Member Avatar for stvrich
stvrich 0 Junior Poster

I am working so many things at the same time right now I am just hoping that someone has actually done... what I am about to ask. My old PIII IBM r30 thinkpad is a --good ---solid 'little' machine. comes with cd drive (swap w/floppy) 256 meg of ram, and 10gig hard drive. It can run xp. I do use it with 98/95/d0s, even Novell... or Linux. It has two built in usb slots, one in back and one on front left. Lately I use it as a workstation / web access, or for writing articles/submitting info or website update, etc. I do tend to use a usb optical mouse (much preferred over the built in 'nub mouse', between the g-h-and-b keys).

I, myself, have never made a bootable memstick yet, for any machine.

has anyone MADE something like an XP / bootable USB memstick for this machine, and it works well??? I haven't spent ANY time working with 'this' project yet, and simply wish to give myself max flexibility with this machine as quick as possible. suggestitions I would welcome would be along lines of...

memsticks: How SMALL a usable boot version of xp? ie 4gig stick?
-------------- Linux? Ubuntu 'stick booting? Ubunto --ON-- this r30?
-------------- Linux? RedHat? RH memstick?
-------------- Linux? Suse? etc

booting using differing hardware combo's of memstick: 256meg, 1gig, 4gig- Or larger, memsticks, WITH floppy, or cd available. ..or not... (or NO memstick and just cd?) (or, w/USB installed auxilliary hard drive, dvd?) etc..............

No this is not a clearcut question. This is a hardware/hacker forum style question, I seek good leads and suggestions to take me down 1 or 3, usable paths w/this machine. I am mostly interested in making (at least) a memstick (xp?) for this machine, w/a small partition it can use... (like IF the machine is mostly Linux) OR w/xp purely ON the memstick...(say 10gig or larger)... OR, a combo of system on a cd, and the memstick... etc. What works(ed) best for YOU? etc.

I'm sure the possibilities are endless. But I have spent no time on this at all and simply am looking / hoping someone has direct experience with the R30 thinkpad, and KNOWS intimately, the related issues of this machine, (it's behaviors/requirements) and its hardware. ...And what (software) works best, simplest, and may have suggestions for me to avoid dead-ends. Thank You in advance. For your suggestions. Speak freely of your experience (if you have it) just describe how YOU have hardware hacked and setup/configured your r30 for ease and flexibility of reconfig, and or multi-use. Mucho Gracias

Edited by stvrich because: trying to change tags
  • 1 Contributor
  • 0 Replies
  • 100 Views

Dani AI

Generated

For : a practical, low-effort path and a couple of alternatives.

A fast, reliable starting point is a tiny Linux live USB rather than trying to run full XP from stick. Puppy, antiX or Tiny Core boot quickly, require very little RAM, and support persistent saves so the stick behaves like a small, portable workstation. Puppy Linux is a good first try: Puppy Linux.

How to build/test (short workflow):

  1. Download a small distro ISO.
  2. Write it to a USB stick with a utility such as Rufus or create a multi-ISO stick with Ventoy. For simple live-plus-persistence, Rufus or UNetbootin will do.
  3. Set the machine to boot USB (or use the one-time boot key). If the BIOS will not boot USB, burn Plop Boot Manager to CD and chainload the stick. Test and iterate — pick the USB port that works best and try another stick if it fails.

If XP specifically is required: running a full Windows XP from USB is possible but awkward and brittle. A safer option is a lightweight WinPE/BartPE environment for repair and tools, or install XP to the internal disk and use the stick for recovery/media. Microsoft WinPE documentation is a good reference: WinPE intro. Keep in mind driver, licensing and speed limits (USB performance on older laptops can be slow).

Quick tips: use at least a 4GB stick for small Linux images and 8GB+ when you want room for files or a Windows environment; format for the use case (FAT32 for cross-compatibility, NTFS for Windows installs); always back up internal data before repartitioning. These steps give a working, flexible setup without diving into complex XP-on-USB hacks.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.