DSL Embedded :: Writing back to the USB stick



Re: syslinux changes: Maybe you can just change syslinux.cfg?

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What would be the implications of using DSL from a USB stick with ext2 partitions - grub/lilo boot instead of syslinux I guess, but anything else?
Apparently there's an ext* derivative as well http://syslinux.zytor.com/extlinux.php ... and I've also seen some people that use grub on their usb's (I'm assuming fat*)
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I just unzipped dsl-3.3-embedded.zip to the stick and installed syslinux (3.36) to it.


Perhaps it's too early in the morning for me:  I'm sure there a reason for running it this way - am I missing something?
Well, this way you can install DSL from Windows onto a USB stick without the need for a Windows "iso unpacking" application (of course, you still need Syslinux and Winzip...).

Once you've done the first time installation this way, you can then overwrite the knoppix image to upgrade from within DSL on the USB stick.
yeah, i get the feeling most newbies nowadays don't want to burn the cd and want to prepare the disk from within windows (this is not really 'embedded' it's just using the files from 'embedded'). that's fine until you want two partitions.

my advice: use an external partitioner e.g gparted.

Also, you don't really need to boot 'from' the 2nd partition,
you can boot from the 1st but tell dsl to 'load' the knoppix image from the 2nd.

This is a good idea, and one i always recommend, by seperating the knoppix image to another partition, you avoid all sorts of problems.

You can't use chmod,chown.. etc on fat16/32 but you can in the ramdisk (/home/dsl) which gets backed up in backup.tar.gz.  it does take more time as the files/sizes build up, for the backup process. I tend to archive old stuff elsewhere if the file gets too big.
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What if you `umount /dev/sda1` ? Are you sure you get this while you boot with toram.. and not the other way around?

`umount /dev/sda1` = `device is busy`. Mmm. Don't help. Yes, it's with the toram option I get this situation. That said, I get a message when booting with toram that I don't get when booting without:
`Warning: Changing to /cdrom2 failed.`
Booting without toram let me mount sda1 and write to it, but only as root.

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Perhaps it's too early in the morning for me:  I'm sure there a reason for running it this way - am I missing something?

Nah. I just came over this tutorial that recommended this. And also on DSL Wiki somewhere it said it's recommended to use DSL embedded for USB stick rather than the ISO. If mounting the ISO and transfer the files to the stick have advantages, thats no problem. I have access to both Linux and Windows and should be able to use any tool necessary. Using the installscript from DSL never worked for me. Are there disadvantages to the Embedded? Advantages to the plain ISO? Please tell...

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The stick will be used in the wild. So the first partiton will have to have FAT (preferably FAT32) filesystem as this is the only thing that will work all around. The best situation I guess would be to have a first partition that's FAT32 and a second that's ext2 and put the DSL on the second. Partitioning I should manage, either with qparted or some of the command tools if they will work with USB sticks...

The tricky bit I guess will be booting. If I can get syslinux, extlinux or grub to make this setup bootable for me...? Any tips?
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