Acer Aspire One Linux recovery DVD available for download – Acer has posted a disc you need to restore an Acer Aspire One mini-laptop with Linpus Linux Lite to its factory default condition.
Installing Linux from a USB mass storage device or logging into Live Linux Environment is a cool Idea. Booting from a USB mass storage device is sometimes necessary, especially when the ROM media device is not working. Booting Windows from a USB mass storage device is not difficult, and with the availability of various software it has been just a few clicks away. Booting into a windows machine requires only three files, namely boo.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com. But booting into a Linux machine is a complex process which requires a whole lot of files and process in well defined execution manner. The booting process is complex but creating a boot-able usb media is very interactive and fun.
We will be creating USB boot-able image in two different way
- Unetbootin (An Open Source Project, freely available)
- dd (Data Description)
For creating a Usb boot-able image, certain basic requirements are:
- Usb Mass Storage Device (Pen Drive)
- Linux Image in CD/DVD/ISO or Internet connection (Not recommended for large images)
- Windows/Linux Platform
Let us start with Unetbootin
Use Apt/Yum to get the required Unetbootin package or download the tar-ball from the below link for your platform.
Insert Your USB pen-drive into the Windows/Linux machine and Launch Unetbootin, you will be greeted with a windows similar to.
Check the content above the red line. Type should be Usb Device, strictly and if more than one usb device is plugged in you need to know the name of exact Usb device you need to work upon. A wrong selection will lead to wipe your hard disk, so be aware. You can browse to the stored disk image on your hard drive, from the Unetbootin window.
Or alternatively download from the internet, in real time. Although it is a time taking process and may result into error, when larger image is downloaded.
Click OK, and the process of downloading and/or extracting image will start. It will take time depending upon the size of download and/or the file size of ISO image. Once completed, click ‘exit‘.
Plug out the usb storage device safely and plug it into the machine you want to boot. Restart it and set that usb storage device to boot first from the BIOS menu which may be F12, F8, F2 or Del depending upon you machine and build.
You will be greeted with a window as below, from where you can boot into Live Linux Mode and/or Install on Hard Disk from there, directly.
Pros of using Unetbootin
- Most of the processing is automated.
- Easy to use.
- Make it possible to create boot-able stick from windows/Linux.
Cons of using Unetbootin
- One wrong selection of disk and all your Data and Installation on primary HDD is wiped.
Creating Boot-able USB Device using dd Command
dd command originally was a part of UNIX, which is implemented in Linux. The dd command is capable of striping headers, extracting parts of binary files. It is used by the Linux kernel Makefiles to make boot images.
The basic syntax of dd command is
The bite Size is generally “some power of 2, and usually not less than 512 bytes i.e., 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, but can be any reasonable whole integer value.
sync option allows you to copy everything using synchronized I/O.
Run the below command with modification depending upon your source and destination.
It will take time to create the boot-able disk depending upon the size of ISO image and your RAM capacity.
Don’t interrupt the boot stick creation, once the process is completed, you will get something like this in your terminal.
Now safely eject the disk, plug it into the machine you want to boot with Linux, and Yup don’t forget to change the booting option in your BIOS, setting your flash stick to boot primarily.
When USB is booted, You will be greeted with a window similar to.
Pros of the above method:
- Least possible error in making copy
- No extra/ third party tool required
Cons of the Above method:
- No room for error, an error and everything is wiped.
- Non-interactive way.
- You should know, what you are doing, as you won’t get any manual/prompt/help at run time, you must be good in terminals.
Remember, All the distro don’t allow Live Environment, but most of the today’s distro does. You will be able to log into a live Linux Environment only if supported.
The above article do not aims at comparing the two method. Before writing anything we gives hours in testing and executing the process to ensure you get 100% working solution.
If you gets stuck at somewhere, feel free to contact us in comment section. For any damage to data/disk, as a result of above method neither the Author nor Tecmint is responsible.
That’s all for Now. I will soon be here again, with another interesting article, you people will love to read. Till then stay healthy, safe, tuned and connected to Tecmint.
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In this follow up to Replace the Retiring Windows XP with Linux we’re going learn the easiest and most foolproof way to install and run Xubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS on your old Windows XP computer. The only requirements are that your old computer has USB ports, and that it supports booting from a USB stick. If your computer is too old for USB, then it’s pretty darned old and you really need to think about getting a newer one.
