[sf-lug] USB 3.0 Flash Drives - Penguin shaped and others

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Bobbie Sellers (bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com):

> But much faster than CDs or DVDs.

Or floppies.  Or putting the data on a tape and mailing it parcel post
across town.  Or smoke signals.  Or....

> Yes I agree with your idea about trying things out but right now I am
> a bit cramped for space on my test machine that I bring to meetings, 
> I have download an image or two for Virtual Box but will have to
> remove an image or two on that machine to make room for more
> interesting images1s.

Um, a couple of things:

1.  Sure, you would not want to have several dozen VMs of installed
guest OSes sitting around.  Nor would I ever so suggest, as that would
be rather daft.


2.  You don't need to 'download an image or two for Virtual Box', and
doing that _defeats most of the purpose of what I was suggesting_.
{sigh}  VM software (such as VirtualBox) gives you virtual _machines_, 
emphasis on the word 'machine'.  Which means you can do this:

1.  In PCLinuxOS, fetch and install the virtualbox package(s).  It's
probably just one package.  Probably, the post-installation phase of
package installation informs you that it's adding a couple'a kernel
modules to your installed kernel, to support the VM layer.  Therefore,
you might need to reboot.  (Can't recall.)  

2.  Fire up VirtualBox.  Say to it that you wish to create a new VM.
Let it do that, and then launch the VM.  Observe that it creates a black
window where the simulated BIOS counts up simulated real RAM, then looks
for simulated boot devices to boot from.  Failing to find a bootable
device with an OS, the VM then basically halts, stumped.  This is
because it doesn't yet have an installed, bootable operating system, 
_just like a PC with a blank hard drive_.  Which is exactly what you
have, except that it's simulated, a virtual environment that thinks it's
a real machine.

3.  Find a Linux (or BSD or whatever) installer.  Boot the VM from that
installer, e.g., if you downloaded an installable ISO, tell VirtualBox
to recognise that ISO file as a (simulated) optical drive, and boot from
that ISO in order to run the installer.  This allows you to do a real,
no-fooling OS installation, setting up the chosen distro exactly in the
way you like, with the selected packages and options you like -- with
the only difference being that you're not gumming up your real ('host')
system with the distro, but rather installing it entirely within the VM
environment (as a 'guest' OS).  The distro installer completes,
believing that it has just finished installation onto a real PC, and
then it reboots, which of course mean rebooting not your entire computer
but rather just the simulated machine.  So, the new distro now boots up
and comes to its intended operating state, and you can now live with and
play with it as long as you like, in a very realistic, non-limited
simulation of a real PC that's running in a VM window at the same time
that you also have full use of your real ('host') OS, PCLinuxOS.


You don't have to download canned installations.  You can do a _real_
installation -- so that you've actually experienced and worked with the
OS.