abarbarian Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) I found this very useful tool which allows you to try out Live Linux OS's and much much more very easily. Easy2Boot Introduction Easy2Boot is just a collection of files that you can add to a grub4dos bootable USB Drive - it is NOT a Windows or linux application. Once you have made the grub4dos bootable USB drive and copied over the Easy2Boot files, just copy over any bootable payload files (linux LiveCD ISOs, Windows Install ISOs, memory test .bin files, floppy and hard disk images, etc.). Easy2Boot automatically looks at all the files on the drive and dynamically creates a new menu each time you boot from the USB drive. Each file will be booted according to it's file extension (unlike most MultiBoot Utilities, E2B does not look at the file name and does not need to recognise what type or version of linux is inside the ISO file). Easy2Boot instructions for everything ! I did try to use the instruction for making a E2B usb but I kept on coming up with a fault when I tried to add the " bootlace.com " component. I also could not find " defrags " in the Arch or AUR packages so I defected to Windows to accomplish the task. Easy2Boot Linux instructions The Windows install was a piece of cake, just a couple of clicks and the job was done. The instructions given were very simple to follow. Easy2Boot Windows instructions There is a list of 142 os's and tools that work with E2B here Working os list The reason I am posting here is that I feel that using this tool will be a very good way for folk to try out a whole host of different distros especially now that XP is going to be pushing up the daisy's soon. One of the good aspects is the very easy Windows install of the tool. Also once you have the tool set up on your usb adding or changing from an older version is pretty darn easy too. Add in the fact that you have the ability to add persistence to the relevant os's, and you have a very easy way to show folks just what they have been missing. Did I mention it is free ! Look at it this way. I have a 16 GB usb to which I can add at least 8 or 10 different linux's. I can carry it around with me and if folks ask "what is this linux stuff" I can show them several different linux's and be sure that some of them will work on their set up. Or you could have almost every testing,rescue or penetration tool kept on a single stick as you can now get cheaply sticks as big as 32 GB to 64 GB. Remember you can add new versions very easily which makes this a very attractive tool.Another attraction is that a USB HDD can be used but a USB Removable flash drive will give the most trouble-free results. I did some real life tests using the system in my profile.Here is a refresher list of the main components. My rig only has USB2 and I found E2B pretty slow to load, not surprising with the os's I had loaded.The os's were slower to load I think than from a cd or as a single os on a usb.Once loaded they seemed to run just as a normal live distro.I use a seperate sound card and this may have thrown some of the os's, however several did find the card sucesfully. CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600 2.9Ghz Motherboard Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Graphics Cards Asus ENGTX 460 TOP Memory Geil Black Dragon 4 GB PC6400 Sound Card Asus Xonar DS I have run the following sucesfully as live distros. I tested for wired connection to the net, playing a video file,sound,browsing to you tube and playing yt video.All tests were done straight out of the box with two exceptions.If a test failed it was noted. absolute-14.05.iso (based on Arch) This took me to a full install selection screen, looks like it will work ok. Porteus-v2.0-i486.iso (based on Slackware) No sound. antiX-13.2_386-full.iso No sound. debian-live-7.4-i386-kde-desktop.iso No flash debian-live-7.4-i386-xfce-desktop.iso No sound and no flash Mageia-4-LiveCD-KDE4-en-i586-CD.iso No flash and I could not find a video player in the menu Simplicity14.1Desktop141Release.iso(based on Slacko Puppy which has great affinity with Slackware) I had to click on the Network icon and then make one further click to gain access to the net after that everything worked otb matelivecd-14.029.2321.iso (Arch with a Mate) No sound MX-14.iso No sound slackel64-openbox-6.0.iso This got me to a point where I could do a full install or drop to a command line to do stuff These next three are rescue and partitioning os's so you would not expect a full set of positive test results. clonezilla-live-2.2.1-25-i686-pae.iso This worked perfectly up to the point I tested and am confident you could use it with perfect results gparted-live-0.17.0-4-i486.iso I had to make two clicks to get internet.No sound.No flash as their browser of choice is Netsurf pmagic_2013_08_01.iso No sound ,no vide player,no flash SimplyMEPIS-1.5G_11.0.12_32.iso Very sweet full pass, neat KNOPPIX_V7.2.0CD-2013-06-16-EN.iso Very sweet full pass, neat linuxmint-16-cinnamon-dvd-32bit.iso Most impressed.Very newcomer friendly.Full pass. zorin-os-6.4-core-32.iso Top of the class and classy with it. The best of the buch for a XP jumper. I was