Multiarchitecture Linux?

September 28, 2005 12:47 PM

Is there such a distribution of linux that is multiarchitectural and designed to run off of a flash drive?
posted by jackofsaxons to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Linux bootable USB key HOWTO
posted by randomstriker at 12:49 PM on September 28, 2005

Response by poster: By multiarchitectural I was referring to the UniversalBinary standard that Apple has implemented. In other words, can I install a distro of linux on my thumbdrive that will boot from both powerpc and intel?
posted by jackofsaxons at 12:53 PM on September 28, 2005

the UniversalBinary standard that Apple has implemented

Which is only for OS X, not Linux.
posted by xil at 12:56 PM on September 28, 2005

Response by poster: Let me simplify.


Can I put Linux on a thumbdrive that can boot off of any computer I stick it in?
posted by jackofsaxons at 12:57 PM on September 28, 2005

No. Next question?
posted by SpecialK at 1:00 PM on September 28, 2005

(Actually, you could put a bootloader on the drive that would let you select the kernel you use from a menu to be compatible with the architecture you're on ... but no, there is no globally compatible linux kernel.)
posted by SpecialK at 1:01 PM on September 28, 2005

Response by poster: That's what I was looking for, thanks...
posted by jackofsaxons at 1:01 PM on September 28, 2005

Actually, I don't think you'd be able to put a bootloader on the drive that will boot from a PowerPC or x86 machine. There are a few problems ranging from how the firmware/BIOS on each system recognizes the boot record, to the instruction set each system runs.

Of course, there is no UniversalBinary standard for Linux either, but that's only a problem if you can boot the system first.
posted by johannes at 1:24 PM on September 28, 2005

Before you get to the "Linux" part, you have a simpler problem: Can you put a bootloader on a disk, thumb drive or otherwise, that will execute on both PowerPC and x86? That's the first fundamental "no", and the rest of it is moot.
posted by mendel at 1:46 PM on September 28, 2005

Response by poster: Why not? I was under the impression you could boot off of a usb flash drive...
posted by jackofsaxons at 2:46 PM on September 28, 2005

Response by poster: nevermind my last comment, I didn't read your full answer... durrr.
posted by jackofsaxons at 2:47 PM on September 28, 2005

It might be possible to have both Windows and Mac versions of the Qemu emulator on your thumbdrive and have them emulate the same Linux environment. (You couldn't boot from the thumbdrive, though.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 4:57 PM on September 28, 2005