Re: [OT] Booting from USB
On Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:59:35 -0400
"John A. Sullivan III" <jsullivan@opensourcedevel.com> wrote:
> Hello, all. This is off-topic because I'm not asking how to create a
> Debian boot stick. There seem to be good how-to documents for that.
> However, we are thinking of creating a large number of Debian boot
> sticks and neither I nor may staff have any experience using them and
> we have a limited number of devices for testing.
>
> Our concern is the end user experience and how most PCs (probably
> widely varies based upon the age) react to them. Is using them
> typically as simple as plugging it in and turning on the computer or
> are we going to have a nightmare of support calls walking people
> through their BIOS settings to get their systems to boot from their
> Debian USB stick? Thanks - John
>
>
I have one computer with every boot device disabled in BIOS except the
primary hard drive, but if I leave a USB storage device connected to
it, even a camera, it will attempt to boot from it, and will *not* fall
back to the hard drive if it doesn't find a bootloader. It's a plug
pull and three-finger salute job.
But you probably already know if you have any computers like that. In
general these days, there is a boot menu hotkey, though of course you
only get a second to see which it is. If your machines are new enough
to boot from USB, they will probably mostly have this menu key and will
not need BIOS tweaks.
But some probably won't...
You may know that there is a boot program available for CD which will
then allow a boot from USB if the BIOS doesn't do it, but I don't
suppose you want to get into that kind of thing.
--
Joe
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