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Title: Booting from flash drive (Win 7 - XP)
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URL Source: http://ChuckW
Published: Mar 2, 2015
Author: Chuck_Wagon
Post Date: 2015-03-02 15:53:26 by Chuck_Wagon
Keywords: None
Views: 38004
Comments: 123
Just suppose that I wanted to create a machine that would FYI - I am planning to create this thing on a new Zotac So what I'm basically trying to do is create a 'disk-less' Thanks for any help / insight! ZBOX 1320-U:
boot from a USB flash drive - a relatively big flash drive -
32gb to 64gb - or whatever is required.
And I wanted this thing to boot either Win7 or XP.
Anybody here have any experience with such an experience?
'ZBox' with a Celeron processor and 4GB of memory (which I
have - the memory - not the Zbox).
computer. Shouldn't be fraught with problems - Eh? 
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#42. To: TooConservative (#39)
Yeah... I was looking at those higher spec Zotacs, as well as Intel NUCs & HP Chromeboxes. At least the ones that weren't out of my price range. But I finally decided on the more modestly priced ZBOX-BI320-U because it had both HDMI & DVI-D video output and my monitor only accepts VGA or DVI-D. Most of the other little boxes I looked at only have HDMI output, and I didn't want to go through a converter to hook up my monitor. But yeah, the technology of these little boxes is simply amazing and so affordable compared to what's been available for the last 25+ years... It really makes you wonder where this old world is headed!
A smaller distro like Mint Linux needs no more than 4GB to really fly for ordinary uses (browsing, office suite, most games). And 4GB is enough for bigger distros like Ubuntu too. But, yes, it is incredible when your big pricey Xeon workstation can be replaced by a 9"x9"x2" box with comparable or superior performance. A real eye-opener.
I've been using lightweight linux desktops (like Fluxbox, Xfce & LXDE) on old/cheap/obsolete PCs for almost 10 years now. So yes, I really am pleased at how well they run. But I did have the latest Ubuntu installed on my ZBox for a short period of time on Sunday/Monday as well. It worked well... but I just didn't like the weird "Unity" Ubuntu desktop, so I simply installed a lightweight environment that I was more familiar with. I suppose a more traditional, full featured desktop like KDE or Gnome would also work well with 4Gb... but why undergo the extra overhead when the lighter/faster desktops do everything I want to do anyway?
I like it. More power than the cheap bookshelf Celeron, Too bad that we're not coming up on Christmas -
I used to admire Puppy Linux. It is a distro that can be booted from CD/DVD/USB-drive. It's base config is only 85MB so you can load it entirely into memory. By default, it is a LiveCD type distro and no results or documents can be saved. However, it is set up so you can use a CD-RW/DVD-RW or USB flash drive and save your bookmarks, emails, documents, etc. Whichever way you want it to run. With 85MB, it could do web browsing and email (both Mozilla), file browsing/management, had a few games, instant messaging, torrenting, basic Wordpad-style .RTF text editing, etc. Of course, you could easily add more programs if you had the RAM. And since it all ran out of system RAM, it was instantaneous. All the apps could load faster than you could remove your finger from the left mouse button to click-start them. So: really fast. I used to run it some on a 256MB USB drive on machines with 384-768MB. So I could have an office suite and a few small games and apps along with the standard Puppy Linux apps. The guy who started PL retired but the community keeps it going. When Chuck first described booting from a flash drive, I thought of Puppy Linux. When it became apparent he wants a Windows installation with some apps, I couldn't recommend it. Puppy is not the only LiveCD distro with these features. There are some others out there that are just as flexible. Puppy focuses on being widely runnable on a broad variety of older and limited hardware.
I've used Red Hat, Fedora, Ubuntu (and I forget what else) -
I hate throwing away computers and Linux is a great way to keep old machines running super fast without the Windows that make the machines obsolete.
Hey, old computers make great monitor stands, bookends,
I use them as radios in each room almost.
