Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

[prydeiniwr]

As I am new to Linux I have looked at a number of distros I am wondering whether Kubuntu can be installed on an external hard drive. Having experienced a few recent re-installations with XP Pro I wish to retain that for a while until I am familiar with Kubuntu. Can anyone offer the benefit of their experience and any (constructive)suggestions?
I don't know whether my query is even possible.

Prydeiniwr

[Kthulhu]

Re: Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

I've installed it, but there's one issue - if you will try to run it on different machines, you have to manually edit grub boot string every time, pointing to correct root device.
Also you should understand, that AFAIK linux can't change videodrivers on the fly, you have to have few preconfigured xorg.conf's

[prydeiniwr]

Re: Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

Hi Kthulhu,
many thanks for your reply. I'm glad it is possible as I've had many problems with Windows and Linux on the same PC I'd like to separate them completely.

I'm at a loss to appreciate what you are telling me. Not because of your explanation but simply I'm so new to this and I don't know enough to understand what you mean. Sorry about that, it's entirely my fault.

Can you explain it in simpler terms?

prydeiniwr

[Kthulhu]

Re: Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

Do you plan to use this hdd(is it usb?) on different machines or on single one?

[prydeiniwr]

Re: Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

Hello again Kthulhu.
Sorry for the long delay as it is all of us this is a busy time of year.
Thanks for your continuing help - the ansawer to your question of whether I wish to use it only on one machine is a probable yes. But I have two machines and it is remotely possible that I'd want to use the USB external drive on both.
I am considering the possibility of Putting Linux on an external drive until I'm weaned off Windows.
Does that sound feasible to you?

Best wishes

Prydeiniwr

[marshallbanana]

Re: Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

When you install kubuntu on any computer it installs a small program called grub (Grand Unified Bootloader). If windows is also on the computer then grub will essentially appear as a list when the computer if first booted which will allow you choose whether to start up in windows or kubuntu. By default grub will load kubuntu after 10sec unless you press a key, although this can easily be changed to default to windows if you wish.
Windows normally has its own bootloader however as it does not give you any other option than windows it is hidden from view and you don't notice it.
Kthulu mentions the possibility of editing grub as if you installed it on the external harddrive connected to your computer Grub would be automatically configured. However if you then plugged the external drive into another computer, grub would not be setup right for that computer and so you would be unable to boot into kubuntu. If you only use your external drive with the one computer however then this should not be a problem.

[HymenBuster]

Re: Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

Hi i have had problems with grub b4, can some1 tell me how to edit grub? o and thx for telling me wut grub is... i used to have these grub errers on start-up.

the problem is fixed but i'd still like to know how to edit grub program.

[Kthulhu]

Re: Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

edit grub: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Read comments carefully in this file. Grub can be reinstalled again by grub-update script(or update-grub, dont remember ).

About booting on different machines from usb hdd:
there's a problem arises that this usb hdd device number could be different on different machines - it depends on how many hdds attached to machine and what type are they - sata/pata.

For example at home i have 3 sata drives in my box, so usb hdd visible as "/dev/sdd1" in linux(first 3 drives is sda, sdb, sdc). Grub passes some parameters to linux kernel, including "root=/dev/sdd1" one, so if you will plug usb hdd into the system with different hdd setup, grub will pass incorrect parameter(for this machine), and kernel will unable to mount root fs, and unable to boot at all.

Exactly for these cases Grub have possibility to edit boot menu right at boot time - you have to press 'e' on boot entry, and edit this "root=" parameter to substitute correct device name.

[pegazuz]

Re: Kubuntu on external drive Is it possible

As I am new to Linux I have looked at a number of distros I am wondering whether Kubuntu can be  installed on an external hard drive. Having experienced a few recent re-installations with XP Pro I wish to retain that for a while until I am familiar with Kubuntu. Can anyone offer the benefit of their experience and any (constructive)suggestions?
I don't know whether my query is even possible.

Prydeiniwr

I have also been trying for several days to run linux on my new  laptop without screwing up my windows XP cause I have a couple progrms there I need like a Legacy genealogy program. I have had to restore an earlier configuration once so far.

I have a Acer laptop with dual AMD's Turon CPUs and 1 GB ram.  I have tried many linux live CD's and only found a few that will boot up from Linux Live CD's on my Acer lapto.   Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Puppy, Mepis all boot and run fine. Knopix booted but would not connect to wi-fi internet network so was not useful. 

Adios, DSL, Slax, PcLinux, Minime, would not boot up from a CD. Only Mepis and Kubuntu would install to my external hard drive.  Puppy installed and ran great on USB flash drive and is actually much faster to run that way.  I put it on two different 256 mb key drives and that allowed me to save browing bookmarks and setup configuration. Puppy wouldn't install on my external hard drive for reasons I don't understand.

Kubuntu was only distro that would boot from my external hard drive without any tweaking since I don't know enough to do that anyway.  Anyone have any idea why it works?  Now how can I add some upgrades or programs without screwing it up so it doesn't work at all?