Re: LUG: external HD Linux Installation ? - Sat, 14 May 2005 22:42:57 -0400

Subject : Re: LUG: external HD Linux Installation ?

From : Joel Ebel <jbebel@ncsu.[redacted]>

Date : Sat, 14 May 2005 22:42:57 -0400

Yes. This is all very doable. There are a number of ways it could be
done. What you do probably depends on the sort of software you need to
run in Linux. What I recommend is starting with RUNT Linux. I'm a
little biased since I'm the developer of it, but I do think its well
suited to your purpose. It's at http://ncsu.edu/project/runt. It's
designed to run on a 128 MB pen drive, so it doesn't contain X windows
or development tools, but it's based on slackware so any other tools you
need can be installed on top of it. You could also just start with a
normal distribution and install it on the external drive, but you'll
have to figure out how to boot it which will be a challenge. That's why
I think RUNT would be a good place to start. Plus you can use FAT32 on
the drive which will allow you to read it in windows as well. Other
distribution will format it with ext3 or reiser which is difficult to
access from windows. Booting off of the drive may be just a little bit
of a challenge since it will be a large drive, and thus FAT32 instead of
16, but if you go with RUNT, I'll fully support it and help you get it
running.

Best of luck. Let me know if I can be of assistance if you use RUNT.

Joel Ebel

sghosh@ncsu.[redacted] wrote:
> Hi everybody,
> I am grad student in NCSU. I use a laptop for my research, which runs
> using the Windows XP Professional OS.
> Now, I need to run some image processing codes on my 3D images from my
> experiments to extract some quantitative information. The codes I'd have
> to run for this are written for Linux systems.
> If I attach a blank external hard drive(HD), which can be connected to my
> laptop via USB port; will I be able to install Linux based OS on that
> external HD and process the 3D images using those codes if I store the raw
> images as well as those codes in that external HD?
> If the answer is yes, then when I reboot my laptop, while the external HD
> is connected to it, will it give me an option to work either using windows
> or Linux-based OS ?
> I would really appreciate if somebody could give me advices regarding
> this. I'd be glad to personally meet you to discuss about this, if you
> think that'd be easier for you to explain.
> Anxiously waiting for your reply.
> Thanks,
> Supriyo
> PS: I'm NOT a subscriber to this LUG listserv. So, please meil me to:
> sghosh@ncsu.[redacted]
>