My 'Todo' list is mirrored on several machines
You can get Puppy in Ubuntu and in Slackware flavors. They have their own fairly standard aptget to add apps and support, like any other Linux. Also, you can migrate the LiveCD directly on to a hard drive partition to make it permanent. Or just to have a pristine quick-boot Linux always ready.
Yah. But I need a spare machine to experiment.
A few years ago during the great crash a lot of offices closed and perfectly good but old computers with cathode ray monitors were tossed out on my office floor. I hoarded 8 sets of them and down to 6 working ones now. Plus I think I have a lifetimes worth of cables of all sorts.
Just be safe on those stairs. Doubly so if no one is around. And with a cellphone in your pocket.
Always needed.
There was a problem of short component life from computers that age. From 1999-2007, some big suppliers of capacitors cut corners on quality. As a result, many mainboards and PCI cards would fail catastrohically. On the end of the cylindrical capacitors, you would see bulging or scorch marks or even the oozing of the capacitor's "sweet candy filling". Wiki: Capacitor plague Sounds like the vintage of the machines you salvaged. So if they quit, look at those capacitors. The older they get, the more likely they'll blow up. This is not entirely unheard of with other components. The Nvidia 8600 video card found on many machines was subject to sudden failures and they ran a replacement program for dead ones for about 2 years then just stiffed the rest of these customers. Some hard feelings about it. Also, I recall a few AMD motherboard models over the years that had sudden failures of the front side bus controller (a chip that often had a heat sink or even a micro-fan just to cool it). Power supplies failing is also not uncommon, even in name brands like Dell and HP, especially the cheaper models.
The next time I need a Centronics parallel printer cable or a 9-pin serial cable for my US Robotics 56k external modem, I know who to call. : )
I've got one of those chair lift thing-a-ma-jigs.
How much did that run you? I saw a commercial on TV yesterday trying to sell them w/o revealing the price. I'm nosy, okay? Maybe I'll need one in thirty years. Nah, I'll move sometime and have everything on one floor with no stairs.
http://www.acornstairlifts.com/chairlifts/ 866-207-7544 (Made in England - by the way.)
Thanks for nothing, Chucky. I went to their web site. They want too much personal information for a free quote. I wouldn't trust them if they don't list a single price. They probably sized up your assets and net worth before they figured out how much to milk out of you. /TooconservativeAttitude. I don't feel like calling them either. Edit: I just did a Google search on: cost of stair lift for home stairs - It satisfied my curiosity on the price range.
Uh-oh, I'm getting a certain reputation. I wuz hacked!
I'm sorry.
Any maintenance requirements or problems in that time? I'll guess you paid $2K +/- $500. Don't get so defensive. I'm blunt sometimes. Maybe I have Tourettes.
Yes,but right after I contacted him he got shingles,and has been out of action ever since. Then the ground did freeze,so there was no need to call him. I plan on getting in touch with him later this week. It's supposed to get warmer and rain a couple of days,so the ground should be pretty soft after that.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Looks to me like it would be pretty stable. Every consider making leather or rubber "boots" for it that have spikes for cold weather use?
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Not for me. I've tried them - and you really need two arms to support yourself on them. My right arm doesn't have the steadiness nor the strength for it unfortunately. So it's: "Quad Cane Left! Proceed!" for me. Guys,one real bonus to having a walker is if you get one with wheels,you can sit down in the damn thing and use your feet to motivate it like a wheel chair. It's really stable when the ground is slick. I have one wheels,a seat,and a basket,and even though I normally don't need it for what I do daily,if I am going off somewhere to a car show,swap meet,etc,etc,etc,I take it with me in case my back or knees give out so I have some place to sit and rest,and if need be roll myself out of the sun.rain/whatever.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Let us know how it works. How deep you'll trench it, whether you are using PVC with an indoor cable inside it, or some ready-made underground-certified cable, or even just standard indoor Ethernet cable buried with no shielding. Amazon: 50' waterproof Ethernet cable $40 Amazon: 100' waterproof Direct Burial Ethernet cable If you have the cabling already, you could string it up in the air from roof to roof, especially if you can route through a tree or two between house and shop. But we know that's really not a good solution and would involve ladders. I can't recall anyone I know personally burying Ethernet to an outbuilding. Hence my curiosity.
