Linux Format forums

Re: dvd2usb

derrickr — Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:24 am

Author: derrickr

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:24 am

ulysses768 wrote:

dvd2usb didn't work at first for me. The command produced no output whatsoever. After reading through dvd2usb.sh, I saw that I needed to install dialog, which is not installed by default on Mint or Ubuntu. With dialog installed it worked perfectly.

If I might humbly suggest: perhaps the script should check /usr/bin/ for dialog and report to stdout.

Here here

Also, I couldn't find 'dialog' on the DVD, so executed: 'sudo apt-get install dialog'. The script then ran fine.

Appreciate it's a proof of concept & thanks to all for the good work!

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

nelz — Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:29 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:29 pm

Were you running from a terminal? If so, you should have at least seen a "command not found" error. The reason I used dialog was that it was present on all the live distros on the DVD, so everyone can run it.

Yes, the script needs some error checking, but that should be done with which rather than looking in a specific location, but that's a job for the full time disc editor should he wish to proceed with this method. dvd2usb.sh was more a proof of concept.

dvd2usb

ulysses768 — Sun Feb 26, 2012 3:53 pm

Author: ulysses768

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 3:53 pm

dvd2usb didn't work at first for me. The command produced no output whatsoever. After reading through dvd2usb.sh, I saw that I needed to install dialog, which is not installed by default on Mint or Ubuntu. With dialog installed it worked perfectly.

If I might humbly suggest: perhaps the script should check /usr/bin/ for dialog and report to stdout.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

nelz — Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:21 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:21 pm

None of this shenanigans should be necessary with the next DVD. It will (well, should) detect any devices connected to the computer and give you a menu to choose the one you want.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

Pmatt — Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:53 pm

Author: Pmatt

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:53 pm

ajgreeny wrote:

Pmatt wrote:

nelz wrote:

It's mentioned in that paper thing glued to the back of the DVD

You'll find the script in the root of the DVD, with the cryptic name of dvd2usb.

Thanks for the information but unfortunately it doesn't work. I have tried sudo fdisk -1/dev/sdX and the output does not give any logical report. At present I have LXDF154.img in my home folder but how do I move it to my 8GB usb stick?
The problem seems to be complicated by the assumption that we wish to use the whole DVD rather than the individual distros and that we have more than basic knowledge to try each of them out. Can it be made simpler for mere mortals?

The command you used was incorrect!

It should be

Code:

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdX

where the 1 is replaced with a lower case L, and a space added after the l. Also, of course change the sdX to sda, or sdb etc.

Thanks AJGREENY that was the problem and I have now been able to copy the LXDF154.img to a usb memory stick and can try out the distros on my netbook.

Thanks also to everyone else who replied and gave their useful suggestions, it is much appreciated.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

ajgreeny — Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:20 pm

Author: ajgreeny

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:20 pm

Pmatt wrote:

nelz wrote:

It's mentioned in that paper thing glued to the back of the DVD

You'll find the script in the root of the DVD, with the cryptic name of dvd2usb.

The command you used was incorrect!

It should be

Code:

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdX

where the 1 is replaced with a lower case L, and a space added after the l. Also, of course change the sdX to sda, or sdb etc.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

nelz — Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:23 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:23 pm

It is a lot simpler on the next DVD, but it's the whole DVD or nothing for reasons already explained. You can't use fdisk on an ISO filesystem. Copy the image with dd as explained on the disk pages, or give the device name of your USB stick as an argument to the script and let it write the data directly.

I see no good reason to expend a lot of time trying to get individual distros copied to a USB stick when 8GB devics are plentiful and you are only using it for a short time usually. It would mean creating a custom script for every distro every month, and them testing it on as many systems as possible only to find it still breaks for some people (jigdo anyone?). Getting a single script to convert the whole DVD to USB that works the same every month is more reliable.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

Pmatt — Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:04 pm

Author: Pmatt

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:04 pm

nelz wrote:

It's mentioned in that paper thing glued to the back of the DVD

You'll find the script in the root of the DVD, with the cryptic name of dvd2usb.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

Dutch_Master — Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:32 pm

Author: Dutch_Master

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:32 pm

My 1st generation Asus EeePC (the ubiquitous 4GB 701 model) boots from SD card, so...

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

nelz — Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:11 am

Author: nelz

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:11 am

Not reliably, because some of the distros have to be modified to multi-boot from the DVD. SystemRescueCD is one that is not modified to the extent that you can't write it to an ISO image separately (and that can be easily converted to boot from USB as well).

8GB sticks cost well under a tenner nowadays, so I didn't consider availability to be a real restriction. I expect an SD card would work if your netbook will boot from one, but I haven't tried it... yet.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

Rhakios — Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:27 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:27 pm

Just found that. But that requires an 8GB stick for the entire DVD, is there any way of getting just the individual distros for those who don't want the rest, or don't have an 8GB stick to hand?
I expect an 8GB SD card would work as well?

Edit: posts crossing in the mists of the 'net.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

nelz — Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:25 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:25 pm

Rhakios wrote:

Is it the same as the procedure mentioned here, only with the directory and file names changed appropriately?

No, that creates a CD ISO image.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

nelz — Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:23 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:23 pm

It's mentioned in that paper thing glued to the back of the DVD

You'll find the script in the root of the DVD, with the cryptic name of dvd2usb.

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

Rhakios — Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:20 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:20 pm

Is it the same as the procedure mentioned here, only with the directory and file names changed appropriately?

Re: iso image of linux distros for usb

ajgreeny — Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:06 pm

Author: ajgreeny

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:06 pm

towy71 wrote:

Nelz has provided instructions on the LXF154 disk to make an image and copy it to a usb stick

Please tell us where! I know how to do it for some of the Ubuntu family, including Mint, by running the Live DVD and then running usb startup disk creator, but I haven't a clue on other distros. Is it the same but using unetbootin instead of startup disk creator?

I've looked and searched, but I don't really know what to look for. In which section of the DVD is it, out of all these, because I can't find it anywhere:-

BackTrack 5
Linux Mint 12
Crux 2.7.1
System Rescue CD
Hack Linux
Hot Picks
Round Up
Podcasts
Tutorials
Help
Essentials