Linked by David Adams on Sun 11th Dec 2011 01:37 UTC, submitted by rhyder
It's starting to look like the end of an era for Ubuntu users as Canonical mull the creation of an ISO that won't fit onto a CDR. The question is, does it matter? Canonical owes at least part of its success with Ubuntu Linux to the unique way that it has been distributed. From the start it has been available as a downloadable ISO image and a free CD, posted at no cost to the user. This was great news for people who wanted to install Linux but did not have the luxury of a decent Internet connection. In a sense, installing via a CDR image has always been like a kind of cache, in that you're moving part of the content that you need onto permanent storage rather than pulling it through the network connection
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RE[2]: Comment by ilovebeer
by Neolander on Mon 12th Dec 2011 11:14
in reply to "RE: Comment by ilovebeer"
Member since:2010-03-08
Actually, the Fedora guys provide a Python tool to write an ISO to a USB media without data loss.
However, it keeps the core issues of everything related to USB boot : requires specially crafted ISOs, writing to some pen drives' MBR bricks them without any warning...
Edited 2011-12-12 11:16 UTC
RE[2]: Comment by ilovebeer
by rklrkl on Mon 12th Dec 2011 11:18
in reply to "RE: Comment by ilovebeer"
Member since:2005-07-06
One word: unetbootin
See: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
Install that on your current distro, download the ISO you want to burn, insert a USB stick with already formatted (hint: use VFAT, not ext2/3/4, since very few BIOSes can boot off ext FS'es) and populated with data you want to keep and run unetbootin as root. Select your ISO (it should pick up your USB stick device automatically), start it off and after 10-15 mins you should have a bootable install USB stick with your original data left intact. I use this to install Linux distros on my Dell Mini 9 netbook that has no optical drive of course.
RE[2]: Comment by ilovebeer
by ilovebeer on Mon 12th Dec 2011 17:15
in reply to "RE: Comment by ilovebeer"
Member since:2011-08-08
The problems with "distro on USB" instead of "distro on CD/DVD" are:
- Download iso, burn iso to CD/DVD is a lot easier than the same process on USB
- Download iso, burn iso to CD/DVD is a lot easier than the same process on USB
Five years ago I would agree with you but this is simply not true anymore. As a matter of fact there are tools that completely automate the process, all you have to do is plug a usb stick in and select which OS you want to install on it -- done.
- the CD/DVD OR the USB will have to be empty in order to make the distro bootable. An empty CD(RW) is always available, an empty USB often means moving data to local storage, claiming the entire USB for the distro at first, then moving data from local storage back to the USB
If you're like me, you'll have usb sticks dedicated to OS installs so this is a non-issue. But, if you insist on using a usb stick with data already on it, you can do that too. Again, tools make this process painless these days.
If there is a method for making keeping data on the USB while adding the distro and making the USB bootable, that would solve the above problems
The above problems have been solved for a while, I guess you never got the memo.
As I pointed out, quality 8GB usb sticks can be had for under $10 now. They hold far more data, are more reusable, extremely low power consumption, easily fit in your pocket/very small footprint, are faster, ...need I go on?
I've been installing OSes from usb sticks, and onto usb/sdhc/cf for years now. To see people debating cdr vs. dvd sized isos, posts about dvd drives being $20-$30 plus the cost of media... it's almost as if I've went back in time, when those were good/the only real options available. Hell, some of my boxes aren't much larger than a cd/dvd drive.
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The problems with "distro on USB" instead of "distro on CD/DVD" are:
- Download iso, burn iso to CD/DVD is a lot easier than the same process on USB
- the CD/DVD OR the USB will have to be empty in order to make the distro bootable. An empty CD(RW) is always available, an empty USB often means moving data to local storage, claiming the entire USB for the distro at first, then moving data from local storage back to the USB
If there is a method for making keeping data on the USB while adding the distro and making the USB bootable, that would solve the above problems