Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa (a Madagascar wild cat) on USB and dual boot install Dell XPS 13 Windows 10

Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa (a Madagascar wild cat) on USB

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossa_(animal)

The fossa is a cat-like, carnivorous mammal endemic to Madagascar. It is a member of the Eupleridae, a family of carnivorans closely related to the mongoose family Herpestidae. Wikipedia

I have installed linux from CD(DVD?) last few times. 

USB needed this time . . . 

Create a BASIC linux bootable USB installer: 

 download Ubunto 20.04 .iso image. 

    https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/

    Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS (Focal Fossa)

 Use ubuntu "startup disk creator" utility to write it to USB key.

Disadvantage: image not writable, extra space on USB key cannot be written to.

 (iso9660 NOT WRITEABLE):

https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu#1-overview

Create a linux bootable USB with writable partition: <- much better

 download Ubunto 20.04 .iso image. 

 Install mkusb and mkusb-plug tools. (sudo apt add repository for mkusb and apt-get install). 

 Run mkusb-plug, selecting "live drive with usbdata partition" and select the .iso file and USB device. 

See detail here on different methods to create bootable linux USB keys:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1181854/how-is-it-easier-to-make-a-persistent-live-drive-with-ubuntu-19-10

You now have Ubuntu on a USB stick, bootable and ready to go.

With a bootable Ubuntu USB stick, you can:

Install or upgrade Ubuntu

Test out the Ubuntu desktop experience without touching your PC configuration

Boot into Ubuntu on a borrowed machine or from an internet cafe

Use tools installed by default on the USB stick to repair or fix a broken configuration

Dual boot install Dell XPS 13 Windows 10. Install for kate's laptop.

"Install ubuntu alongside Windows" == Installing dual boot Ubuntu and Windows:

Backup your stuff, read many docs. 

CAVEAT! BEWARE! Installs like this could go wrong, your windows stuff would still be there. Probably. Recovering from a problem could be quite tricky. If you have pretty common computer/hardware then most likely all will be easy, fine no problem.

Disable windows Fast Boot (optional).

Disable Secure Boot (windows UEFI ~= bios settings)

Create free disk space for linux install,

  open windows "create and format hard disk partitions" and shrink disk. 

These pages have decent detailed instructions:

https://itsfoss.com/install-ubuntu-1404-dual-boot-mode-windows-8-81-uefi/

https://hackernoon.com/installing-ubuntu-18-04-along-with-windows-10-dual-boot-installation-for-deep-learning-f4cd91b58557

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-ubuntu-20-04-alongside-windows-10-dual-boot

Wow. The grub menu test on the Dell XPS 13 is teeeeny tiny.

The install of linux went easy, exactly as with instructions.

Disable secure boot/fast boot was already done. 

Getting  UEFI menus to boot into bios took some fiddling.

Writeable usb boot:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1181854/how-is-it-easier-to-make-a-persistent-live-drive-with-ubuntu-19-10

mkusb-minp - small stand-alone shellscript that can use this new feature in Ubuntu 19.10. It works with Debian 10 too.

mkusb-plug - small set of shellscripts that can use this new feature in Ubuntu 19.10. It works with Debian 10 too. I think you will find things easier with this new and very safe tool with a graphical user interface.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/565250/cannot-mount-live-usb-drive-as-read-write

$ sudo mkusb-plug 

source file: '/home/xxxx/Downloads/ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso'

--{vfat|exfat|ntfs}

*** usbfs ***

spawn bash -c xorriso-dd-target -plug_test -trust_lsblk_udev  | tee /tmp/tmp.WoL3W0SOhv

Caused by option -plug_test: Attempt to find the desired device

by watching it appear after being plugged in.

Step 1:

Please make sure that the desired target device is plugged _out_ now.

If it is currently plugged in, make sure to unmount all its fileystems

and then unplug it.

Press the Enter key when ready.

 

Found and noted as _not_ desired:  sda nvme0n1  

Step 2:

Please plug in the desired target device and then press the Enter key.

 

Waiting up to 10 seconds for a new device to be listed .... found: sdc

Now waiting 5 seconds to let it settle .........

Found and noted as desired device:  sdc

sdc : YES : usb+ has_iso9660+ has_vfat+ : FLASH Drive_SM_USB20 

Repeating test of target device with elevated permissions:

target device: /dev/sdc

 sdc : YES : usb+ has_iso9660+ has_vfat+ : FLASH Drive_SM_USB20  

         task: '--ntfs'

  source file: '/home/james/Downloads/ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso'

target device:  /dev/sdc

MODEL          NAME FSTYPE  LABEL                     SIZE

Drive_SM_USB20 sdc  iso9660 Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64  7.6G

               sdc1 iso9660 Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64  2.6G

               sdc2 vfat    Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64  3.9M

          ***** datp: live with ntfs data partition ***** 

Trying to unmount partitions if mounted on the target device

umount: /dev/sdc: not mounted.

umount: /dev/sdc2: not mounted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Please wait until the process has finished and 'Done' is written 

..... Flash modified iso file to target ........................................

2785017856=file size

2779774976 bytes (2.8 GB, 2.6 GiB) copied, 466 s, 6.0 MB/s 

2656+0 records in

2656+0 records out

2785017856 bytes (2.8 GB, 2.6 GiB) copied, 466.784 s, 6.0 MB/s

----- cleanup after dd ------------------------------------------

18681 pts/4    00:00:00 mkusb-sedd

Warning: The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but Linux says it is 512 bytes.

/dev/sdc2 after flashing

..... Create partition .........................................................

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.34).

Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.

Be careful before using the write command.

Command (m for help): Partition type

   p   primary (2 primary, 0 extended, 2 free)

   e   extended (container for logical partitions)

Select (default p): Partition number (3,4, default 3): First sector (5439488-15814655, default 5439488): Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (5439488-15814655, default 15814655): 

Created a new partition 3 of type 'Linux' and of size 5 GiB.

Command (m for help): The partition table has been altered.

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

Re-reading the partition table failed.: Device or resource busy

The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8).

prober: /dev/sdc2 for persistence

prober: /dev/sdc2 for persistence

prober: /dev/sdc3 for persistence

..... Overwrite first mibibyte of partition ....................................

umount: /dev/sdc: not mounted.

umount: /dev/sdc1: not mounted.

umount: /dev/sdc2: not mounted.

umount: /dev/sdc3: not mounted.

1024+0 records in

1024+0 records out

1048576 bytes (1.0 MB, 1.0 MiB) copied, 0.219854 s, 4.8 MB/s

..... Create file system in usbdata partition  .................................

Cluster size has been automatically set to 4096 bytes.

Creating NTFS volume structures.

mkntfs completed successfully. Have a nice day.

Finally, please wait for a few more seconds ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NAME MODEL          FSTYPE  LABEL                    MOUNTPOINT  SIZE NAME

sdc  Drive_SM_USB20 iso9660 Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64             7.6G sdc

sdc1                iso9660 Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64             2.6G sdc1

sdc2                vfat    Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64             3.9M sdc2

sdc3                ntfs    usbdata                                5G sdc3

 Done :-)