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    usb stick boot linux on air?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by soda97, Jun 23, 2008.

  1. soda97

    soda97 Notebook Geek

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    possible to boot a usb stick linux os on the Macbook air?
    If so, can someone give a thorough procedure on how to make one?
    I have tried windows then mac os and now wanna try linux
    much appreciated


    thanks,
    soda
     
    soda97, Jun 23, 2008
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  2. stealthsniper96

    stealthsniper96 What Was I Thinkin'?

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    It could be done. You would need to find a small version of linux (google linux usb stick there are linux OS's that don't take up a whole lot of space) and then use a bootloader like rEFIt on the mac to see and boot off the disk. How big is your USB disk? If its a hard drive I would recommend something like ubuntu. Or you could also run linux on the macs hard drive through bootcamp or vmware.
     
    stealthsniper96, Jun 23, 2008
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  3. soda97

    soda97 Notebook Geek

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    yea I've been google a bit
    the usb boot mostly work on Windows
    not much about booting from mac
    I have a 8gb usb stick and I don't want to load from the hdd 'coz space is very limited on Air
    I read something about got to load from a live CD to start it up
    or the new mactel doesn't need rEFIt to start up the usb
    so that's why I didn't get rEFIt
    more information would be appreciated


    soda
     
    soda97, Jun 23, 2008
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  4. system_159

    system_159 Notebook Deity

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    I don't think Mac's will boot from usb. They will from firewire, though.

    I'd recommend getting a small firewire drive to install linux on.
     
    system_159, Jun 23, 2008
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  5. sulkorp

    sulkorp Notebook Deity

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    I guess its a stretch, but dont they boot from USB when you install leopard off of a USB drive?

    Although I don't know if the alt+startup will boot linux or other os'es
     
    sulkorp, Jun 23, 2008
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  6. soda97

    soda97 Notebook Geek

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    This is really confused as like I google around
    'coz some say can but some say can't
    it sounds like there might be a work around
    i wish someone can lighten me on this


    soda
     
    soda97, Jun 23, 2008
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  7. kgeier82

    kgeier82 Notebook Deity

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    wrong about macs not booting from USB.

    it has worked on all my intel machines.
     
    kgeier82, Jun 23, 2008
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  8. stealthsniper96

    stealthsniper96 What Was I Thinkin'?

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    Yea. What you can do is go on ubuntu.com and download the iso. Burn that onto a disk and you can boot off that. Then you should be able to go into the installer and install it on the USB stick.
     
    stealthsniper96, Jun 23, 2008
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  9. soda97

    soda97 Notebook Geek

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    Then Mac will recognize it when I start with alt/option?
    Can I do it on a windows PC or have to be on the Mac?
    'coz Mac Air only has 1 usb port
    also can you give a briefly walkthrough on how to go on a linux installer and format the usb as I've never use linux before


    thanks in advance,
    soda
     
    soda97, Jun 23, 2008
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  10. sulkorp

    sulkorp Notebook Deity

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    Well if you have bootcamp setup, I'm pretty sure if you have the CD in when you select windows from the alt+startup, it will boot the CD.

    Haven't actually tested this, but from stuff I've done so far I would think it would have a good chance of working.
     
    sulkorp, Jun 23, 2008
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  11. stealthsniper96

    stealthsniper96 What Was I Thinkin'?

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    I don't know about alt/option I recommend just using rEFIt.
    Once its installed on the disk, it should work on both mac and windows.

    Walk through-
    Keep in mind I've never booted off a usb stick before.
    Download the ubuntu iso from ubuntu.com and use disk utility to burn it on a disk (let me know if you don't know how to do that). Put the disk in and restart. Then boot off the linux disk and it will run Live. Once in linux double click on install and go through the installer. Once it asks where to install to, pick the usb disk and you should be good to go.

    p.s. If you can't see the disk in the linux installer re-boot into mac and re-format it.

    Let me know if you need anything else.
     
    stealthsniper96, Jun 23, 2008
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