pretty well blown away with the presentation and the nippy response This I found started to set up as a live distro but threw a fault before it would install fully. I think the installer could not find the correct disk or some such.I really wanted it to work as it seems a super easy way to introduce folk to the fearsom Arch. antergos-2013.11.17-i686.iso the fault was, Error: '/dev/mapper/arch-usr-share' device did not show sh: can't access tty: job control turned off This also gave a fault, dsl-4.4.10.iso Can't find knoppix file system .sorry dropping you in to a very limited shell. I have not tried to add persistance to any of the distros as I have been a tad busy an I got fed up of reading. Enjoy Edited March 28, 2014 by abarbarian 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Neat stuff for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I am going to have to check this out when I get off work tonight or tomorrow. Sounds like a nice tool for a large usb drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) Is that like large in the american way or LARGE like here in the UK ? I added this to the OP. "Another attraction is that a USB HDD can be used but a USB Removable flash drive will give the most trouble-free results." Oh and Arch is on the list of tried and working distros. Edited March 20, 2014 by abarbarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Is that like large in the american way or LARGE like here in the UK ? No, in the US we call that morbidly obese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Or maybe it's large as in 'everything's big in Texas'? It took two hours at 80mph to get to Dallas from what appeared on the map not to be too far away ... at least to my 16 year old map reading skills. LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 Ah ha the tangentiality of conversations. I was referring to big as in 256,512,1,2,4,8,16,32,64.Or decoded , mines bigger than yours. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Or maybe it's large as in 'everything's big in Texas'? It took two hours at 80mph to get to Dallas from what appeared on the map not to be too far away ... at least to my 16 year old map reading skills. LOL! I heard Texas is big. That's cute. Signed, your friendly resident Aussie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 I heard Texas is big. That's cute. Signed, your friendly resident Aussie. :Laughing: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I heard Texas is big. That's cute. Signed, your friendly resident Aussie. Thanks friendly resident Aussie from your friendly Aussie wanna be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 Ran a set of tests on 17 distros and updated the opening post. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 absolute-14.05.iso (based on Arch) This took me to a full install selection screen, looks like it will work ok. Porteus-v2.0-i486.iso (based on Slackware) No sound. Added the above. An that is it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 Well I have played a tad more with E2B this weekend. It works flawlessly on a Dell D510 laptop and on my old 754 mobo pc. The few distros I tried out on these test rigs ran very well indeed. I tried out three distros on the Dell to see which would perform 100% otb as my friend would like a replacement for XP. We finally decided on Zorin as everything just worked and he liked the name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 Update. I installed Zorin to a usb btu could not use persistence with it. I could possibly have used E2B to create a persistence but that would have added a layer of complication that my mate would not be happy with, extra boot menus and such like. So I installed Mint Cinnamon the buntu flavour not the Debian version which I would have prefered due to its semi rolling release style. Mint Ubuntu is due for a new version sometime soon which along with the six month turnaround and all the extra hassle that entails swayed me towards the Debian version. As I had not added the Mint Debian to E2B due to having two versions of Debian I did not have the chance to try it out real time. It had passed me by that Mint Debian was not the same as plain Debian and I guess it would have worked pretty much the same as Ubuntu Mint so I could have chanced it. However me mate gets a tad wound up with computing and I wanted to give him a 100% XP alternative for the present. I'll do a Debian Mint stick later on and if it works well then it will be no problem swapping him on to it. I created the Mint usb with persistence using this excellent tool from my Windows 7.Easy as abc. http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ I'm popping the stick in the post tomorrow so me mate should be up and running for the weekend. I have already run him through real time how to get a boot menu on his laptop and shown him both Zorin and Mint and he recons he will cope ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 All posts related to Alaric76 have been merged with his topic as requested by Mod sunrat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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