacturer does not specifically say "Mass Storage Compliant", there are other ways to infer that the device will work:

(1) If they advertise that it will work with Mac computers then it is probably Mass Storage Compliant.

(2) If the manufacturers instructions state that "No Driver Install needed for Windows XP" (but driver is required for Windows 98) the it is probably Mass Storage Compliant.

And you can always check the following web site for reports of USB devices that work under Linux:

http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/

Good Luck.

PS: If you live in the USA and are looking for good in-store sale prices on computer equipment such as USB drives, check out:

http://www.salescircular.com/

libretto

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Posts: 336
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Jan. 05 2004,01:41

Im in the UK, cheers for the help

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Small Radio, Small Laptop, DSL Linux

libretto

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Posts: 336
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Jan. 06 2004,01:09

From what I mentioned earlier, would it be possible to put DSL on a 128MB stick, therefore haivng 50MB for the distro, plus the rest of the space for added programs and user files?

Would or could I partition the device like a hard drive?

Finally would it be possible to do all this whilst keeping the drive formatted as a FAT drive, so I could edit file sunder windows?

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Small Radio, Small Laptop, DSL Linux

Fred Bloggs Offline

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Posts: 10
Joined: Jan. 2004

Posted: Jan. 06 2004,20:37

I'm looking at doing something similar but with a compact-flash card and CF to Ide adapter....... but will a flash based device be reliable enough? Flash memory has a lifespan of (usually) about 10,000 erase (i.e wipe, which has to be done before a fresh write) operations - which, for an operating system that is constantly reading/writing swap info is not really enough is it? Or could it be done by extracting the CD ISO image to a CF card, changing the few things that need changing and then marking it as read only?

4 replies since Jan. 04 2004,00:54

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Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » Other Help Topics » to usb or not usb