The eldest son of a pair of good friends of mine I admit that the kid is a little bit goofy -
Just in case you've never seen them - tennis balls with a hole in them...
This is the ethernet cable I bought. I also bought cable ends as well as the special crimping pliers to attach the cable ends so I can cut cable to length. www.amazon.com/gp/product...age_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Here is the conduit I bought to run the ethernet cable through and to bury. I checked around and bought it on sale at half of amazon's price from a local building supply. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product..._detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 And here is the "fish" I bought to pull the ethernet cable through the conduit. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product...age_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I plan on burying it maybe 6-12 inches deep. That will be plenty deep for my purposes. Once buried,I am covering the whole area with large gravel because I am tired of getting my feet wet walking from the house to the shop,and because it is easier to see a snake on the gravel walking from the shop to the house after dark than if there were still grass growing there.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
I don't see why you need that since your conduit is above ground right now. Pretty expensive too. Can't you manually slide the cable through the conduit before burying it?
It's not a scam. Trust me on this.I have it and have had it all my life,although it is not as bad now as it was when I was a child. Of course saying someone has Tourettes is painting them with a pretty broad brush. It goes from mild (milder?) cases like mine,all the way up to being so serious you are pretty much institutionalized for life. I had the "grunting/clearing throat" and head twitches really bad when I was a kid and before anybody knew WTF it was. Since we didn't know what it was,there was no treatment for it. I thought I was going crazy and was afraid of being seen as a bigger freak than I was,so I controlled mine through sheer willpower. Sometimes my neck would be so stiff from holding it still by muscles that I wouldn't be able to turn my head when I got home from school. By the time I was a teen it pretty much disappeared,and only started becoming a problem again in my late 50's. Still not as serious as it was when I was in elementary school,and on top of that I pretty much don't give a damn what anybody thinks anymore anyway,so when I need to twitch or clear my throat,I twitch or clear my throat. If you don't like it,you are welcome to leave. The son of a friend that lives nearby has a much more serious case and was unable to control the twitches and grunts,plus he "shouts out" occasionally. Which has make it virtually impossible for him to hold anything other than menial jobs. I am ASSUMING that he takes drugs to help him control it as well as he does,but he will never live a normal life. I think he is probably in his 40's now,and has never lived anywhere but at home and has never even had a date because the symptoms freak people out. AFAIK,he is of at least normal intelligence. Or at least that is what people who grew up and went to school with him tell me. I also have Aspergers. Oh,yeah. I can't begin to tell you what a joy it was growing up in the 1950's.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
I actually saw that a few days ago,and was wondering WTF was the deal with it. I assumed it was to keep the walker from slipping on linoleum floors. I am guessing they would be of limited value on ice,but now that you mention it,I am thinking that attaching golf shoe cleats to tennis balls and then cutting holes so the tennis balls would fit up over the leg would really be the way to go because you would have much more surface area for the cleats and it would be easier to remove and install the "boots".
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Ever try to push a flexible cable like a ethernet cable 100 feet through half inch conduit? Plus the ethernet cable takes a couple of 90 degree bends between the house and the shop. Yeah,I could go "old school" like I used to and tie a lead fishing weight to the ethernet cable,get up on the roof,and shake the conduit and feed the ethernet cable down the conduit,but I just don't have the patience for that kind of crap at my age. I'll spend the 40 bucks to be able to do it in 5 minutes standing on the ground rather that go through all that grief. Plus I can use the fish to pull electrical wire through walls,car wiring through firewalls and dashes,etc,etc,etc. I don't have to use it but the one time to pull the ethernet cable 100 feet and around several corners and it has paid for itself in MY opinion. I grew up poor and had to work hard. Now I prefer to work smart.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
My friend, we call him Charlie Cracker, has Tourettes. When he's amongst friends, like me, he's more relaxed and it shows. When I take him out in public I can tell that he does his best to control his outward actions. But when he's drinking beer, all bets are off. When I'm driving and he does his Tourettes thing, I just say, "Charlie, shut the f8&k up." He feeds it right back to me, so it's all good.
