How to install Ubuntu Linux from USB Stick

This tutorial describes how to install Ubuntu by copying the contents of the installation CD to an USB memory stick (aka flash drive) and making the stick bootable. This is handy for machines like ultra portable notebooks that do not have a CD drive but can boot from USB media.

In short here’s what you do:

Prepare the USB flash drive

Boot the computer from your USB flash drive.

Install Ubuntu as you would from a normal boot CD

Prerequisites

A running Ubuntu 8.04 or any ubuntu version installation

A USB device (stick, pen-drive, USB hard disk) that has already been formatted with FAT32 and has enough free space to hold your Ubuntu installation image

A Ubuntu CD image downloaded from the Ubuntu servers or mirrors (*.iso file) or from here 
Step 1

On the root directory of your USB device, create a folder “install”
Copy the installer kernel and the initramdisk into this folder (Download source below.You need the files “vmlinux” and “initrd.gz”).

Download source for the installer kernel and initramdisk

For AMD64 Download from here
For i386 Download from here

You need to download the files “vmlinux” and “initrd.gz”.

Step 2

Note: You need to have the installer that fits the architecture of your Ubuntu version you want to install. In other words, you need a amd64 installer if you want to install an amd64 Ubuntu .iso image and the i386 installer for an i386 iso.

Step 3

From the installation iso image you downloaded, copy the folder “isolinux” to the root directory of your USB device (right-click on the .iso file, choose “extract here”). Rename “isolinux” into “syslinux”. Go inside the directroy “syslinux”. There, rename the file “isolinux.cfg” into “syslinux.cfg”.

Step 4

Make the stick bootable: Use fdisk to set the boot flag,

Install syslinux using the following command

sudo aptitude install syslinux

Now use syslinux to install a boot sector on your USB device

sudo syslinux /dev/sdbX

where sdbX is the device name and number of your USB device, check with “sudo mount”. A file called “ldlinux.sys” will be created in the root direcotry of the USB device.

Step 5

Copy the Ubuntu CD image in the root directory of your USB device (Contents of USB you can see as follows).If you are using i386 you need to copy the complete .iso image in to the root directory of your USB device.

Link:

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-ubuntu-linux-from-usb-stick.html

Windows, Linux, and Samba - PART 1(Introduction)

Samba is a suite of utilities that allows your Linux box to share files and other resources, such as printers, with Windows boxes. This chapter describes how you can make your Linux box into a Windows Primary Domain Controller (PDC) or a server for a Windows Workgroup. Either configuration will allow everyone at home to have:

• their own logins on all the home windows boxes while having their files on the Linux box appear to be located on a new Windows drive
• shared access to printers on the Linux box
• shared files accessible only to members of their Linux user group.

What's the difference between a PDC and Windows Workgroup member? A detailed description is beyond the scope of this chapter, but this simple explanation should be enough:

• A PDC stores the login information in a central database on its hard drive. This allows each user to have a universal username and password when logging in from all PCs on the network.
• In a Windows Workgroup, each PC stores the usernames and passwords locally so that they are unique for each PC.

This chapter will only cover the much more popular PDC methodology used at home. By default, Samba mimics a Windows PDC in almost every way needed for simple file sharing. Linux functionality doesn't disappear when you do this. Samba Domains and Linux share the same usernames so you can log into the Samba based Windows domain using your Linux password and immediately gain access to files in your Linux user's home directory. For added security you can make your Samba and Linux passwords different.

When it starts up, and with every client request, the Samba daemon reads the configuration file /etc/samba/smb.conf to determine its various modes of operation. You can create your own smb.conf using a text editor or the Web-based SWAT utility which is easier. Keep in mind, however, that if you create /etc/samba/smb.conf with a text editor then subsequently use SWAT to edit the file, you will lose all the comments you inserted with the text editor. I'll explain how to use both SWAT and a text editor to configure Samba later in this chapter.

Note: As your smb.conf is constantly being accessed, you're better off editing a copy of it if you decide not to use SWAT. 

Redhat linux installation steps with screenshot

What is Linux?

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system. Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development; typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.

The Linux kernel was first released to the public on 17 September 1991, for the Intel x86 PC architecture. The kernel was augmented with system utilities and libraries from the GNU project to create a usable operating system, which led to an alternative term, GNU/Linux. Linux is packaged for different uses in Linux distributions, which contain the sometimes modified
kernel along with a variety of other software packages tailored to different requirements.

Predominantly known for its use in servers, Linux is supported by corporations such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Novell, Oracle Corporation, Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems. It is used as an operating system for a wide variety of computer hardware, including desktop computers, supercomputers, video game systems, such as PlayStation 2, 3, several arcade games, and embedded devices, such as mobile phones and routers.

How to install Linux Redhat Enterprise?

Insert your linux cd 1 on the CD-ROM and let it booting.

Linux is booting…

Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux screen.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux screen.

Click next to continue installation.

Select the appropriate keyboard for the system. Click next to continue installation.

This operation will override any previous installation choices about which drives to ignore. Click yes to first time install the operating system and it will erasing all data.

Use automatic partinioning for beginner and you might set your own size if you want. Click next.

The GRUB boot loader wil be installed on /dev/sda. Click next.

You may set the IP address on your on host. Let it be automatically via DHCP first. You may configure the IP address later.

Click next to get the default setting of firewall and it will allowed www(http) to passw through the firewall.

Select the default language for the system. Click next.

Please select the time zone selection.

Set the Root Password for the system.

The default installation environment includes recommended package selection as below pic.

Click next to begin installation.

Linux is installing.

Linux is installing disk 2.

Linux is installing disk 3.

Linux is installing disk 4

Linux is installing disk 1.

The video hardware can be automatically detected. Click next to continue.

The monitor can be automatically detected.

Customize your own graphical configuration. Please select your login type.

Congratulations, the installation is complete.

Next to continue some few configuration after installation.

Linux is restarting….

Linux is restarting……

Select to agree the license agreement.

Choose your date and time.

Create you personal user account. Please not to create same account as root!!!!!!!

A sound card has been detected on your computer.

You may register the product by selecting the option below.

You can install addition packages if you have the extras CDs.

Finish setup, and please click the ‘next’ button to continue.

Please enter your username and password.

Entering Linux……………..checking hardware………….

Here’s your Linux!!! Have Fun!!!!!

Linux Command Line

Command	Description
# arch	show architecture of machine(1)   [man]
# cal 2007	show the timetable of 2007   [man]
# cat /proc/cpuinfo	show information CPU info   [man]
# cat /proc/interrupts	show interrupts   [man]
# cat /proc/meminfo	verify memory use   [man]
# cat /proc/swaps	show file(s) swap   [man]
# cat /proc/version	show version of the kernel   [man]
# cat /proc/net/dev	show network adpters and statistics   [man]
# cat /proc/mounts	show mounted file system(s)   [man]
# clock -w	save date changes on BIOS   [man]
# date	show system date   [man]
# date 041217002007.00	set date and time - MonthDayhoursMinutesYear.Seconds   [man]
# dmidecode -q	show hardware system components - (SMBIOS / DMI)   [man]
# hdparm -i /dev/hda	displays the characteristics of a hard-disk   [man]
# hdparm -tT /dev/sda	perform test reading on a hard-disk   [man]
# lspci -tv	display PCI devices   [man]
# lsusb -tv	show USB devices   [man]
# uname -m	show architecture of machine(2)   [man]
# uname -r	show used kernel version   [man]

For more commands, follow this link;
http://www.linuxguide.it/commands_list.php