Putting Damn Small Linux (DSL) on USB Pendrive

This walkthrough illustrates how to install Damn Small Linux (DSL) to a USB flash memory stick from within Windows. Damn Small Linux is perfect for smaller USB flash drives and will fit on portable devices as small as 64MB making for a great compact linux environment. Damn Small Linux was created by John Andrews of damnsmalllinux.org and is a trimmed down version of Knoppix, making it perfect for smaller drives. Based on the 2.4 kernel, DSL is great to use for older and slower computers as well. It will fit and run on portable devices as small as 64MB.

Basic essentials:
[1]A 64MB or larger USB flash drive
[2]HP-USB Format tool (optional)
[3]7-Zip (or another extracting utility)
[4]Syslinux
[5]dsl-embedded.zip

Damn Small Linux USB install tutorial:

[1] Download the HP-USB Format tool and format your flash drive using the Fat or Fat32 option
[2] Download the dsl-embedded.zip and extract the contents using 7-Zip to your “USB flash drive”
[3] Download syslinux-3.36.zip and unzip the files to a directory called syslinux on your computer
[4] From Windows click start-> run-> cmd
[5] From the command window, type cd \syslinux\win32
[6] Type syslinux.exe -ma X: (replace X with your USB drive letter) to make the drive bootable
[7] Reboot your computer and set your system BIOS to boot from USB-ZIP or USB-HDD. You might also need to set the hard disk boot priority to boot from the USB stick if your BIOS lists the device as a hard drive.

Notes: It is possible to “boot DSL using Qemu emulation” without the need to reboot the PC. See the included readme file that was written by the authors of DSL

If you still can’t get DSL to work, you can try this full installation tutorial direct from the DSL wiki

Qemu Persistent SLAX Linux tutorial

The following process enables you to bring SLAX with you on a portable USB device and then proceed to run SLAX from a Windows client PC without rebooting. In addition, your personal settings and changes are automatically saved back to the stick and restored at boot. This is accomplished using Qemu emulation software in conjunction with a pre-built image file for saving and restoring the changes.

Qemu Slax basic essentials:

USB device with 512MB+ free space
A Windows client computer

Qemu Slax install and boot procedure:

1> Download Qemu and extract it to a directory named Qemu on your portable device
2> Download Kqemu and extract it to a directory named Kqemu within the Qemu directory
3> Download the SLAX.iso and move it to the Qemu directory
4> Download the QSB.zip and extract it’s contents to the Qemu directory
5>Click the start-slax.bat to start SLAX
6> Press Enter at the boot prompt
7> Login to SLAX with the username: root and password: toor
8> Type startx to start SLAX .

To shutdown Qemu Slax:
From the K Menu select logout, then type poweroff from the terminal window

Portable Qemu Persistent Ubuntu tutorial

One advantage to using Qemu hardware emulation as opposed to a native USB boot is that it allows you to plug your USB stick or portable hard drive into any available PC and run a complete operating system without restarting. The additional advantage of using Ubuntu’s persistent feature is that you can save your personal settings, files and changes back to the stick. Qemu and persistent Ubuntu make for a nice and simple combination. In this tutorial we explain how to make it all work together. Using this tutorial, Ubuntu can be run from a directory on a portable device or directly from an internal hard drive if you so choose.

Qemu Ubuntu basic essentials:
1>Portable device with 1GB+ free space (2+GB recommended)
2>A Windows computer
3>Ubuntu.iso
4>Qemu emulation software + Kqemu accelerator
5>QUB.zip Custom batch files and img

Qemu Ubuntu install and boot Process:
1>Download Qemu and extract it to a directory named Qemu on your portable device
2>Download Kqemu and extract it to a directory named Kqemu within the Qemu directory
3>Download the Ubuntu.iso and move it to the Qemu directory
4>Download the QUB.zip and extract it’s contents to the Qemu directory
5>Click the ubuntu.bat to start Ubuntu
6>At the boot menu, press F6 to enter a custom boot option. Type persistent at the end of the boot string:

Boot Options : root=/dev/ram rw quiet splash --persistant
7>Ubuntu should continue to boot… saving your settings as you go. To restore these saved settings on the next boot, simply press F6 and add persistent again.

Quick Qemu commands:
Click within the Qemu Window to use the Ubuntu desktop
Press Ctrl+Alt to switch back to the Host desktop
Press Ctrl+F to toggle full screen on or off
Notes: When shutting down the Ubuntu environment, at the prompt to remove the disk, simply press enter and wait until the progress bar has finished. It is then safe to press Ctrl+Alt and close the Window. “If you don’t wait, you may corrupt your persistent image”.

Boot and run Linux from a USB flash memory stick

USB Linux installation enables you to install a portable Linux operating system on a flash drive no larger than your thumb. This portable Linux version can then be run from any computer that can boot from a flash device, allowing you to bring your operating system, desktop, applications, files, e-mail, personal settings, favorites and more with you. It’s like having your own personal operating system you can carry in your pocket. On this blog, I provide many simplified portable Linux flash drive installation tutorials.