Those are the times when I hate to, but I borrow special items from friends or neighbors. I've been borrowing free air from my neighbor for years on several occasions - he has a compressor. I bought a tiny electric one at the thrift store about a month ago for 5 bucks - I hope it works well when the time comes.
I have friends that run commercial garages that I can borrow tools from any time I want,but I HATE borrowing tools. I do it when I have no choice,but if I have to borrow a tool twice,I own it the 3rd time I need it. I don't have to borrow air. I now have a 7hp 2 stage 230 volt compressor inside my shop,as well as a little 8 gallon portable "pancake" compressor for running my nail gun,and I have a 35 hp gasoline engine with a two-stage two cylinder DeVilbliss compressor mounted on a trailer out in the yard to use for sandblasting big items. It was originally used to start the engines on WW-2 bombers by the AF during WW-2 from what I have been told. All I know for sure is that SOB will really put out the air. It will run 3 or 4 jackhammers at one time,and I can open the 3/4 inch feed line with no hose attached to it,and it will still hold 125 psi of air pressure. I'm able to sand blast using a 5/16th nozzle (g). I started out with no wiring in my shop,and a used 3 hp Craftsman 110 volt compressor with a 15 or 20 gallon tank. I ran a extension cord from the house to the shop to power it,and if I wanted to run the air compressor for a air wrench,I had to unplug the fan and the radio or trip the circuit breaker and walk back to the house to reset it. I got ac units installed last summer,and just got a 250k propane furnace installed in Jan. I even have a full bath with a walk in handicapped shower and hot water out there now. Along with a HD smart tv,and soon a ethernet cable to provide me with streaming videos and the internet. I really don't even need the house anymore. All my good stuff is out in the shop.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
I've been thinking along similar lines. I'm not a shop person, but I think my next/final home will have an extended garage, with bathroom, cot, fridge, TV, etc. in the forward end - some would call it a man cave. I'd keep my home intact and live like a cave man in the garage - with hot and cold running wimmins!
Couldn't you push a light wire, like lightweight electric fence wire, through the conduit first and tie the ethernet to its end to use the wire to drag the droopy cable through the conduit? Just a thought. I've ended up doing that before. You mention a sharp bend in the conduit but I assume you will have to lay the full cable run out first on the ground in a straight line, especially if you are using multiple 25' conduit segments with those small conduit joiners that make the job much more difficult. Then you join conduit segments, bend it to desired shape, and put it in the trench. Make sure you test the damned cable before you bury it! : )
Women do find men who live in their garages irresistible.
Comments (83 - 123) not displayed.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestIsn't that just darling? What a sweet little box.
#43. To: Willie Green (#42)
But I finally decided on the more modestly priced ZBOX-BI320-U because it had both HDMI & DVI-D video output and my monitor only accepts VGA or DVI-D.
#44. To: TooConservative (#43)
A smaller distro like Mint Linux needs no more than 4GB to really fly for ordinary uses (browsing, office suite, most games). And 4GB is enough for bigger distros like Ubuntu too.
#45. To: TooConservative (#39)
Here's one of those Zotec Nanos ($198.99 shipped):
but not that much more expensive.
a fax to Santa now will do no good -
he's in Bermuda.
#46. To: Willie Green, Chuck_Wagon (#44)
I've been using lightweight linux desktops (like Fluxbox, Xfce & LXDE) on old/cheap/obsolete PCs for almost 10 years now.
#47. To: TooConservative (#46)
but never Puppy.
#48. To: TooConservative (#46)
#49. To: Pericles (#48)
I hate throwing away computers...
doorstops - the possibilities are simply endless...
