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Bootable Linux USB stick: Difference between revisions
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update Mac setup quirks
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# the sticks should be fast USB3 (very good results with SANdisk Extreme 32GB or bigger; physically small sticks like Kingston 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. | # the sticks should be fast USB3 (very good results with SANdisk Extreme 32GB or bigger; physically small sticks like Kingston 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 64bit Fedora (FC23 and higher) because its hardware support is very good. We tried to prepare a Ubuntu 18.04 LTS stick that boots on (U)EFI and Bios machines but that - other than the FC28-based stick - did not book on Macs. | # we use 64bit Fedora (FC23 and higher) because its hardware support is very good. We tried to prepare a Ubuntu 18.04 LTS stick that boots on (U)EFI and Bios machines but that - other than the FC28-based stick - did not book on Macs. | ||
# | # For Windows clients (press F11 or F12 or sometimes F9 or F10 for the boot menu; if that does not work press F2 or DEL for the BIOS menu and change the boot order), 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. If the WiFi does not work out-of-the-box on MacBook, connect temporarily to the Internet by other means (ethernet cable, WiFi via USB key, tether to your phone via Bluetooth), become root, and install the latest kernel and tools with <code>dnf install -y akmods kernel kernel-devel broadcom-wl --best --allowerasing</code>. After installing, reboot into the new kernel. Essentially this is the same procedure as at [https://medium.com/@wizofe/how-i-installed-fedora-27-on-my-high-sierra-macbook-pro-15-80616909f294], except that rpmfusion-nonfree may already be installed. If the keyboard/touchpad does not work on "late 2016" MBP, you need (once) an external USB keyboard; see [https://gist.github.com/roadrunner2/1289542a748d9a104e7baec6a92f9cd7]. | ||
# 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. | ||