Live CD Persistence

ArthurDent · 10-28-2006, 12:40 PM

I want to use Ubuntu on my work laptop without modifying anything - hence the Live CD is the only option.

I really want to have certain features retained between reboots so I followed these instructionsfrom the Ubuntu community site.

I followed them to the letter and produced a USB memory stick formatted as EXT3 with the name "casper-rw" just as described. However, when I try to reboot I get the following errors:

1) With the USB stick in from cold - The machine tries to read from the CD and then craps out with the message

Code:

Boot CD-ROM Type: Non-Emulation Booting

ISOLINUX 3.11 Debian-2006-03-16 isolinux: Disk error 01. AX = 4240, drive 90
Boot failed: press a key to retry

2) Inserting the USB stick at the Live CD Menu(Doing F6 and adding " persistent" to the kernel arguments line)
As soon as I press enter I get a dialogue box up labelled

Code:

I/O error
Error reading boot CD.

Reboot

The system boots just fine from the Live CD on its own.

What should I do next?

Thanks

Mark

ArthurDent · 10-29-2006, 05:45 AM

Solved - (Sort of)

Well what I've discovered is that if I don't put the USB stick in until after the kernel has loaded but before the filesystem is checked (tricky timing) then it seems to work.

It takes a very long time to load (c. 4-6 minutes) with a completely blank screen, and in fact the only thing that gave me heart during this process was the fact that the LED on the USB was flashing furiously indicating some sort of activity going on. Finally it loads and - Hey Presto! - my settings are preserved.

So it works - but is this normal behaviour?

All the best

Mark

Redeye2 · 10-29-2006, 12:27 PM

Which Ubuntu are you using? Dapper or Edgy?
Edgy replaced the regular SysV init with upstart precisely to address those problems. If you're using Dapper, I'd suggest you download the hot-from-the-oven Edgy LiveCD.

ArthurDent · 10-29-2006, 03:42 PM

Thanks for that heads-up RedEye.

I'm using 6.06 currently - but as I type this 6.10 is downloading in the background. I'll burn it to CD tonight and have a go with it tomorrow.

I'll let you know how I get on...

Thanks again

Mark

Redeye2 · 10-29-2006, 04:30 PM

Awesome