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zuterus
n00b
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 5
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 Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:34 pm Post subject: Is Live Linux on Hard Disk Possible ? |
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Like LiveCD linux distros, is it possible to have a linux installation on a hard disk ( an external hard disk especially) which can autodetect hardware and also can be used as a normal installation ( ex. install new programs )?
I know the Gentoo LiveUSB but it has limited abilities.
LiveHD would be great since i work at office and home with different machines, synchronizing the files and installed systems take a lot of effort. ( I hate laptops  ) |
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desultory
Bodhisattva
Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Posts: 9410
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:06 am Post subject: Re: Is Live Linux on Hard Disk Possible ? |
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| zuterus wrote: | | Like LiveCD linux distros, is it possible to have a linux installation on a hard disk ( an external hard disk especially) which can autodetect hardware and also can be used as a normal installation ( ex. install new programs )? |
If it can be done on a CD, why would it not be at least as readily accomplished with a writeable media of similar or larger capacity?
If you want to use a Gentoo based system for this project sys-apps/hwinfo will be a package you will probably want (need would be a slight overstatement).
If you just want it to work with minimal effort and do not really care what distribution it is based on look into Knoppix. |
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zuterus
n00b
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks desultory, hwinfo can be a start point. i agree with you, it should be possible. Like LiveCDs a kernel compiled with all drivers as modules and startup scripts that can detect hardware then loads related modules may be enough. Since i am not a linux expert may assumptions may be insufficient or wrong.
I am working on that idea, any help is welcome  |
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tobr
Guru
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 330
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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If you don't care if it's gentoo or not, you could have a look at knoppix (which is a great debian-based livecd, which can be installed to HD though I never tried). (K)Ubuntu's install cd is also a live cd, although I don't know if they have a good hardware detection. Gentoo is not really an "autodetect-distro", so you would have to do it all by yourself, which kind of defeats the purpose of autodetection in your case (namely to make your life easier). http://kanotix.com/ is another one which could fit your purpose (and which can be installed to hd). But it's all debian
Just read the bit about the external hard disk: Try to find a distro which boots from usb-stick and put it on your external hd. It should be the same, if your bios supports booting from the external hd. |
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desultory
Bodhisattva
Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Posts: 9410
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| If you do want to have the system be Gentoo based, you can still use Knoppix as a guide. |
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zuterus
n00b
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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I know it's a bit late reply but, by the time i worked for the idea. And i managed to configure a gentoo installation on a usb hard disk  I've been using this for nearly 5 months and tested with different machines and no problem had come up.
So this is the HOWTO :
1- install gentoo on an usb harddisk as normal except grub installation. Don't install GRUB.
2- for kernel configuration compile most of the drivers as modules (more drivers means better portability  ), but usb support must be embedded into kernel (it is obvious ) You can use genkernell as i did, the gentoo way.
Hint: Don't compile sata and scsi drivers into kernel so the usb disk will be /dev/sda
3- For booting the system use ISOLINUX.
( For isolinux i followed this guide: isolinux howto )
| Code: | | emerge sys-boot/syslinux |
make a directory name it bootcd :
| Code: | | cp /usr/lib/syslinux/isolinux.bin bootcd/isolinux.bin |
copy kernel into bootcd directory :
| Code: | | cp /media/sda1/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-19-386 bootcd/linux |
copy initrd :
| Code: | | cp /media/sda1/boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-1 bootcd/initrd.img |
create a file named isolinux.cfg in bootcd directory and in that file write this :
| Code: | | DEFAULT linux initrd=initrd.img ro root=(your-root-dev) |
for your installed system's root device, write the partition such as /dev/sda1 (if you compiled sata and scsi support as modules your usb disk device, with a high probability, will be /dev/sda as i mentioned above)
Then create the cd image :
| Code: | | mkisofs -o bootcd.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -J -hide-rr-moved -R bootcd/ |
write bootcd.iso to a blank cd and boot.
Portability tips :
- Don't define SOUND_CARDS or VIDEO_CARDS so all these drivers wiil be available by alsa and xorg
- use knoppix scripts for creating xorg.conf files for different machines:
| Code: | | emerge mkxf86config hwsetup |
for creating xorg.conf:
| Code: | hwsetup -p
mkxf86config |
- for every machine with different sound cards, only once run alsaconf. Alsa remembers the cards
- mostly you don't need manual module loading for device drivers. udev should do it's job.
- for every different ethernet card the eth device number will be different so symbolic linking to net.eth0 will be a solution to this. I don't know a better solution maybe someone will show that.
| Code: | | ln -s /etc/init.d/net.eth0 /etc/init.d/net.eth1 |
you can make it ready for 10 different ethernet cards eth[1-10]
And you don't need to add net.eth0 to default runlevel. When eth device is found the related script will be run.
- If after booting with cd your kernel will halt and says something like root device is not available you can pass there the root device and try these: /dev/sda1 , /dev/sdb1, /dev/sdc1 ...
So that's it. Give it a try. |
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zuterus
n00b
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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I forgot to mention that; again for portability you should build your system for i686 or i386. Modify make.conf :
| Code: | | CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe" |
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thedangerouscrew
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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Simple answer is yes.
Have you checked out slax? http://slax.org
They have a forum and this question has been ask 100 times before. The live cd use to have
an option to install to the hard drive. |
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tipp98
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Posts: 113
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| Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| zuterus wrote: |
- for every different ethernet card the eth device number will be different so symbolic linking to net.eth0 will be a solution to this. I don't know a better solution maybe someone will show that. |
This little "feature" drove me bonkers. Just got to your /etc/udev/rules.d and rename or delete the persistent-net-generator file. |
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