Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Stepan Popov

Whilst we have several distributions with LiveCD versions to allow us to boot-up our computer and run/test Linux without installing it, not too many are familiar with LiveUSB (not all motherboards support USB-booting, only recent motherboards do). Whilst we have PenDriveLinux to thank for giving us a single source of knowledge on how to create USB versions of our installers, creating LiveUSB versions is still a bit cryptic to most. However, Ubuntu users have this nifty tool that makes it super easy to create a LiveUSB distribution. Here's what the tool does:

• Detects available USB sticks (using HAL) and asks user which one to use
• Partitions USB stick with 1 partition
• Sets partition bootable
• Writes MBR to USB stick
• Formats partition FAT16
• Installs bootloader (syslinux) to partition
• Writes bootloader configuration file
• Copies necessary files from running Live CD to USB stick
• Sets language and keyboard of USB Live system to match running Live CD

Check it out and tell us if it is indeed easy for you to make one.