#50. To: Chuck_Wagon (#49)
Hey, old computers make great monitor stands, bookends, doorstops - the possibilities are simply endless...
#51. To: Pericles (#50)
I use them as radios in each room almost.
around the house. "What the heck was I doing? - Oh yeah..."
#52. To: Chuck_Wagon (#47)
I've used Red Hat, Fedora, Ubuntu (and I forget what else) - but never Puppy.
#53. To: TooConservative (#52)
This warrants a trip to the basement...
#54. To: Chuck_Wagon, TooConservative (#51)
(Edited)
#55. To: Chuck_Wagon (#53)
#56. To: Pericles (#54)
I have a lifetimes worth of cables of all sorts.
#57. To: Pericles (#54)
A few years ago during the great crash a lot of offices closed and perfectly good but old computers with cathode ray monitors were tossed out on my office floor. I hoarded 8 sets of them and down to 6 working ones now.
#58. To: Pericles, Willie Green, Chuck_Wagon (#54)
(Edited)
Plus I think I have a lifetimes worth of cables of all sorts.
#59. To: TooConservative (#55)
Just be safe on those stairs.
Well, yeah - laundry is a needed thing...
#60. To: Chuck_Wagon (#59)
I've got one of those chair lift thing-a-ma-jigs.
#61. To: Fred Mertz (#60)
(Edited)
#62. To: Chuck_Wagon (#61)
(Edited)
#63. To: Fred Mertz (#62)
/TooconservativeAttitude
#64. To: Fred Mertz (#62)
They want too much personal information for a free quote.
Just one hit on their web site.
And I've had their chairlift for almost a decade.
I guess you'd better shoot me - just to be safe...
#65. To: Chuck_Wagon (#64)
And I've had their chairlift for almost a decade.
#66. To: TooConservative (#30)
So did you find ever someone to trench that Ethernet cable out to your shop for Roku streaming there?
#67. To: Chuck_Wagon (#36)
So it's: "Quad Cane Left! Proceed!" for me.
#68. To: Chuck_Wagon, Willie Green (#36)
The walker works...
#69. To: sneakypete (#66)
I plan on getting in touch with him later this week. It's supposed to get warmer and rain a couple of days,so the ground should be pretty soft after that.
#70. To: Fred Mertz (#65)
Maybe I have Tourettes.
has Tourettes. But you'd never know it.
I think that Tourettes is just another scam to
sell pharmaceautical drugs.
but does he need to be medicated? Really?
Heck, I'm goofy when you get right down to it...
#71. To: sneakypete (#67)
...leather or rubber "boots"...
#72. To: TooConservative (#69)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product...age_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product...age_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
#73. To: sneakypete (#72)
And here is the "fish" I bought to pull the ethernet cable through the conduit.
#74. To: Chuck_Wagon, Fred Mertz (#70)
The eldest son of a pair of good friends of mine has Tourettes. But you'd never know it. I think that Tourettes is just another scam to sell pharmaceautical drugs.
#75. To: Chuck_Wagon (#71)
Just in case you've never seen them - tennis balls with a hole in them...
#76. To: Fred Mertz (#73)
I don't see why you need that since your conduit is above ground right now. Pretty expensive too. Can't you manually slide the cable through the conduit before burying it?
#77. To: sneakypete (#74)
#78. To: sneakypete (#76)
I don't have to use it but the one time...
#79. To: Fred Mertz (#78)
Those are the times when I hate to, but I borrow special items from friends or neighbors. I've been borrowing free air from my neighbor for years on several occasions - he has a compressor.
#80. To: sneakypete (#79)
I really don't even need the house anymore. All my good stuff is out in the shop.
#81. To: sneakypete (#76)
(Edited)
Ever try to push a flexible cable like a ethernet cable 100 feet through half inch conduit?
#82. To: Fred Mertz (#80)
I'd keep my home intact and live like a cave man in the garage - with hot and cold running wimmins!
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