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YUMI from PenDriveLinux.com is a Windows and Linux
utility program which enables a USB flash drive to easily boot into multiple Linux and other utility software collections.
In order to simplify the process (and save a lot of time), we will only use YUMI to create the basic YUMI boot/menu structure
(SYSLINUX/GRUB) for multibooting. This requires starting YUMI, selecting the correct USB drive letter, clicking on the FORMAT box,
and selecting a "fake" dummy ISO file (empty.iso) needed to create that basic structure. We then uncompress KUDOS32.exe to add
all "real" content to your newly created USB YUMI Multiboot flash drive. KUDOS32.exe contains several of the very best small, fast
and elegant 2014 32-bit Linux distributions plus the most useful utility and rescue software.
The Gooplusplus Multiboot 2014 "KUDOS" 32-bit collection fits on a 4GB or larger USB flash drive. To add USB persistence
file(s) for saving user settings and data, an 8GB or 16GB USB stick is required. Although all of these distros are 32-bit,
they also run fine on 64-bit computers. Unlike Windows and some other Linux distros, the "Kudos" collection is very resource
efficient. The Kudos Linux distros have been selected for being fast and lightweight. Except for XBMC, the 32-bit versions will
likely run just as fast or faster than 64-bit distros for most people on most 32 and 64 bit computers. By default, a small
expandable 64MB "persistence" file has been added to the USB-centered Porteus Linux distro.
You can also add persistence files to Elementary and/or Zorin.
We created a companion 4GB Gooplusplus Multiboot 2014 "KUDOS"
64-bit collection. If wanted, add these other 64-bit distros to your USB flash drive by simply running
KUDOS64.exe and selecting your USB drive's home directory (example: H:\ ). Then, go to your USB drive directory and run
the set-64bit-active.bat command. KUDOS64.exe will safely merge with existing KUDOS32 files to create a
combined 8GB KUDOS 32+64 bit USB "jumbo" collection. Visit our guide to Goo++ USB multiboot collections.
For safety, before starting installation, we recommend that you eject and remove all other USB hard drives and USB flash drives.
You should have arrived at this web document from a selection on the click-START.cmd or
click-START-WinXP menu.
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(For those with SanDisk USB drives, run SANDISKFIX above first).
To begin, start YUMI, select USB drive letter, click FORMAT box. Next, cursor down to bottom of distro
list to Try Unlisted ISO (Grub), click BROWSE button and select "empty.iso". Next, click YUMI's CREATE
button. You will not install any other distros at this time so you can exit YUMI and return to the
click-START.cmd menu.
Next, we recommend (option) that you change the USB flash drive's MBR type to UltraISO. This will help ensure that the USB
flash drive is bootable on a wider variety of PC's and notebooks. The (BootICE) usbMBR utility does not affect files on
your USB drive.
| Download: | (1) KAT torrent search ( usb+multiboot+gooplusplus ) | (2) c|net or softpedia: USB MULTIBOOT (Kudos 32-bit) |
After SanDiskFIX (optional), YUMI "empty.ISO" and usbMBR actions, run KUDOS32.exe to transfer Linux and utility software to USB.
This collection contains only 32-bit Linux versions for greater compatibility on both 32-bit and 64-bit computers. We also created a companion 4GB Gooplusplus Multiboot 2014 "KUDOS" 64-bit collection. Since you can mix and match 32-bit and 64-bit distros on most modern PCs, you can add the KUDOS64 collection to your KUDOS32 collection by running KUDOS64.exe.
Based on the Openbox flavor of Ubuntu, Zorin OS 9 Lite is the most mature and balanced of these Linux distributions. Zorin is our top Linux pick for Windows users trying Linux for the first time. Elementary Linux, also based on Ubuntu, borrows a lot of style and design from Apple MacIntosh OS/X. Although Elementary 0.3 BETA does not come preinstalled with as much software as other distros, you can easily add more. Semplice 6 is a well-designed Italian LXDE Linux distro based on Debian "sid".
Designed-for-USB distro Porteus KDE is a surprisingly speedy Slackware-based distro with an expandable 64MB USB persistence file. Porteus can also be installed (with a bit more effort) to hard disk. Our favorite Puppy Linux distro, LxPup Tahr, is fast and small like Porteus. LxPup Tahr 14.09 has greater compatibility with newer Ubuntu packages than other Puppy distros. The music studio Linux distro Studio 4 is also intended to be run from USB while using one or more hard disk partitions for storage. The Lucid Puppy based Studio 4, unlike other distros, uses a Linux "realtime" kernel. OpenElec XBMC is a media center distro described below.
Our custom rescue and utility Hiren's Boot CD "mini" contains a compressed micro version of WinXP plus many dozens of utility programs for Windows, DOS and Linux. We also added extra software and many unix commands. Even so, overall size was reduced to one third of the original Hiren's Boot CD by removing outdated and redundant antivirus and partition software and carefully selecting and removing utility programs that were less effective or problem prone. Partition Wizard "minitool" was removed from KUDOS32.exe to keep archive size under 4GB. However, all of our Linux distros also include Gparted or KDE partition manager.
--- FINAL INSTALLATION NOTES ---
(1) For alternative Install from Linux without the Windows click-START.cmd script:
• Download Debian or Ubuntu version of YUMI.
• Run YUMI to format and create YUMI USB boot menu structure by installing the included fake "empty.iso"
• Rename KUDOS-32.exe to KUDOS-32.7z and extract distros and files to your USB drive.
(2) You can use 4GB, 8GB or larger USB flash drives. For larger USB flash drives, leave at least 1GB available for one (optional) Ubuntu-standard \casper-rw persistence file. You can create this file (256MB, 500MB, 1GB, or more) with the included PDL-RW tool for one Ubuntu-based distro, e.g., Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Zorin, Netrunner, Elementary, Peppermint, Mint KDE, Pinguy, Joli OS, Bodhi, etc. Edit one distro isolinux.cfg or txt.cfg file to enable persistence, replacing "noprompt" with the word "persistent".
