Arch Linux

Akoi Meexx

Member

Registered: 2008-03-18

Posts: 4

Yet another USB Install Question...

Hello all, I'm Akoi.

I've been lurking and searching through the forums for the last week or so now, trying to find a way to install Arch to a USB drive. Let me say that again, I want to install Arch to a bootable USB drive, not set up a USB drive to act as an installer. The main reason I'm attracted to Arch is because of how light the distro is. I currently run Ubuntu(Gutsy as of this post) and while I love it's functionality and its eye-candy, it's bloated. Generally I'm either using Firefox, using Inkscape/GIMP, or using <insert generic text/code editor here> for programming(I'm a web developer and designer at my job, and I also dabble in writing homebrew applications for the Nintendo DS). I occasionally listen to music and watch movies on my system as well, and would like to carry that over to a USB install as well.

I'm not sure which would be the best Desktop Environment for Arch. I'm familiar with Gnome/Compiz, but I'd like to step away from them for a change.

So, ideally, with those goals in mind, I want an OS with these points:
     * Firefox
     * Thunderbird
     * Samba
     * Inkscape
     * GIMP
     * Text Editor (Any good suggestions?)
     * VLC (Assuming that would be all-encompassing for multimedia)

Is this viable? Are there any tutorials for setting up Arch to run from USB? I'm aware of FaunOS, but FaunOS is huge. With 600+ packages included, it's more than I want on my system and sounds just like Ubuntu.

Edit: Also would want to install devkitARM and libNDS, but I suspect that wouldn't be too big an issue once everything else is set up.

Last edited by Akoi Meexx (2008-03-26 12:49:08)

Redroar

Member

Registered: 2008-03-17

Posts: 200

Re: Yet another USB Install Question...

If you are comfortable with Gnome, then Xfce4 is an excellent lightweight alternative.

I have never made a liveUSB, but it doesn't seem too difficult. How big is this USB drive going to be? 512mb, 1 gig, 2 gigs?

VLC is good for movies, and it can play audio, but something like XMMS is a lightweight audio player that has much better media handling. You'd need some codecs for that, though, but it isn't hard.

For a very simple text editor Mousepad is sufficient, however it won't handle automatic formatting like Kate can. Others of course include console editors (vim, nano, etc) and I'm sure there are others I'm unaware of.

Last edited by Redroar (2008-03-25 16:53:05)

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Akoi Meexx

Member

Registered: 2008-03-18

Posts: 4

Re: Yet another USB Install Question...

Yeah, I was thinking of using Xfce. I've been testing it in VirtualBox on different linux platforms to see what I think of it. I have a 2GB and an 8GB flash drive... Currently, the 8GB has been holding all my backup files, but I would like to get it wheedled down for use as a LiveUSB. The 2GB is basically my test drive, to make sure everything works right. Right now it has Slax installed.

Akoi Meexx

Member

Registered: 2008-03-18

Posts: 4

Re: Yet another USB Install Question...

I hate to bump this, but does anyone else have any experience with running Arch via USB?

Divingstar

Member

Registered: 2008-03-26

Posts: 4

Re: Yet another USB Install Question...

I have never run Arch on USB, but you might look into faun, that's what it's designed for:
http://www.faunos.com/

Jim

Akoi Meexx

Member

Registered: 2008-03-18

Posts: 4

Re: Yet another USB Install Question...

Yeah, I looked at Faun, but I'm turned off by the fact that it's nearly a GB to start with. If they're making it portable, it shouldn't require that much disk space. It've been better if they had come up with a modular approach for their packages, and provided them as a separate download.

lilsirecho

Veteran

Registered: 2003-10-24

Posts: 5,000

Re: Yet another USB Install Question...

You can delete whatever you desire to reduce the size of the Faunos if size bothers.  The details you mention make a lot of packages in the first place.  Either KDE or Gnome get you a lot of size but much can be sliced and diced.

Faunos is STABLE.

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