live CD?
 

Hi,

Is there an easy way to create a modern version Ubuntu live CD (CD not DVD) ?

I only have old hardware at hand and I cannot boot from DVD nor from a thumb drive.

Thanks,

Brian H.

There is a netinstall image for Ubuntu. This will easily fit on a CD. Not sure what the size is but all you get is a bootable install.

That bootable install doesn't have any gui at all. You boot to the tty login and finish your install from there.

This does depend on you having a reasonable internet connection. Would not try it on dialup for instance.

As Ubuntu includes as depends for their *-desktop all the xorg/xserver-xorg packages all you really need to know is the name of the meta package for the desktop environment you need.

If you are wanting a live CD for rescue purposes and you are not stuck on Ubuntu you could try Debian. The biggest fear people have about Debian in the lack of the non-free packages like firmware. These are likely to be needed on older hardware in many cases.

The same people that make the Official Live CD and DVDs for Debian also make an unofficial Live CD with non-free content included. These work very well.

32 bit;
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/un...86/iso-hybrid/

64 bit;
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/un...64/iso-hybrid/

Large number of things listed in both. What you want is the *.iso file for whatever desktop environment you wish to use.

This will not get you the Unity DE if that is what you want. It is not available in the Debian repo.

These are also just for the current Debian Stable (Wheezy/Debian 7). This is what 12.04 was based on. 14.04, like all LTS versions, is based on Debian testing (Jessie/Debian 8). This is currently in freeze ahead of its release as the new stable. There will not be Live Media available for that until Jessie is released.

There are non live install CDs available for Debian 8. You only need disk 1. That is the disk with the DE you prefer listed or simply the disk 1 with no DE listed.

You will be given a choice of the DE install during the install process.
32 bit;
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/we...s/i386/iso-cd/

64 bit;
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/we.../amd64/iso-cd/

Jessie is pretty stable now particularly by Ubuntu standards. If you are not familiar with non live installs the process may seem intimidating even though it is the same installer used on the Live CD/DVDs.

The Ubuntu net install is not a live session.

If you really want a Debian based Live CD I would recommend the Wheezy non-free CD. You would then have a live session to prepare your partitions with in a graphic environment even if you decide to use the Ubuntu netinstall.

I didn't find a link to a netinstall image for Ubuntu but did find a netboot install image. These are smaller than a netinstall image and are less than 40Mb.
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/14.04/

I am sure there is a netinstall image if you search for it. If you are not using Ubuntu but using one of the family members (xubuntu, lubuntu, ect) you would need to search for those instead of Ubuntu.

I'd use the net install if possible.

One could remaster the dvd to a cd if they wanted I guess. Not a lot of work but more than a net boot.

Might be possible to use gpxe/ipxe or pxe to boot to a shared or mounted network containing the dvd.

If your hardware is old, you might have difficulty running Ubuntu. You might try derivatives like Lubuntu or Bodhi.

xp refugee
 

Well, I am happy enough with Puppy Linux 5.7 as my xp replacement except for issues like I cannot get my VPN software running under Puppy. I use https://www.softether.org/ for my VPN connection to home network.

I read on the softether site, that softether is known to work under Ubuntu so I was wanting to give it a try under Ubuntu.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Brian H.

Bodhi and Lubuntu are Ubuntu derivatives and mostly the same so things which work on Ubuntu will probably work on either. Only way to find out is to try.

Both look interesting but neither appear to be live cd bootable so far as I can divine. Lubunto even states that the latest .iso requires a dvd so I think I am out of luck there.

http://www.ubuntu-mini-remix.org/ is looking like my best hope.

Brian H.

The download link for Bodhi below shows it as 613MB. You could try AntiX MX14 which is 670MB. Might be better off with Puppy if it's working for you.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bodhilinux/files/2.4.0/

http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Fedora has cd iso available.

I just checked the Fedora site and all I saw for the new one; Fedora 21 seems to only have a dvd.

I did find these links for Fedora 20;
32 bit
http://mirror.pnl.gov/fedora/linux/r.../20/Live/i386/

64 bit
http://mirror.pnl.gov/fedora/linux/r...0/Live/x86_64/

Different package management but for a new user from MS land this should not be a problem. Probably has not bonded with APT so RPM should be no biggy.

Yes definetely Fedora live doesn't supports CD anymore.

The closest one is of size 713MB.

Download Link.

If I understand Fedora policy correctly 20 is still supported and a version upgrade would take the OP to the current version.

While I am obviously prefer Debian branch distros this is simply my taste and certainly don't want to foist it off on others.

Fedora is a fine distro. I don't have an install of it on here now but I have in the past.

I currently have Mageia as my token non Debian based distro on my loaner drive.

Most distros are pretty similar in most ways other than package management. All packages management systems have their advantages and disadvantages.

It all depends on what the user likes the best and I think that some familiarity with different systems is a good thing when getting started.

I think once a user decides which package management system they prefer that they should stick with it long enough to become very familiar with it before branching out to more diverse distros. This is simply because no matter what package management system you are using they all do basically the same thing. Once you have one pretty well mastered the others are relatively easy to pick up.

Like a lot of other things that a lot of people think is "bad" for Linux I think this diversity in package management is actually an asset. It alows folks to start with one that seems the easiest to them.

We just need to remember to give them the choice.

Peppermint is a nice, unique distro based on Ubuntu, which fits on a CD (625.0 MB)
Peppermint OS 5

What operating system are you currently running? There are various ways to boot an .iso file into ram from the hard drive.

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/
http://www.sysresccd.org/Download (working with Windows UltraISO)
http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/

for latest AND working... please go 14.04