[Live-demo] osgeo-live-5.0beta4-mini.iso : slightly too big ?

[Julien Michel]

Many thanks for your answer,

If I understand well, I can use the 4.5 and upgrade the software I need 
in user space. If I use dd, I suppose I'll be able to flash the other 24 
sticks with the exact copy of this state (including new software ?).

I just give a try to the 5.0 in virtualbox, of course there is the menu 
issue but appart from that, everything is working fine for me.

Regards,

Julien


Le 10/08/2011 11:07, Hamish a écrit :
> Julien wrote:
>> Well, I did not intend to define a limit, but if the target
>> is 4 GB USB sticks, and given the variability of the actual
>> size of the sticks claiming 4GB on the market, there is a
>> need for some security margin
> one thing to keep in mind with the USB installs--
>
> the base ISO is installed read-only on the stick in a compressed
> file system. any changes to the base system as-shipped exists as
> a binary diff in the left over user-space on the drive. So if
> you have an older stick and 'apt-get upgrade' it with apt telling
> you only a few kb needed, the old versions remain and you fill
> up your user space with the new ones.
>
> In practice, a 3.2gb USB install leaves about 500mb in free
> persistent read-write space for the user, but that fills up in
> time. for me I get about a month's use out of it before the thing
> fills up but I probably mess with the base system more than most
> users would.
>
> This is using the ubuntu Apps->System->Startup Disk Creator
> method to install from the live DVD to a USB stick, which also
> forces a FAT32 partition which needs a large amount of overhead
> (ie some hundreds of MB of wasted space) on the drive.
>
> other live USB methods like the new Debian single ISO for both
> CD/DVD&  usb stick (just 'dd' it to the usb device to install)
> may be less-wasteful, but I doubt we'll get too far away from
> these problems due to the difficulties of re-compression of the
> base system after changes.
>
>
> Hamish
>


-- 
Julien MICHEL
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