[Techtalk] simple date question

Akkana Peck akkana at shallowsky.com
Tue Oct 8 21:32:04 UTC 2013


I wrote:
> > One tip: it is possible to install Ubuntu (or other distros) to a
> > USB stick or external USB drive. I haven't done such an install
> > myself so I don't know the tricks, but I would guess the most

Peggy Russell writes:
> The site, pendrivelinux.com, has been helpful. They have manual steps and 
> they also have a Universal USB installer that lets you select a Linux 
> Distro.
> 
> KNOPPIX Persistent – Saving settings to USB

I was under the impression that installing a distro to a USB stick
was a different thing from having a live USB stick with persistence.
With a live distro, even with persistence, as far as I know you're
always booting from that original ISO you downloaded, and then
there's an overlay on top that remembers changes you've made to
that filesystem. Am I wrong about that?

If you actually install a distro to a USB stick, there's none of
that overlay stuff -- you just have a normal ext4 (or whatever)
filesystem on the USB stick, and any changes you make happen right
there on the root filesystem, just like they would if you installed
to your laptop's built-in hard drive.

Since the original poster already has a persistent live distro set up,
maybe it's not worth the hassle, but I did want to point out that a
simpler setup was possible.

	...Akkana


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