Create a bootable USB stick with terminal UI display

To test new Linux distributions on real hardware, a bootable USB stick with a downloaded image in ISO format will help with bootstrapping the installation. Rebooting the computer with the stick plugged in will often bring up a Live system that can be played around with to your heart's content, possibly after having to make some changes to the boot order in the BIOS.

How does the ISO file get onto the stick? Ultimately, this is done quite simply with a dd command that expects the ISO file as the input (if) and the device entry of the stick (for example /dev/sdd) as the output (of).

Tools like Ubuntu's Startup Disk Creator make things even more convenient with a graphical UI, but there are some concerns. Under no circumstances would you want the tool to have a bug that accidentally overwrites the next hard disk in the device tree instead of the stick.

[...]

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Progress by Installments

    Desktop applications, websites, and even command-line tools routinely display progress bars to keep impatient users patient during time-consuming actions. Mike Schilli shows several programming approaches for handwritten tools.

  • Programming Snapshot – Bulk Renaming

    Renaming multiple files following a pattern often requires small shell scripts. Mike Schilli looks to simplify this task with a Go program.

  • Book Collector

    Mike Schilli does not put books on the shelf; instead, he scans them and saves the PDFs in Google Drive. A command-line Go program then rummages through the digitized books and downloads them as required.

  • Programming Snapshot – Go

    To find files quickly in the deeply nested subdirectories of his home directory, Mike whips up a Go program to index file metadata in an SQLite database.

  • Programming Snapshot – Go Photo Organizer

    In this issue, Mike conjures up a Go program to copy photos from a cell phone or SD card into a date-based file structure on a Linux box. To avoid wasting time, a cache using UUIDs ensures that only new photos are transferred.

comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News