There are but four steps: one, go to OSDisc.com and order Xubuntu Linux on a 32-gigabyte USB stick. Then insert the USB stick into your computer, boot up, and start playing with Linux. It is self-contained and doesn’t change anything on your computer. You can create and save files on the USB stick, install and remove Linux software, and it’s completely portable so you can plug it in and use it anywhere. If you ever get bored with Xubuntu you can delete it and use your USB stick for something else.
Booting to a USB Stick
Ideally your computer is already configured to boot from removable media like USB sticks, CD/DVDs, and even floppy disks if it’s old enough. Boot devices are listed in order in your computer’s BIOS (basic input/output system), for example CD/DVD, USB, and then hard drive. Your computer BIOS is a little program installed in a microchip on your motherboard, and it performs the initial startup before handing off to your operating system. The BIOS goes down this list of boot devices until it finds one that is present, and then uses that.
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Watch the boot messages that appear when you first start up your PC and they will tell you how to enter your BIOS, like in figure 1. Then you can see how startup devices are configured. There is no standard way to do this, so you’ll need to press the F1, F2, F11, or Del key to get into your BIOS settings, or possibly even something else; but don’t worry, the startup messages will tell you. Then explore your BIOS settings until you see where to configure the boot device priority (figure 2).
Don’t worry if your screens don’t look exactly like my examples, because they’re all a little different. Save your changes, if any, and exit, and when your system re-starts it should boot to your Xubuntu stick. The first screen has two choices: Try Xubuntu and Install Xubuntu.
Click “Try Xubuntu” to run it from the USB stick. When it’s finished booting you’ll see something like figure four.
Xubuntu recognizes any other installed operating systems, like Windows and system recovery partitions, and there will be icons for them on your Xubuntu desktop. If you have a recovery partition leave it alone. You can click on the Windows partitions to see your files.
Click the little mouse at the top left to see your application menu (figure 5).
Hover your cursor at the bottom to see your Xubuntu dock (figure 6). This auto-hides itself when you move the cursor away. If you want it to always be visible, right-click anywhere on the dock, then left-click Panel > Panel Preferences and uncheck “automatically show and hide the panel.”
Now that you’re up and running, you’re ready to look at some documentation and learn how to run your nice Linux system. Linux uses right-click menus a lot, so remember this while you’re exploring Xubuntu. Visit Xubuntu.org/help for how to’s and other help resources.
Take your time and be patient. There is no such thing as a dead-easy, no-knowledge-required personal computer. It doesn’t matter what computer you use, whether it’s Microsoft, Apple, Android, Chromebook, Linux, or anything else. They all require knowledge and study. You should know basic computer terminology and components, and basic networking concepts. We still need keyboards, and there are lots of free typing tutors if you need a tune-up. There are zillions of great YouTube videos and online how to articles, and all kinds of books, and maybe some classes in your community. Linux and the free/open source software world offer a vast wealth of high-quality software for free. We’ve had affordable, sophisticated personal computers for over 30 years, and there is a world of knowledge literally at our fingertips. It’s not hard once you move past “I can’t do this.”
About Xubuntu
I chose Xubuntu because it is part of the excellent and popular Ubuntu family of Linux distributions. The 12.04 LTS (long-term support) release, codename Precise Pangolin, receives updates and security fixes until April 2017. The interim releases are supported only for 9-18 months. It’s nice and lightweight for older computers, and it has a good straightforward user interface. The Ubuntu installer is the easiest and most streamlined of any distro, and Ubuntu updates and upgrades are reliable. Ubuntu is popular and has the backing of its parent company Canonical, so it’s not likely to disappear anytime soon. Xubuntu doesn’t look much like Windows XP, but it has the same basic layout: an applications menu, and a panel that shows notifications and open apps. You can find everything with just a little bit of poking around and clicking stuff.
I know, my fellow Linux fans, I know, what about Linux Mint? Mint is a wonderful distro. And so is Mageia, and Fedora, and PCLinuxOS, and openSUSE, and Bohdi, and so many more. Linux is a feast of riches. OSDisc.com offers many Linux distros on USB sticks, so feel free to go nuts and use whatever one you want.