Bootable USB for Wordpress

kidneyfan

Hi Guys,

I'd like to set up a bootable USB for linux and lamp development and run wordpress from localhost when booted into linux using that USB.

The problem that I am having is that I can't get installed applications to save or in fact make any changes on the USB key (that I can see).

I downloaded Ubuntu Mint.
I downloaded Unetbootin.
I set up Mint on the USB as bootable on the USB.

This worked
I shut down and back into windows

I followed the instructions at

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/diskimg/readme.txt

I went to http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/diskimg/ and downloaded 512mb.zip.
I appended persistent to the first line that said
initrd=/ubninit file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash

I logged back into mint and downloaded the lamp stack tools but on reboot they were gone.


I would be grateful for any advice

kidneyfan

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if anyone had any advice re the above.

bonzodog2

Most bootable-stick installs will load most of the filesystem from a squashfs file, mounted readonly. One thing you could do is add a partition to the stick, then you can mount that RW

azzeretti

Do a search for "persistent live usb", should get you started.

Aimead

I just installed Linux to the USB directory to get a persistent install. Simplest way.

There are some tools out there that claim to make persistent bootable USB’s, but I’ve never managed to get any of them to work with a distro other than Ubuntu.

If all you want to do is LAMP-software development then just use WampServer (http://www.wampserver.com). You can install WordPress and every other LAMP software with it right in Windows.

My setup is to use WampServer for the bulk of development. For checking certain things like mobile compatibility (things Chrome’s dev tools just don’t seem to do what I need) I either run the site off an old box (Win98 era) with Debian or off my Raspberry Pi.

Running off a USB isn’t a terribly good idea for certain applications that require a high read/write rate, so if you are intending to do a sizeable amount of database work I’d go with WampServer.

Johnboy1951

There are some tools out there that claim to make persistent bootable USB’s, but I’ve never managed to get any of them to work with a distro other than Ubuntu.

Just in case someone reading might take this experience as normal, I would like to say that I have been using Persistent LiveUSB devices for more than 7 years ........ and none of them ever had Ubuntu or any of its derivatives on them.

One example ..... PCLinuxOS has its own Live USB Creator which allows multiple PCLOS ISOs on the one device and all of them can use Persistence without any interference with each other.

kidneyfan

Hi Guys,

I did get persistence to work using Ubuntu and UNetBootIn.
I don't have some weird dislike of Ubuntu but would prefer to use ArchLinux but I couldn't get it working.

I will try PCLinuxOS

Johnboy1951

kidneyfan wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I did get persistence to work using Ubuntu and UNetBootIn.
I don't have some weird dislike of Ubuntu but would prefer to use ArchLinux but I couldn't get it working.

I will try PCLinuxOS

The tool is for PCLOS ISOs only ..... in case that was not clear

Also if you try PCLOS, have a look at 'mylivecd' ......... it is a command line tool for creating an ISO of your existing install which you can put on a USB stick using the PCLOS utility.

Quite a combination.

Aimead

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

PCLinuxOS has its own Live USB Creator…..

I was referring more to general tools like Unetbootin or PenDriveLinux which, with the exception of Ubuntu ime, just don’t work for persistence. OP mentioned Unetbootin and Mint, and that is a combination I’ve never managed to get working.

Distro’s that have their own USB creation tools do work, but you generally have to use those within the distro itself. To use PCLinux’s creator you have to run that in PCLinux itself (although you can use the LiveCD/LiveUSB version to do so). If you are already having to run at least a live version of the distro you may as well just do an install to USB since, for most purposes, there is little difference.

---

kidneyfan wrote: »

…. but would prefer to use ArchLinux but I couldn't get it working.

Take my advice and don’t use Arch for this. It requires way too much setup and, I’m reading between the lines here, will likely be too much of a time-drainer for your purposes. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Arch, but if you are trying to just get a bootable USB up and running for putting a LAMP stack on then a more ‘pre-configured’ distro is the way to go. Gentoo and Slackware are also worth avoiding too for the same reason. Let me explain it this way – when you install Arch you don’t even have a desktop, and it’s basically up to you to go and install one (Gnome, KDE, Mate, etc.). Definitely not the distro to go creating a persistent USB from unless you are already very familiar with Arch.

Mint (that you mention in the OP) and PCLinux (that Johnboy1951 mentioned) are both good choices though.

bored_stupid

Try this one out works on linux & windows tryed & tested .

https://rufus.akeo.ie/

whats newxt

kidneyfan wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if anyone had any advice re the above.

Does it have to be a USB image? Could you not just use docker?

https://hub.docker.com/r/reinblau/lamp/