daveca
Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:47:16 pm
Installers such as 'Pendrive Linux' and 'unetbootin' do not install the full version of Zorin to a USB stick (FDD) - they convert an ISO file to a Live OS install. This is a procedure to do a full OS install to a flash drive.
The system installed to and tested (this is being typed on said computer) is an older HP AMD Sempron laptop using a wireless 3G modem and a high resolution photo monitor with wireless KBD/mouse. There is extreme latency in some instances which was improved by use of a powered USB hub.
As a crude benchmark, Zorin is tested with Firefox latest browser and Pandora streaming music as a load to the system. Pandora will not function, for long, on the Live version but will to a full USB installation.
Some latencies were greatly reduced by use of a powered USB hub. The install, as this is being typed, suffers from missed characters entered on the keyboard, this is simply a bandwidth limitation of the OS on a flash drive.
Operations such as mouse moves that are executed from RAM at the processor level are very fast, those that require data transfer to and from the FDD are much slower.
Some users may prefer a flash install instead of a HDD install to avoid the problem with Grub commandeering the Window$ MBR.
In installing the full Zorin OS to a flash drive, realise the Live version expects to install to a hard disk drive, usually drive C in a M$ environment. The installer does not seem to be able to install to a flash drive from CD or DVD-Live. To avoid that, the HDD is removed so it cannot be installed to, and this reduces the risk of an inexperienced user in damaging the HDD contents with an accidental format or overwrite.
Procedure:
1.) At a static-safe workstation, remove the hard disk drive from the computer (this prevents accidental over-write and data loss especially for beginners). If one does not have a static safe workstation, take the disconnected computer to a kitchen sink, and touch the water faucet to discharge yourself of static electricity.
2.) Preferrably on a new computer (faster), use an ISO burner program such as 'unetbootin' to burn an ISO image on a CD or DVD. Be sure to verify the MD5 sum of the downloaded ISO image.
3.) Launch the Zorin Live CD/DVD to desktop.
4.) Install a new USB flash drive, at least 8 Gb recommended. If the FDD has been used, use GParted inside the Zorin start menu, to format the drive or allow the installer to do so.
5.) Start the Installer by double clicking the Desktop installer icon. Dont repeatedly click on items in Live or USB operation, allow the system time to respond as it will be very slow in some cases.
6.) At the screen to choose install options, the first option will normally ask if you wish to do a dual install alongside Window$. Since the HDD was removed, this is impossible and that option will not appear. Select the first option.
7.) The install location defaults to Ramdisk, from the drop down menu, select the FDD- it should be the only other option.
8.) At the screen to input Username and Password, DO NOT check the 'encrypt home folder' option or the install will crash. This crash occurs even on HDD installs.
9.) When the Installer finishes, reboot the computer and if necessary on an old BIOS that cannot boot to USB, a boot program will have to be burned to a CD/DVD and used to launch the FDD OS.
10.) Start the OS on the USB FDD, use Update Manager to update all the software desired. Personal preferences such as Look Changer can be used; this is a persistent install and preferences and program updates will be saved.
11.) The Adobe Flash must be installed for some Web content to play under Firefox, Pandora worked under the Chrome browser. There is a posted procedure for installing that plug in to the Firefox plugins folder, ignore the instructions zipped with the flash plugin- the additional files are not necessary.
The severe latency in some cases is due to the fact the bandwidth of the data streams to the USB is not as wide or fast as to the HDD, the system OS and data are stored on the FDD, and both use the same data channel. There is no way around this without a HDD install, at least not with one FDD.
Operations such as mouse moves are very fast, leading the User to a false conclusion that other operations will also be that fast. They are not. The Live CD system cannot play Pandora streaming music, it locks up to a forced power off reset. The stream freezes now and then on the full FDD install, but it recovers and appears to be very stable, even though performance is sometimes at the '286' level.
Use of a powered USB hub reduced some latencies significantly, the use of a hub will slightly slow down data transfer as additional cable is used, but the power drain on the USB hub is greatly reduced, this appears to be significant when using a 3-G Novatel modem which is rated at almost 700 mA.
It does not appear to be possible to go to the re-installed HDD with File Manager, Diskmanager will mount the drive and Gparted sees it, but I was unable to go to the HDD and retrieve a copy of Bookmarks to import to the browser. To bypass that problem, Window$ was booted and the file sent to an email account, which was then accessible from inside Zorin through a browser, where it was downloaded and Imported.
This procedure was done partly on a new high speed AMD 64 bit laptop, to make a FDD that was then used on the older, slower machine. This would not be possible in M$ but Zorin is not hardware dependent as is Window$.
One use for this install would be to rescue a M$ machine that had a Linux install deleted to the point Grub will not boot. Running the OS from a fully installed FDD would allow access to the HDD to remove partitions and do so much faster than a CD boot. GParted can see the HDD partitions, but Disk Utility is not able to mount the HDD so the HDD contents cannot be accessed. This might be a plus for inexperienced users!
There are two CRITICAL requirements using a FDD for an OS
1. DO NOT remove the FDD while in use, thats like removing the HDD and will bad-crash the OS,
2. DO NOT bump or wiggle the FDD while plugged into the USB connector, this could cause a crash if the USB connector pins bounce mechanically. While the RJ 45 connectors are very low noise and reliable, the electrical signals are very fast, and a data transfer may be corrupted if the drive is wiggled and connection bounces.
The OS-FDD should be connected to the USB port closest to the processor, and not across a remote Hub. This is about electrical signals, not software.
All things considered, this USB OS is as fast, and more reliable, than a Window$ XP install simply due to the fact Widow$ is so horrible at memory management. Those failures persist even into M$ 7 (you'd think in 30 years they'd get it right?)
NOT !
Credit where credit is due:
MD5 Summer was used to check ISO integrity - http://www.md5summer.org/
Unetbootin was used to image the DVD - http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
Plop Boot was used to boot the old computer to a FDD- http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html
The system installed to and tested (this is being typed on said computer) is an older HP AMD Sempron laptop using a wireless 3G modem and a high resolution photo monitor with wireless KBD/mouse. There is extreme latency in some instances which was improved by use of a powered USB hub.
As a crude benchmark, Zorin is tested with Firefox latest browser and Pandora streaming music as a load to the system. Pandora will not function, for long, on the Live version but will to a full USB installation.
Some latencies were greatly reduced by use of a powered USB hub. The install, as this is being typed, suffers from missed characters entered on the keyboard, this is simply a bandwidth limitation of the OS on a flash drive.
Operations such as mouse moves that are executed from RAM at the processor level are very fast, those that require data transfer to and from the FDD are much slower.
Some users may prefer a flash install instead of a HDD install to avoid the problem with Grub commandeering the Window$ MBR.
In installing the full Zorin OS to a flash drive, realise the Live version expects to install to a hard disk drive, usually drive C in a M$ environment. The installer does not seem to be able to install to a flash drive from CD or DVD-Live. To avoid that, the HDD is removed so it cannot be installed to, and this reduces the risk of an inexperienced user in damaging the HDD contents with an accidental format or overwrite.
Procedure:
1.) At a static-safe workstation, remove the hard disk drive from the computer (this prevents accidental over-write and data loss especially for beginners). If one does not have a static safe workstation, take the disconnected computer to a kitchen sink, and touch the water faucet to discharge yourself of static electricity.
2.) Preferrably on a new computer (faster), use an ISO burner program such as 'unetbootin' to burn an ISO image on a CD or DVD. Be sure to verify the MD5 sum of the downloaded ISO image.
3.) Launch the Zorin Live CD/DVD to desktop.
4.) Install a new USB flash drive, at least 8 Gb recommended. If the FDD has been used, use GParted inside the Zorin start menu, to format the drive or allow the installer to do so.