(3) You can add and remove new Linux and utility distros with the YUMI program. DO NOT format your USB flash drive a second time (removing all of your USB Linux setup). You will be limited to distros from YUMI's list (or possibly rename a closely related distro). It is best to download and use the latest YUMI version in order to install newer Linux distros and utility software.
(4) Once you have installed your YUMI distros, you can reboot your PC. On most PCs, you can keep pressing the F12 key until you get a boot menu. Select your USB drive and then your custom YUMI menu should start up quickly.
(5) Why use YUMI instead of other Linux-based multiboot software? YUMI is well known and it works fairly predictably. We have briefly tried a few other multiboot systems but they seemed more difficult and less predictable. We also considered that there are many more Windows users than Linux users. To encourage Windows users to try Linux, we especialy tried to make this easier for them. More advanced Linux users should be able to access a Windows PC to create their own USB multiboot.
Send comments, suggestions, or questions to:
gooplusplus.248@gmail.com -- Bob Carroll, Las Vegas
OpenELEC's XBMC Media Center distro is unlike other Linux distributions in this collection. It is basically a "single program" distro. So, a little more detail about the XBMC program is warranted. OpenELEC has done a remarkable job incorporating XBMC in a truly tiny, efficient, and optimized Linux distribution. By default, we chose to include the "optimized for Intel GMA" graphics version of OpenELEC since this version should be compatible with PCs built with Intel CPUs for the past 10 years.
KUDOS-32 does not contain OpenElec's newer 2014 4.xx series XBMC distros. Unfortunately, OpenElec chose to make newer versions essentially incompatible with USB multibooting by requiring that USB "persistence" be from a separate EXT4 partition rather than from a more convenient and practical EXT4 file.
For PC's with AMD CPUs or those with non-Intel graphics chips, you can download two substitute files which best match your PC's graphics chip: (1) Nvidia ION (2) AMD Fusion (3) Generic 32-bit (4) Generic 64-bit. After extracting the appropriate OpenElec download archive to your hard disk, copy target\SYSTEM and target\KERNEL to your USB flash drive. Then move the KERNEL file to your USB YUMI drive's multiboot\openelec folder. You can find these alternate files at OpenElec XBMC Legacy builds.
We have disabled the "install to hard disk" function in the OpenELEC startup menu. This is based on a safety concern that inexperienced users may damage their existing PC Windows or Linux system. OpenELEC XBMC is typically installed as a standalone system HTPC. As part of a multiboot system, hard disk installation is rarely needed because an XBMC software "program" is readily available for Linux, Windows and Mac computers.
When OpenELEC XBMC starts for the first time, it will attempt to create a new 512MB \EXT4-32 SAVE file in your USB flash drive's main (root) directory. This will work on 8GB or larger USB flash drives but will fail on a 4GB USB flash drive (there is not enough space left). Depending on your PC, this SAVE file creation may be slow but the next time bootup will be much faster. Also on the first run, you will be prompted for setup information, your wifi account info and passphrase, etc. If you make a mistake or if there is a problem with this network information, you can make correction later at the System > OpenELEC menu selection.
After initial setup is finished you will see the XBMC horizontal bar menu. If you need to make changes to your network or wifi information, cursor over to SYSTEM > OpenELEC and click. Next, System > Open Connections and click. Next, Wireless Network. Enter your wifi SSID and select security type (usually WPA or WPA2). Next, enter your PASSPHRASE and click DONE. Once wifi is set up, right click on an empty area on the XBMC Desktop.
Next, set your time zone. Cursor to the SYSTEM > SETTINGS. Next click Appearance > International. Next, change Timezone Country by clicking up/down arrows to find your country (sorry, this can be a tedious process). Next, click the Timezone up/down arrows to find a city in your timezone.
Right-Click (R/C) is a common part of navigating XBMC. Typically R/C means "go back" or "escape" and sometimes R/C shows more menu choices. Volume control shortcut keys are + or = to increase or decrease volume. Your spacebar toggles pause/play.
Next, we need to select our preferred Video, Audio, and Program "Addons". This is a major part of XBMC. You get "Addons" from "XBMC repositories" including the OpenELEC repository and other optional 3rd party repositories. Ideally the XBMC and OpenELEC repositories are active immediately after set up. In practice, this is rarely true and you must first "Force Refresh".
Addons: SYSTEM > SETTINGS > Addons > Get Addons. Now, click OpenElec Addons, R/C and select Force Refresh. Wait 30 seconds or so before the next step. Next, XBMC.org Addons, R/C and select Force Refresh. Again wait 30 seconds before proceeding. Your default repositories should now be available.
Next, we will choose an Addon for testing: VIDEOS > Addons > Get more. Click Al Jazeera and Install. Wait a until Al Jazeera shows enabled. Next click Al Jazeera > Watch Live. If you see video playing, things seem to be working. Type x to stop the video and then click the HOME icon.
Now, let's add some 3rd party Addons from downloaded ZIP files you can find on the internet. One by one, you may want to install
these ZIP file Addons.
SYSTEM > SETTINGS > ADDONS > Install from ZIP file. We recommend a few for installation:
As with any large and complex program, getting the most out of XBMC Media Center will require some trial-and-error and experimentation, reviewing documentation, and participating on XBMC and OpenElec forums. XBMC allows you to view a huge number of streaming videos located all over the planet as well as from your local network and PC.
XBMC forums --- OpenELEC forums --- XBMC Wiki --- XBMC Settings --- OpenELEC Wiki --- OpenELEC Configuration