Transfer Linux .iso to bootable USB

[hooligan001]

Hi guys, my mum’s Acer Aspire One is broken... it boots up to a blank screen with mouse pointer showing. I have searched for solutions on the internet but can’t find any...

So I plan to reinstall the OS which I understand is linpus lite.

Now I have downloaded a .iso image of an installation DVD for this OS.

Trouble is I don’t have a usb DVD drive! So I need to make a bootable usb stick to run it from.

Can anyone help me with this? I have tried using unetbootin to no avail. Perhaps I’m not using it right...

As the AA1 does not boot, I will be using my M1530 running windows 7 to create the usb stick.

Hope someone can help!!

[1ceBlu3]

unetbootin doesn't have support for linpus lite..which is why it isn't working...

here's something that might help..
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...re-one-675830/

or you could install the ubuntu netbook remix..but that depends on if she'll learn the OS easy and it will suit her needs..

[jas]

You can initiate the Acer eRecovery feature by hitting Alt-F10 when the computer is booting up. If your recovery partition is still there, it should give you three options; 1) to restore to factory defaults, 2) restore from a user backup, or 3) restore from the recovery DVD. Since you don't have the DVD or DVD drive, you should choose to restore to factory defaults, which will restore the factory installation from the recovery partition. You should be aware that this system default restore, will delete all user data on the computer.

If that's not an option, you can create a recovery USB stick with the Acer Recovery DVD, on another computer that can boot from a DVD drive, (and has a USB port). You first need to burn the Recovery DVD ISO to a DVD, and then follow these basic steps;

Step 1 - Insert the “Aspire One Recovery DVD” into the additional PC / notebook, and make sure you boot from this DVD.

Step 2 - Once you have booted from the DVD, you can select the following 3 options:

Install – Acer Aspire One
Create Recovery USB Drive
Boot from Hard Disk

Select the option “Create Recovery USB Drive”. After selecting this option, the system will continue to the “Acer Recovery Management” screen.

Step 3 - The “Acer Recovery Management Screen” will automatically launch a wizard which will help you with creating the recovery USB drive.

You can read the Acer Aspire One User Forums thread here which goes into this process in more depth. You can also read more in this thread, where there's another link to the Recovery DVD ISO image file.

There is also tons of information available over at the Acer Aspire One User Forums.


Good Luck..

[nando4]

1/ Following these instructions to create a FreeDOS USB drive with grub on it.
2/ Copy Linux .iso file onto USB pendrive
3/ create menu.lst with something like shown here:

title Ubuntu LiveCD
find --set-root /ubuntu-9.04-beta-desktop-i386.iso
map /ubuntu-9.04-beta-desktop-i386.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
kernel /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/ubuntu-9.04-beta-desktop-i386.iso quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.gz
boot

Boot your USB pendrive and run 'grub'.

[hooligan001]

Hey guys thanks for the replies!

I want to try and get Linpus Lite back on to the system as my mother is totally computer illiterate and she finds the simple menus easy to use.

I’m going to have a read over the links that have been posted and see if I can figure this thing out. I think burning the .iso to a DVD and creating a USB recovery stick is the way forward!

I will keep you all updated with how I get on.

[v1k1ng1001]

1. You don't have to burn the .iso to a dvd to create the usb stick. The .iso will go straight into the stick whether it is on your hard drive or optical drive. Don't waste a dvd.

2. You have to completely reformat the stick each and every time you use unetbootin. If you do not reformat and if you do not remove the m3 software, then your stick will fail! You can use gparted and unetbootin in a live session of ubuntu to accomplish this (i.e. running ubuntu from the cd drive).

3. Linpus is not so hot. Your mom would probably like Ubuntu Netbook Remix just as much and it will probably work a lot better. Just sayin'. Obviously it would be a lot easier to acquire, install and maintain. The new 9.10 NBR is really slick!

4. If you decide to go with NBR, you could skip unetbootin hell and just use the create usb stick application in ubuntu which is much, much easier as it does all the formatting and stuff for you automatically. I can use unetbootin just fine but I've had much better results using Ubuntu's create usb stick application.

5. Check to see if there are any hardware errors before you stress yourself out with this project.

[ohiomoto]

Originally Posted by v1k1ng1001

The new 9.10 NBR is really slick!

+1 on Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10! Very intuitive and easy to use. Everything is in the right place. My favorite OS to date.

[hooligan001]

OK thanks for the further replies guys! To be honest I have not had much success with the Aspire One recovery disc, when I am booting from the DVD to make the recovery USB it keeps giving me errors...

I was thinking of loading it with Windows 7. I had looked into the Ubuntu Netbook remix but previous versions did not install wireless drivers?

As I have had no experience of Linux I wouldn’t know where to start with to get this sorted...

Will the wireless work fine with the new version?

Also she uses a mobile broadband stick, which took a while to configure with Linpus.

Is there software available to use the Huawei 3G modem built into Ubuntu?

Sorry for all the questions but hopefully someone will be able to answer them!

[ohiomoto]

Google it! I think there is a lot of info on Ubuntu and the Aspire One out there. Here's a guide on using 8.10 on it: https://sites.google.com/a/mg8.org/ubuntu-aa1/


I have no issues at all with my Acer AS1410. Getting Windows 7 on it was harder. I would make a live USB stick and try it. I'm positive you'll be able to get wireless. Not sure about the 3G as I have no experience with it.

[jas]

Originally Posted by hooligan001

OK thanks for the further replies guys! To be honest I have not had much success with the Aspire One recovery disc, when I am booting from the DVD to make the recovery USB it keeps giving me errors..

Did you first try booting the computer with Alt-F10 and restore from the recovery partition, (if it's still there)? That's what I would try first. If that didn't work then I would try either burning another recovery DVD, using a different burning program, or download the ISO I linked to in my previous post, and try burning that image to a DVD, and then try creating the USB stick again. If you absolutely cannot create a good recovery DVD, then I would contact Acer support and ask them to send you one.

BTW, what errors are you getting when trying to use the recovery DVD? Also you need to boot your computer with the Recovery DVD. So it doesn't matter what OS you have installed on your machine when you do this. Lastly, you could consider using another Linux distro or something else on this laptop, however this would be a better solution if this was your computer, and you could afford to tinker with it. Since it's for someone else, it's probably best to try and restore the Acer factory install.

Good Luck..

P.S. The Acer Aspire One user forum is probably the best place to ask these and your followup questions.