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Linux distro to boot from 64MB USB Flash Drive


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I recently got into Linux and have MandrakeLinux 8.2 installed in my other computer. What I want to do now, is to have a part of my 64MB USB Flash Drive boot a small but complete Linux distribution.

 

My requirements are simple. I'll be learning Perl (or PHP) soon, so I basically want a simple Linux distro that comes with Perl and/or PHP installed (or one that's easy to install in). Graphical interface is not necessary at all (but if it comes in very small size, fine :)). I'd like to run maybe Apache and MySQL on it for PHP (is it possble).

 

There are a few that are around ~50MB distro, but I'm actually looking for something less. Around 10-15MB would be perfect! :D

 

My BIOS can boot from USB, so that's not a problem ;)

 

So I wanted to know which small distribution that I could use to develop and learn command-line Linux/UNIX from? :juggle:

 

I'd appreciate any ideas you may have. :thanks:

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Thanks. Could find distros made using LFS there, I appreciate the help! :D

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I don't think you are ready for LFS if you are still not comfortable with command line.

Anyway, there are a number of distros custom made to be bootable and under 50 MB. Some of the examples are Damn Small Linux (DSL) and Feather Linux. Both of them are livecd based, but can be made into a bootable USB flash disks.

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LFS sounds perfect. Is it only command-line. Can I have Perl, PHP, MySQL and Apache installed? Since I'm a newbie and I don't know to many commands (just some file management , permissions, basic vi(m) and emacs).

 

LFS, does this mean I've have to compile everything myself? Their site's a bit difficult, IMO :P

 

Thanks for your help :)

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well, I have printed their book yesterday, and I think you could use their advice :

 

Prerquisites:

 

Software building HOWTO:

 

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-Building-HOWTO.html

 

Linux User's Guide

 

This guide covers the usage of assorted Linux software:

 

http://espc22.murdoch.edu.au/~stewart/guide/guide.html

 

Pre reading guide

 

LFS hint, for new linux users:

 

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/down..._prereading.txt

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Since I'm a newbie and I don't know to many commands (just some file management , permissions, basic vi(m) and emacs).

beg your pardon, but i would think twice about using linux from scratch. with the little knowledge you seem to have, i would not use it, if i were you. i do know of some linux experts (coders, five+ years experience) that had serious trouble to get lfs running and configured.

 

if you really want to risk it, make sure you have enough coffee and aspirin next to your box.

 

i would say, stick to damn small linux.

Edited by arctic
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@Echylo: Thanks for the links :D I'll go over them. I glanced over all of them and like arctic suggested, they're way over my head! :P

 

Damn Small Linux, Feather Linux and Puppy are all great, but they're over 30MB, which is quite a lot to download with 56k. Besides, my USB Drive is also an mp3, the reason I'm looking for a much compact Linux system :D

 

Command-line to toy around with, environment for me to run Per / PHP scripts is mostly what I need. I loved Devil Linux. No X, server-suited, Perl/PHP included, but when I tried downloading it, it came around 92MB! Could somewone please confirm this? It's at http://www.devil-linux.org/home/index.php :D

 

Is there some distro out there that suits my needs? :o

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http://www.linux.org

 

@distributions, choose minimalist, and you get list of small linux distro's, maybe you'll find what you need :)

 

Thanks, this is a PERFECT place to look! :D Custom searches :D

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Yes, sir!! :D

 

University Linux is perfect!! It' exactly what I've been looking for!

 

Now, only if I could get it to boot from my USB device :o

 

Oh, and thank you! :D

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Here's the problem. This distribution was made to be loaded from the HDD, installed onto a Win32 partition. They suggested C:\Linux.

 

How they expected it to be loaded normally is, under Win98, boot into DOS and then go to C:\Linux and type in the batch file ULinux.bat. However, to do this in WinXP is really difficult, since there's no option to load into DOS. Even if you create a startup disk, it doesn't really load into DOS. So this method doesn't work for WinXP as well.

 

I've loaded all the neccessary files (ones I'd normally load to C:\Linux) to my USB drive inside a folder.

 

My BIOS supports booting from the USB. However, this distribution doesn't have this feature.

 

Is there any way I can implement this? All I want it to do is load something like GRUB so I can select Linux from the F:\ Drive (USB drive).

 

Is this possible? :thanks:

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