Netbook help

[aqutalion]

I just got a netbook (ASUS EeePC), and I'm trying to install Linux on it. I can't seem to convince the thing to boot from a USB stick instead of the HD. I assume some BIOS settings need to be changed to allow this, but which ones? The boot order appears to list "removable device" before the HD, but maybe this isn't the only setting?

[Midorikawa]

That's the only setting on my EeePC 1000HE. You should make sure that the USB drive has a bootable image on it, or it won't boot, having not found a viable bootable image.

[aqutalion]

That's the only setting on my EeePC 1000HE. You should make sure that the USB drive has a bootable image on it, or it won't boot, having not found a viable bootable image.

The bootable image might be the problem. Unfortunately, usb-creator.exe wasn't included in the disk image I downloaded, so I had to find a third-party one. Has anyone here installed Ubuntu on a netbook from a USB stick? If so, how did you make the USB bootable?

[Midorikawa]

I did, and I recommend following this install procedure, as it worked for me when I installed 9.10 on my EeePC: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...n/FromUSBStick

EDIT: May I also recommend you wait 5 days for the new version of Ubuntu as well? It sounds like it'll have lots of new features, and installing fresh usually goes better than installing an old version and upgrading.

[F&R Computer Man]

If the boot order is set up right then even if there is not a bootable file on the flah drive you computer should give you an error message when the flash drive is connnected.

[Midorikawa]

If the boot order is set up right then even if there is not a bootable file on the flah drive you computer should give you an error message when the flash drive is connnected.

Not necessarily. More modern BIOS systems will just keep going through the list until they find something that works, rather than throwing up the annoying old "Non system disk or disk error" message. I have the EeePC 1000HE, and if I have a non bootable flash drive connected, it'll just ignore it and boot to GRUB, rather than throwing a fit about my dinky little thumb drive. :-)

[Chromatix]

There should be a key to press to explicity choose which drive to boot from. That might help.

[Geek King]

There should be a key to press to explicity choose which drive to boot from. That might help.

Look for a little message that says something like, "Press F? for boot menu." I believe it is F9 on HP computers, but it will likely vary from one manufacturer to another.