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heiowge · Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 12:42 am Post subject: iOdd - nice piece of kit

Just got this email from the nice guy who runs Chester LUG. Thought it might appeal to some people...

I've found a handy little device to save burning off endless ISOs of the latest distros. It's called the i-Odd (yes another 'i' device) and it works very simply. It's a USB HDD enclosure that you add a 2.5" SATA drive. It appears as a USB drive and you copy all of your ISOs into a _iso directory. Using the small menu on the device you select an ISO file and it then appears as a USB CDROM on your system. I got one a couple of weeks ago and it's been very handy already.

I got mine from Linitx - http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12726

Les

dandnsmith · Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 6:41 am Post subject:

Whether this is a good thing is very much a personal choice.

For me, it looks like a gadget which I don't need, at a higher price than I would pay - compare it with using CDRs, when it would buy an awful lot, or CDRW, when you don't get quite as many, but less waste. I can see a time saving - but this is often covered by thinking about or doing something else, so is largely illusory.
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heiowge · Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:58 am Post subject:

I think it's great. I don't have a laptop, but do have a netbook. No CD drive.

Saying that, I can see what you mean about overpriced for what it does. It'd be far better if it just had a USB female socket and SD card slot and no 2.5" drive enclosure. I can't see anyone needing 500 GB of ISO files stored. An 8Gb flash drive would do nicely. It'd be far easier than setting up a live disc on a flash drive every time. Especially if you were testing several. Just stick the ISOs on a common flash drive, plug in and off you go...

nelz · Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 1:39 pm Post subject:

At first sight, I don't see why this can't be done in software. an autobooted program on the USB device should be able to do all of this, at no cost beyond a USB flash drive.
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PCNetSpec · Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 1:57 pm Post subject:

Has anyone tried this?
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-multiple-iso-from-usb-multiboot-usb/
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ollie · Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:10 am Post subject:

PCNetSpec · Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:57 am Post subject:

Thanks ollie

That is a bit of a problem, but I noticed at the bottom of that page there are links to a Linux Based ISO Multiboot Tool:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot-create-a-multiboot-usb-from-linux/
Homepage (including 'known' supported OS list) here:
http://liveusb.info/dotclear/
(in French, but there is a Google translate button)

and a Manual Multiboot ISO method using Grub2 and Linux:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-multiple-iso-from-usb-via-grub2-using-linux/

I'm going to give these a whirl later, and will report back on how I get on with them

[EDIT]
The Linux Multisystem LiveUSB Tool worked fine with all the distro's I threw at it, I'm quite impressed.
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