Bootable Linux USB stick: Difference between revisions

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Bootable Linux USB stick (edit)

Revision as of 17:14, 25 March 2016

244 bytes removed ,  25 March 2016
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learn Linux, and realize that they can easily use the hardware they already own. Current notebook hardware is by far fast enough for data
learn Linux, and realize that they can easily use the hardware they already own. Current notebook hardware is by far fast enough for data
processing, structure solution and coot visualization. What we found:
processing, structure solution and coot visualization. What we found:
# the sticks should be fast USB3 (very good results with SANdisk Extreme 32GB; physically small sticks like Kongston DataTraveler look nicer but are slow). The computers do ''not'' have to be recent, nor do they have to have USB3 ports. USB2 ports support up to 30MB/s, but only USB3 sticks deliver this!
# the sticks should be fast USB3 (very good results with SANdisk Extreme 32GB; physically small sticks like Kongston DataTraveler look nicer but are slow). The computers do ''not'' have to be recent, nor do they have to have USB3 ports. USB2 ports support up to 30MB/s, but only USB3 sticks deliver this! With a bit of tuning (below) the stick feels as fast as a local harddisk.
# we use Fedora 23 because its hardware support is very good. We always use the 64bit distro.
# we use Fedora 23 because its hardware support is very good. We always use the 64bit distro.
# The stick can be booted on MacBooks as well (press the <code>alt</code> key at the boot sound); their hardware works well with Fedora 23. For Windows clients (press F11 or F12, sometimes F9 or F10 for the boot menu), one has to make sure that "fast boot" (or "fast startup") is disabled (or Shift is pressed while shutting Windows down), and sometimes <code>powercfg -H off</code> (as Administrator in a console window) is additionally required; otherwise the USB stick may not boot. Occasionally we find a computer that does not boot from the stick because the BIOS screen can not be reached (due to unknown BIOS password; happens with machines belonging to institutions which administer them centrally) or some such, but 19 out of 20 work as they should.
# The stick can be booted on MacBooks as well (press the <code>alt</code> key at the boot sound); their hardware works well with Fedora 23. For Windows clients (press F11 or F12, sometimes F9 or F10 for the boot menu), one has to make sure that "fast boot" (or "fast startup") is disabled (or Shift is pressed while shutting Windows down), and sometimes <code>powercfg -H off</code> (as Administrator in a console window) is additionally required; otherwise the USB stick may not boot. Occasionally we find a computer that does not boot from the stick because the BIOS screen can not be reached (due to unknown BIOS password; happens with machines belonging to institutions which administer them centrally) or some such, but 19 out of 20 work as they should.
# performance tuning (not strictly required): We use an ext4 filesystem and <code>data=writeback,nobarrier </code> in /etc/fstab. To set the writeback option on the / filesystem one needs to use tune2fs on a Linux machine where the stick is just mounted (i.e. not booted from), with the option data_journal_writeback; one should also set nobarrier that way. With this tuning the stick feels as fast as a local harddisk (except for large writes, like CCP4 or Phenix installation).
# we always create a few-GB FAT32 partition because that makes file exchange with Windows and Macs very simple
# we just install CCP4 and whatever else we need (XDS, Phenix, Chimera, ..), and then dd or ddrescue (on a machine with USB3 ports) an image of that stick to all other sticks.
# we just install CCP4 and whatever else we need (XDS, Phenix, Chimera, ..), and then dd or ddrescue (on a machine with USB3 ports) an image of that stick to all other sticks.
# any number of bells and whistles could be added to this, like clients sending their hostnames to a server after booting, and accepting updates by rsync.
# any number of bells and whistles could be added to this, like clients sending their hostnames to a server after booting, and accepting updates by rsync.
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'''Some more details'''
'''Some more details'''


# the FAT32 partition should be the first partition on the stick; 2GB is enough for us. Then comes the Linux partition, with 13.9GB, so that the sum of the two partitions is slightly below 16GB. The third partition is then a 16.1GB /data partition. This scheme has the advantage that the image of the stick can just as well be copied (with dd or better ddrescue) to a 16GB stick; the /data partition then does not fit and cannot be used on that stick, but the operating system will then work on the small stick just as well. This requires that the /data partition is not fsck'ed automatically from /etc/fstab (0 in the 6th field). Also this means that the image of the stick need only comprise the first 16GB if the /data partition is empty - that makes it faster to copy it, and it is quite fast to re-create an empty /data partition after booting the stick.
# # we always create a few-GB FAT32 partition because that makes file exchange with Windows and Macs very simple. The FAT32 partition should be the first partition on the stick; 2GB is enough for us. Then comes the Linux partition, with 13.9GB, so that the sum of the two partitions is slightly below 16GB. The third partition is then a 16.1GB /data partition. This scheme has the advantage that the image of the stick can just as well be copied (with dd or better ddrescue) to a 16GB stick; the /data partition then does not fit and cannot be used on that stick, but the operating system will then work on the small stick just as well. This requires that the /data partition is not fsck'ed automatically from /etc/fstab (0 in the 6th field). Also this means that the image of the stick need only comprise the first 16GB if the /data partition is empty - that makes it faster to copy it, and it is quite fast to re-create an empty /data partition after booting the stick.
# it is a good idea to give easy root access to the one user you create because certainly some packages will have to be installed or updated when the stick is in use
# it is a good idea to give easy root access to the one user you create because certainly some packages will have to be installed or updated when the stick is in use
# it is a good idea to save an image of the stick whenever you made a successful change; otherwise you might need to start from scratch if you mess something up.
# it is a good idea to save an image of the stick whenever you made a successful change; otherwise you might need to start from scratch if you mess something up.
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(switches from devices to uuid and removes boot entries for other OS's)
(switches from devices to uuid and removes boot entries for other OS's)


tune ext4 filesystems:
Performance tuning (not strictly required): We use ext4 filesystems and <code>data=writeback,nobarrier </code> in /etc/fstab. To be able to set these options also on the / filesystem, we use tune2fs on a Linux machine where the stick (dev/sd?) is just plugged in (i.e. not booted from):
  tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback,nobarrier /dev/sd?4
  tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback,nobarrier /dev/sd?4
  tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback,nobarrier /dev/sd?5
  tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback,nobarrier /dev/sd?5
(to set the default mount options, the partition has to be mounted, for / it must be done from chroot)


create & label vfat filesystem:
create & label vfat filesystem:
Kay
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