Needed - UK Linux geek with a flash card writer

[ffutures]

Briefly, I want to install the jlime implementation of Linux onto a compact flash card for eventual use in my HP Jornada 728 hand-held. I have a biggish card and Jlime is here, but the card has to be partitioned using Linux, and various arcane things have to be done in Linux to make it work, and I REALLY don't want to mess around with a linux install on my main PC.

Would anyone be willing to take a shot at setting up the card for me? I'd really rather not post the computer itself, but as far as I can tell there is no need to be connected to a Linux machine once the install is done. I may be wrong on that, since I'm not expert, but it looks that way from a cursory read.

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

REALLY don't want to mess around with a linux install on my main PC.

Who said you'd need to do that? Ubuntu (and other distros) will happily run live from a boot CDROM -- all you lose is a bit of speed, and the ability to save any changes you made to the filesystem there.

1. Download the Ubuntu 9.04 live CD image.

2. Grab appropriate tool for burning said image onto a CD, and do so.

3. Boot from the live CD. Your PC will come up running a Linux desktop (assuming nothing's wildly non-standard). It should also see your USB bus and anything on it (such as, oh, a card reader and/or other stuff). It should be fairly straightforward to mount your Windows partition so you can find the Jlime distro image. And then you should be able to do what needs done.

If necessary, invite a local Linux wonk around to do the job on your PC. It shouldn't be too hard.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Alas, this is where you read "I really don't want to mess around with a linux install on my main PC" as "he can just boot it off a CD", where I in fact mean "I really don't want to do anything with linux on my main PC in case I bugger it up," and would greatly prefer someone who knows what he's doing to do this...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

OK, ended up trying it - eventually got a message that I didn't have umount, which is probably something a Linux expert could sort in ten seconds but left me a bit baffled.

[pengshui-master.livejournal.com]

There is no linux command unmount. There is one called umount. Did you misread the instructions and type unmount by mistake?

Having said that this is the last step so it is may well be good to go even if you didn't do this last step. And will almost certainly be if you rebooted your PC to windows before taking the stick out.

Those instructions look a lot more complicated than they are. It just says create two partitions. Format one so windows can read it - and put a bootloader and the linux startup files (kernel image) on it. Format the other one for linux an unpack the rest of a linux harddisk image onto it.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Err... I said umount! And this was right at the start, before it did any of the partitioning.

[pengshui-master.livejournal.com]

Err. So you did. My mistake.

I'm busy today so can't easily do it for you.

And ahh - that umount, IIRC Ubuntu's GUI the flash card shown appear on as on icon on the desktop which you can right click over and umount. The name of that icon will probaby be the /media/sdX. So you immediately know to use /dev/sdX without all that tideous going thru of the dmesg output.

Certainly Knoppix (www.knoppix.de) UI looks like that.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It was knoppix I was using. Like I said, I am NOT good at linux stuff, which is why I was hoping I could get someone to do it for me.

[pengshui-master.livejournal.com]

Odd. umount is the path for root & non-root users normally in knoppix.

If you want me to do it sometime over the next week, I might be able to find time, but I'm not going to promise because I know how much I tend to forget stuff.

Drop me a line my email (on my lj profile page for friends) if you want to arrange something.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Sorry - only just noticed this comment - email is immanent.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

I think you'll like this song:

http://www3.ledamay.com/freebies/goodies/Audio/3deadtrolls/Every%20OS%20sucks.mp3

It's "Every OS Sucks" by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie