Syslinux - Jul 2011 - Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server on a USB Flash Drive

I'm trying to get Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server to install and run (boot) on a USB
Flash Drive.

The actual install process works without a problem and will complete without
an error. It by default wants to install grub and place it on the MBR. Doing
this completes the installation but my BIOS will not boot the USB disk. My
partition table at this point looks like:

/dev/sda1 - 8 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu)

I'm hoping to use Syslinux and install GRUB to the partition instead of the
MBR. I'm thinking one of you can tell me if that will work or if there would
be a better way to do this. I'm envisioning my partition table would look
like this:

/dev/sda1 - 512 MB - FAT (Syslinux)
/dev/sda2 - 7.5 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu)

They why is generated mostly around the fact I have USB drives coming out of
everywhere and I lack spare hard drives. The end usage of this particular
machine will be a simple firewall. The idea came from VMWare running ESXi on
SD cards in servers as of late instead of using more expensive local disks
for the operating system or PXE boot.

I appreciate anyone's input.

Tim

On 07/26/2011 10:30 AM, Timothy Way wrote:
> I'm trying to get Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server to install and run (boot) on
a USB
> Flash Drive.
> 
> The actual install process works without a problem and will complete
without
> an error. It by default wants to install grub and place it on the MBR.
Doing
> this completes the installation but my BIOS will not boot the USB disk. My
> partition table at this point looks like:
> 
> /dev/sda1 - 8 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu)
> 
> I'm hoping to use Syslinux and install GRUB to the partition instead of
the
> MBR. I'm thinking one of you can tell me if that will work or if there
would
> be a better way to do this. I'm envisioning my partition table would
look
> like this:
> 
Why not simply use Syslinux as the boot loader to run Ubuntu?
> /dev/sda1 - 512 MB - FAT (Syslinux)
> /dev/sda2 - 7.5 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu)
> 
> They why is generated mostly around the fact I have USB drives coming out
of
> everywhere and I lack spare hard drives. The end usage of this particular
> machine will be a simple firewall. The idea came from VMWare running ESXi
on
> SD cards in servers as of late instead of using more expensive local disks
> for the operating system or PXE boot.
> 
That should work, if you really need to go via Grub.

	-hpa

Peter,

Thank you for the reply. I'm still going to tinker with this but I ended up
finding out that my problem revolved around my machine was ancient and was
booting as USB-FDD not USB-HDD. Using just 1 partition and GRUB running the
normal Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS install I was able to get it all up and
running without anymore issues.

I'd like to eventually learn how to support some of these older BIOS modes
(USB-FDD and USB-ZIP) so I could create a more universal bootable flash
drive but my immediate need is now resolved.

Thank you,

Tim

On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 4:21 PM, H. Peter Anvin <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:
> On 07/26/2011 10:30 AM, Timothy Way wrote:
> > I'm trying to get Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server to install and run
(boot) on a
> USB
> > Flash Drive.
> >
> > The actual install process works without a problem and will complete
> without
> > an error. It by default wants to install grub and place it on the MBR.
> Doing
> > this completes the installation but my BIOS will not boot the USB
disk.
> My
> > partition table at this point looks like:
> >
> > /dev/sda1 - 8 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu)
> >
> > I'm hoping to use Syslinux and install GRUB to the partition
instead of
> the
> > MBR. I'm thinking one of you can tell me if that will work or if
there
> would
> > be a better way to do this. I'm envisioning my partition table
would look
> > like this:
> >
>
> Why not simply use Syslinux as the boot loader to run Ubuntu?
>
> > /dev/sda1 - 512 MB - FAT (Syslinux)
> > /dev/sda2 - 7.5 GB - EXT4 (Ubuntu)
> >
> > They why is generated mostly around the fact I have USB drives coming
out
> of
> > everywhere and I lack spare hard drives. The end usage of this
particular
> > machine will be a simple firewall. The idea came from VMWare running
ESXi
> on
> > SD cards in servers as of late instead of using more expensive local
> disks
> > for the operating system or PXE boot.
> >
>
> That should work, if you really need to go via Grub.
>
>        -hpa
>
>