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Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

extremetech.com

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Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#41

Post by sid0 »

Kwpolska wrote: post #14
hackermom wrote: post #4

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this appears to be something that mostly solves a problem related to old BIOSes, no? Because I can "burn" .dmg and .iso etc. to SD cards or USB memory sticks and boot them just fine from EFI on my MacBook, as if they were optical discs or external hard drives. I know this is possible with most modern BIOSes, too, so apart from the actual hardware identification of the device, cleve…

No. This is useful for stupid OS-es that don't like being on a USB stick.

The problem is I can't think of any. Windows, Linux and Mac OS X all support installation from a USB stick.

Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#43

Post by overshard »

rektide wrote: post #25

JUST FUCKING STOP IT. Don't use an ISO in the first place. Just make a USB drive with partitions and copy the damned data onto the USB drive. If you want a bootable partition, use syslinux, as detailed here: http://thefowle.livejournal.com/470622.html

I don't think you understand the point of this. It will allow you to create read only USB drives. This means that people who work on computers all the time now don't have to haul a case of CDs around because viruses could possibly jump onto their read-write thumb drive. They can now setup a thumbdrive with all their tools and it's "read only".

Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#44

Post by blinkingled »

I am doubtful if this is usable with all the firmware compatibility issues it will have to tackle. My Mac's firmware for example refuses to boot anything other than OS X from a regular external USB DVD drive. I had to play tricks with Parallels and Bootcamp to get my Windows installation files on my 2nd HDD to start the installation.

Plus there are also software issues - Windows XP used to send reset to the USB controller on boot for example that would need to be worked around somehow in the Isostick's firmware.

More than anything most modern OSes and hardware setups boot just fine using standard USB stick based installers - Win 7, OS X and various Linux distros.

Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#45

Post by [deleted] »

Kwpolska wrote: post #14
hackermom wrote: post #4

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this appears to be something that mostly solves a problem related to old BIOSes, no? Because I can "burn" .dmg and .iso etc. to SD cards or USB memory sticks and boot them just fine from EFI on my MacBook, as if they were optical discs or external hard drives. I know this is possible with most modern BIOSes, too, so apart from the actual hardware identification of the device, cleve…

No. This is useful for stupid OS-es that don't like being on a USB stick.

[deleted]

Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#46

Post by lukeschlather »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #38

Why? Put Grub2 on a jump drive. It can easily present a list of ISO files to boot into as well. I mean, a drag and drop solution or a script to rebuild the grub menu would be nice, but not worth $100. Or am I missing something technical here? I guess I don't understand why you need to emulate a DVD drive except for legacy operating systems. When I burn ISOs or images to a jump drive, they show up as DVD media in OS X…

Hypothetically, a device that allowed you to throw a bunch of isos on a flash drive, and automatically threw up a grub-like chooser would be really nice. Yes, I can write a disk to a USB stick, but it starts to be a little clunky since you need a partition for each iso.

Ideally I want all of my install disks on one drive, since I never know if I need Ubuntu, Windows 7, Windows XP, 64 bit, 32 bit, etc. I'm tired of juggling physical media and isos.

Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#47

Post by eagan »

hackermom wrote: post #4

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this appears to be something that mostly solves a problem related to old BIOSes, no? Because I can "burn" .dmg and .iso etc. to SD cards or USB memory sticks and boot them just fine from EFI on my MacBook, as if they were optical discs or external hard drives. I know this is possible with most modern BIOSes, too, so apart from the actual hardware identification of the device, cleve…

The isostick is also useful for some newer machines. Macs have a lot less problem booting images, as you mention. I've found that even newer netbooks don't like booting from USB flash sticks, but will happily boot from optical drives (and thus, isostick).

Some utilities will only boot from optical drives as well, though this is less of an issue with newer utilities and OSes. Windows XP is a good example, which is still in surprisingly high use today.

The read-only switch should also be handy :)

Best Regards - Eric Agan, Elegant Invention

Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#48

Post by eagan »

jeremyarussell wrote: post #11

I think the big difference here is that we get the potential to put multiple disks on a single usb device. From the technicians perspective I'd like to rid myself of the big stack of cd's i have that i use to install windows, or run diagnostics, or any of those things. I remember thinking to myself last year, man if only someone made this. And low and behold here it is. I may have already talked my boss, (he's the ow…

That's what we're going for! Thanks for the support! Hope your boss does the pledge, the more the merrier!

After working as a tech for several years, I know I always wanted something like this. It's great to finally build it and help everybody out!

Best Regards - Eric Agan, Elegant Invention

Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#49

Post by eagan »

blinkingled wrote: post #44

I am doubtful if this is usable with all the firmware compatibility issues it will have to tackle. My Mac's firmware for example refuses to boot anything other than OS X from a regular external USB DVD drive. I had to play tricks with Parallels and Bootcamp to get my Windows installation files on my 2nd HDD to start the installation. Plus there are also software issues - Windows XP used to send reset to the USB contr…

We're really pushing for Mac compatibility. Mac firmware is very picky, for sure, it seems to have very strict requirements for SCSI command support on optical drives.

Resetting the USB controller and such are no problem for isostick, it will come right back up in the same state it was left in.

Excellent point that modern OSes don't need the optical drive functionality. I still use my isostick to carry around lots of OSes and switch between them with ease, though.

Best Regards - Eric Agan, Elegant Invention

Re: Isostick: the USB memory stick that thinks it’s an optical drive

#50

Post by rektide »

overshard wrote: post #43
rektide wrote: post #25

JUST FUCKING STOP IT. Don't use an ISO in the first place. Just make a USB drive with partitions and copy the damned data onto the USB drive. If you want a bootable partition, use syslinux, as detailed here: http://thefowle.livejournal.com/470622.html

I don't think you understand the point of this. It will allow you to create read only USB drives. This means that people who work on computers all the time now don't have to haul a case of CDs around because viruses could possibly jump onto their read-write thumb drive. They can now setup a thumbdrive with all their tools and it's "read only".

$ cat /etc/fstab

/ /dev/sda2 ext4 ro 1 1

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