5.) Start the Installer by double clicking the Desktop installer icon. Dont repeatedly click on items in Live or USB operation, allow the system time to respond as it will be very slow in some cases.
6.) At the screen to choose install options, the first option will normally ask if you wish to do a dual install alongside Window$. Since the HDD was removed, this is impossible and that option will not appear. Select the first option.
7.) The install location defaults to Ramdisk, from the drop down menu, select the FDD- it should be the only other option.
8.) At the screen to input Username and Password, DO NOT check the 'encrypt home folder' option or the install will crash. This crash occurs even on HDD installs.
9.) When the Installer finishes, reboot the computer and if necessary on an old BIOS that cannot boot to USB, a boot program will have to be burned to a CD/DVD and used to launch the FDD OS.
10.) Start the OS on the USB FDD, use Update Manager to update all the software desired. Personal preferences such as Look Changer can be used; this is a persistent install and preferences and program updates will be saved.
11.) The Adobe Flash must be installed for some Web content to play under Firefox, Pandora worked under the Chrome browser. There is a posted procedure for installing that plug in to the Firefox plugins folder, ignore the instructions zipped with the flash plugin- the additional files are not necessary.
The severe latency in some cases is due to the fact the bandwidth of the data streams to the USB is not as wide or fast as to the HDD, the system OS and data are stored on the FDD, and both use the same data channel. There is no way around this without a HDD install, at least not with one FDD.
Operations such as mouse moves are very fast, leading the User to a false conclusion that other operations will also be that fast. They are not. The Live CD system cannot play Pandora streaming music, it locks up to a forced power off reset. The stream freezes now and then on the full FDD install, but it recovers and appears to be very stable, even though performance is sometimes at the '286' level.
Use of a powered USB hub reduced some latencies significantly, the use of a hub will slightly slow down data transfer as additional cable is used, but the power drain on the USB hub is greatly reduced, this appears to be significant when using a 3-G Novatel modem which is rated at almost 700 mA.
It does not appear to be possible to go to the re-installed HDD with File Manager, Diskmanager will mount the drive and Gparted sees it, but I was unable to go to the HDD and retrieve a copy of Bookmarks to import to the browser. To bypass that problem, Window$ was booted and the file sent to an email account, which was then accessible from inside Zorin through a browser, where it was downloaded and Imported.
This procedure was done partly on a new high speed AMD 64 bit laptop, to make a FDD that was then used on the older, slower machine. This would not be possible in M$ but Zorin is not hardware dependent as is Window$.
One use for this install would be to rescue a M$ machine that had a Linux install deleted to the point Grub will not boot. Running the OS from a fully installed FDD would allow access to the HDD to remove partitions and do so much faster than a CD boot. GParted can see the HDD partitions, but Disk Utility is not able to mount the HDD so the HDD contents cannot be accessed. This might be a plus for inexperienced users!
There are two CRITICAL requirements using a FDD for an OS
1. DO NOT remove the FDD while in use, thats like removing the HDD and will bad-crash the OS,
2. DO NOT bump or wiggle the FDD while plugged into the USB connector, this could cause a crash if the USB connector pins bounce mechanically. While the RJ 45 connectors are very low noise and reliable, the electrical signals are very fast, and a data transfer may be corrupted if the drive is wiggled and connection bounces.
The OS-FDD should be connected to the USB port closest to the processor, and not across a remote Hub. This is about electrical signals, not software.
All things considered, this USB OS is as fast, and more reliable, than a Window$ XP install simply due to the fact Widow$ is so horrible at memory management. Those failures persist even into M$ 7 (you'd think in 30 years they'd get it right?)
NOT !
Credit where credit is due:
MD5 Summer was used to check ISO integrity - http://www.md5summer.org/
Unetbootin was used to image the DVD - http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
Plop Boot was used to boot the old computer to a FDD- http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html