Linux "Portable" Gentoo - possible?

Hi, this will probably sound a very odd question, so here goes:

I am getting a 2gb usb stick, enough for a full OS. I want this OS to be linux, and ideally gentoo, because it gives maximum control. I have never used gentoo, but am not a total linux noob, and am willing to learn whatever I need to. However, what I think will be the most difficult bit will be getting the OS to boot on different pcs. There are 3 (at least) computers I want to be able to use "portable" gentoo on, all ~2ghz machines, although one is amd, the others intel if that makes a difference. All can boot from usb, so that won't be a problem, but I don't know if the OS install will like it. I can make "profiles" if that helps - so I choose which machine I am using at bootup. Although I know windows would hate this, in the past I got Ubuntu to switch between native booting and a virtualised vmware player enviroment with just an xorg-configure, or something of the similar.

If this will be impossible, then I will have to use slax, or some other livecd, however I would love to be able to have a portable OS. Speed is not a huge concern, wathcing DVDs and the odd light compile will be all I need this for. Thanks.

 

I thought there was a chapter in the gentoo manual (certainly in the howtos) on creating gentoo live cds & USBs. So don't worry, it is possible Just google around

 

gentoo as been made to work on a single machine with optimisation. You can at the limit use it on an usb stick, but a 8gb one. Gentoo take alot of space, you can hardly go under 2gb with uncompressed system. Try debian, you can control it too, ans it will take less space.

 

Have a look at the linux live scripts i'm in the middle of trying to install them to a 256 cf card. Should be much the same for usb.

 

On what do you base this? When I installed my system (altough optimised, but kernels aren't that big, even when they are fully loaded), with X and fluxbox I didn't go over 2GB. Now I am, but I have huge things, like openoffice installed.

 

-the portage tree,
-all temp file (they still there on a usb skick, every boot more file)
-Kernel sources are big and usefull for booting on many computer and adding driver every time (not kernel driver, driver like madwifi).
-Applications
-Libs
-File
-Settings

If it is for a usable system, 2gb is too small. After installing all mu apps (nvu, cinelerra, koffice and 16 other), i ahve a nive 7gb system with fluxbox. I know that without all those apps it is easy to go around 2gb, but it will not be usefull at all with 5% of free space!

Only look at ubuntu ou kubuntu (or mepis and few other) they come and 7 language, have open office, gimp, gaim, blender, all kde official apps (not for ubuntu), xine, basic -devel libs. All that fit (compressed) on a 700mb cd! Try to do that with gentoo with portage.

 

Elv13, there are Gentoo live cd's, which fit on a 700MB CD, and include a graphical environment (IIRC gnome, so not the light ones)... So you are saying that's impossible on 2GB?

It isn't needed to include the portage tree, only when you update, and that you can do on a local system with some extra space mounted.

I don't think you understand how kernels work. They use 0.0 sources when compiled (as any other application). If you compile every known driver into (or through modules hook it to) the kernel, then you have support for every hardware there is a driver for. Most users don't do this, because less = faster & more optimised, but on a live USB you want a lot of support. But don't expect a kernel to grow 10MB (my kernels are around 2MB). Or do you want to recompile a kernel every time you boot?

Maybe you should clean up your system... Sources can be removed when they are merged, /tmp can be cleaned at boot (automaticall even)...

 

I have downloaded both the gentoo and debian install cds, I will give them both a go, and see which one is best for me.

 

I installed ubuntu onto a 5GB drive.. and i use it to boot 2 different lappties,, but they are not all that different, IBM R%! and an IBM R60

 

The size of the system can be greatly reduced by not including such things as the portage tree. Using uclibc over glibc can also save a huge amount of space. Gentoo will quite easily fit on a 2GB USB stick. The guide is here.

 

If you want compatibility between systems, debian is your friend. I use debian all the time for this :

eg. At our school's computer club we have a couple of "production servers", which offer the services to our members, and a lot of various other servers for support. If there's, for some reason, need to reinstall one of the "production servers", I just install & configure debian on a spare harddrive in one of the other servers. When I finish, I bring down the production server, pop out the HD, swap it with the freshly installed, and boot it up. 99% of the time this goes without any problems, and 1% of the time I need to manually load a module for some exotic gigabit ethernet card we have in 1 of the servers.

I dare you to do that with a windows install

But, like I said earlier, just compile Gentoo with lots in (or as modules hooked in) the kernel, and you'll be fine. (I might even dare to go very filthy, and recommend genkernel)

 

Hi everyone, I've had to go for SLAX, it wasn't worth the time trying to get the install cds to install on usb. Thanks though for everyones help.