i'm completely new to linux. i've only tried out some live discs and stuff. i've got an external hard disc with plenty of space i left in a partition at the beginning to put linux on to try it out if i wanted to some day. the thing is, my bios apparently can't boot anything from a usb device. is there any way to get around this? i've searched the internet and there's plenty of info about making linux startup floppies, but like i said, i'm completely new, so i don't really know if that's what i should be looking for. any help? links?

<edit: not entirely sure about which distro i'll use yet; i just want to know if this is possible>

Welcome to LQ!

Unfortunately, whether or not you can post from a USB device depends on your BIOS. Reboot the machine, press Del or F12 or whatever key is necessary to enter BIOS, then go to the boot sequence option. If a USB device is listed as a boot option, move it to the top of the list; otherwise, if it doesn't appear, then for all practical purposes No, you will not be able to boot from your external drive. Overall, this is much more of a BIOS issue than it is a Linux issue.

okay. thanks for the straight answer.

but isn't it possible to make some kind of floppy boot disc that tells the computer, "load usb drivers and boot linux from the external drive"?

Yes, you can. I guess it depends on how flexible you define the term "for all practical purposes"...

As long as you don't mind installing your bootloader (grub or lilo) to the MBR of disk 1 (/dev/hda or /dev/sda), you can usually point that program to where ever your linux install is, even an external drive (This way, the system is technically booting the internal hdd, then passing control to the external drive)

As stated previously, though, that is a big "usually". Sometimes, it just won't work.

Just follow the link posted above.

And remember, Google is your friend.

k. thanks. i'll check into this more. i've googled a lot, but as a beginner, i sometimes don't know what i should be looking for.