Arch Linux

archer42

Member

Registered: 2011-06-10

Posts: 92

Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

Hi,
I read the wiki article: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … _a_USB_key
because I wanted to install an archlinux i686 (because of compatibility no x86_64) on a stick with gnome3 and so on.
To have a good system working in other places.

Unfortunatly there coming up lots of question which the wiki silences about.

1. Which partition table should I use for the usb stick (gpt, mbr)?
2. What partitions are recommand (extra /boot-partition?, swap?)?
3. Which bootloader should I use (grub2, grub)?
4. Because of flash device, btrfs or ext2?

I already tried lots of myself but the arch-setup allways breaksdown when trying to use grub_bios-install, I also didn't succed fixing this manuelly over chroot.

What else should I look to?

pcolbeck

Member

Registered: 2011-10-17

Posts: 16

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

I'm interested in this one too. I have tried installing on a 16Gb USB stick several times and cant get it to boot. The best I have had so far is that grub loaded then wouldn't boot arch. When I tried gdisk rather than fdisk and created a gpt partition grub wouldn't install at all.
The install to usb wiki needs a bit of fleshing out me thinks on the boot loader front.

If I can ever get this working I might send a revised bootloader section to whoever maintains it.

archer42

Member

Registered: 2011-06-10

Posts: 92

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

After some tries I succest.

I used the old dos-partition table (not gpt) and grub-legacy.
After this you only have to fix hd(X,0) in grub.

I used two partition 7gb root (ext2) and 1gb swap.

It works fine only problems are:
1. It lags when trying to make somethings parallel (ssh..)
2. The stick only works on ati, intel video-card computers. The nouveau driver comes out with graphical errors and the propetery nvidia driver doesn't corporate with ati and intel driver.

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

FWIW, I installed arch on a USB several years ago, and I don't recall anything peculiar about the install process.  Granted, it has only one purpose: getting the firmware revision from CF cards.  So it is rather like a crippled SystemRescueCD, and nothing like a desktop.  But here is a summary of the configuration:

1) partition table: mbr
2) partitions: one - /
3) bootloader: grub
4) filesystem: ext4 without journal

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But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

nomilieu

Member

Registered: 2010-07-03

Posts: 133

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

I always install Arch to USB sticks through qemu, just feeding it an .iso of the install CD and using the usbstick as the "hard drive".
I use nearly the same setup as alphaniner, except I'm in the habit of using ext2 instead of ext4.

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F@H

TastyDr.Pepper

Member

From: Somewhere, in the US

Registered: 2011-11-23

Posts: 20

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

Yeah, I got mine to work just fine on a 16gb flash drive, I even installed it from my x64 bit arch system without ever downloading the i686 install disk ( I had no CDs! )

The only thing I'm wondering about would be getting grub 2 ( for themes ) to work and making it a little bit more polished, but it's quite snappy with Xfce, and I don't have any problems with the video, and I have  xf86-video-ati,intel, and nouveau installed.

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,688

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

I am amazed to see, that AIF is a normal package one can install via pacman. Let's see if I can use it to install Arch on a USB stick. I'll report back.

EDIT1: It might break whatever you have in /mnt, as it mounts the new root to /mnt.

Last edited by Awebb (2011-12-05 20:20:26)

echo.unity

Member

Registered: 2011-11-14

Posts: 68

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

I've installed arch to a usb stick through VB before, no swap, no separate partitions, ext4 - no problems other then adjusting grub to boot from hd (0,0).

Although to make it portable you would likely need download extra drivers.

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,688

Re: Installing Arch Linux on a USB Key.

Update: Running AIF from the repos fails on the USB dongle. It's stuck after installing all the packages now, it won't continue. I suspect my machine to be broken in a way, maybe I'll try again on a fresh Arch on the netbook.