Repeated warning

**novice61** · Subject: Re: Repeated warning 5/27/2009, 23:18

fay47 wrote:

Feel free to move this discussion to wherever it belongs.

I got a 2GB flash drive, went to:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/all-in-one-usb-dsl/
;and tried following the instructions there.

Thought things were going ok. But when I tried the reboot, I got a message:
could not find kernel image: linux

What did I do wrong?

Fay

Did you extract the files to the thumb drive with an zip utility, or did you place the ISO image directly onto the drive?

If you want to try using Linux you should extract the files to the thumb drive and you will need "syslinux" on your hard drive. This is the basic core of Linux and it is universal to all the different flavors. Those instructions are on the Pendrive linux page you visited.

If you want to use the thumb drive for emergency repair and boot up you need the ISO image transferred to the drive in it's raw state. Windows actually creates an ISO image in RAM of every file it copies or moves and then extracts it to it's chosen location when you paste, discarding the ISO from RAM. Making an ISO image of an ISO image destroys the formatting and makes it unbootable, so the simple copy / paste or move to commands don't give the desired results. If you don't have a burner utility program that handles ISO images correctly Vista has "burn disk image" as an option in the right click context menu. It only appears when a "disk image" (ISO) is selected. In the subsequent screens you should find target choice dropdowns where you can select the thumb drive. The ISO will be copied in the raw to the drive and should be bootable.

A more complete (and probably more accurate) explanation and instructions can be found here;

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Install_to_USB_From_within_Windows

**fay47** · Subject: Re: Repeated warning 5/30/2009, 19:58

Hi Keith,

I followed the instructions at the website or at least I did what I thought they were saying. I down loaded 7-zip as they instructed and used it to extra the files to my thumb drive. I also installed syslinux on my hard drive.

My BIOS was already set to boot from USB and it apparently tried to boot because when I had the thumb drive inserted - I got the error I posted in my prior message.

I don't know anything about iso files I have never done anything with them. I don't remember seeing any file with a .ISO extension. About all I know about them is what little I read, that says they are normally a complete copy of a disk. I believe the file I downloaded had a .zip extension. The instructions said to extract to the the drive with 7-zip. So I downloaded 7-zip and did that.

Since I had to put syslinux on my hard drive - does that mean that I could only boot the thumb drive on a computer that had syslinux on it?

But, I got the error message trying to boot on my computer which did have syslinux.

I really just wanted to play with this a little bit and see if I could do it. I should have know it would not be that easy. My motto is NIES (nothing is ever simple) Hehe

I know you didn't start this thread to teach people about linux - so it is ok if you don't want to continue. I don't know how much time I'll have to play around with it anyway. Right now work is keeping me pretty stressed out. I just thought it might be nice to know how to boot up under linux and then play with it a little.

Fay

**novice61** · Subject: Re: Repeated warning 5/30/2009, 20:52

The problem we are running into is that our present objective isn't aligned with the original. It happens all the time and the best way to resolve it is to address the secondary objective individually.

If you are only wanting to try Linux a much better route would be a "live" CD or DVD. The thumb drive Linux distros were developed with severe size restrictions and are not a good example of the robust qualities of Linux. I think that Knoppix Linux would be a better choice and it runs from a CD or DVD. If you have a DVD burner I would suggest the DVD format. The download includes more features and is more user friendly to run.

With a live CD or DVD there is nothing more to do than to boot to the media. You can download Knoppix or order the DVD for under $2 here.

http://www.knoppix.net/

**fay47** · Subject: Re: Repeated warning 5/30/2009, 23:24

I may just put this aside for now and come back to it at a later time.

Thanks,
Fay

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