openmamba bootusb

What is this?

Requirements

Instructions

The preferred and easiest way is by using the openmamba tool called openmamba USB installation. If you don't have an openmamba system available you can follow the following instructions to prepare a USB bootable device.

0) Pre-requirements

a GNU/Linux system with standard tools
the bootusb archive and ISO image downloaded somewhere in your system, e.g.:
File milestone2 devel

Bootusb archive /tmp/openmamba-bootusb-en-milestone2-2.0.10.i586.cpio.gz /tmp/openmamba-bootusb-en-snapshot-20130313.i586.cpio.gz

ISO image /tmp/openmamba-livedvd-en-milestone2-2.0.10.i586.iso /tmp/openmamba-livedvd-en-snapshot-20130316.i586.iso

1) USB device partitioning

insert the storage and identify its device name (disk_device, e.g. /dev/sdb)
make sure that no partitions are mounted for the device
run parted or gparted and create a partition that is at least 2GB large (4GB for the livedvd version)
mark the partition as "bootable"
identify the device corresponding to the partition (partition_device, e.g. /dev/sdb1)

2) Formatting the device

sudo mkfs.ext4 -L openmamba_live partition_device
Please note that setting the openmamba_live label is necessary for the openmamba boot system to detect the device to boot from.

3) Installing the cpio image
udisks --mount partition_device

udisks should use /media/openmamba_live as the mount point:
cd /media/openmamba_live gunzip -c < /tmp/openmamba-bootusb-en-milestone2-2.0.10.i586.cpio.gz | sudo cpio -i

4) Installing extlinux bootloader
You need the syslinux package installed in your system, then use the following command from the <mount point> directory:
extlinux --install boot

5) Installing master boot record (MBR)
You need the mbr package installed in your system, then use the following command:
sudo install-mbr disk device

6) Copying the ISO image file
Copy the ISO image file of an openmamba medium (livecd, livestudio, installdvd...) to the device root directory:
sudo cp /tmp/openmamba-livedvd-en-milestone2-2.0.10.i586.iso /media/openmamba_live/openmamba-live.iso

Unmount the storage and that's all about installation:
udisks --unmount partition_device

7) Running the system
Reboot your computer with the USB storage inserted in.
Your computer maybe configured or not for booting from a USB Hard Drive/Storage device; check your bios configuration and wheter it supports booting from USB (many bioses are buggy!).

Download

Stable release:

Weekly snapshot:

Previous stable release (obsoleted):