Ya know...

So, I haven't gotten back on the Manjaro thing, I know...  It is up and running, and seems to be doing fine.  But...well...  Hardware issues...  Let's just say, old Toshiba, hardware issues, etc.  I'll get around to it eventually.  Honest...

Tonight, however, is a lesson in not paying attention.  (Amazing that that would happen to me, eh?)

I have been trying to rehabilitate some of the older computers in the stable, including the Panasonic CF-29 clunker, and my uber-cool little HP TC1100 (on which I am typing right now).  This was slightly complicated by the CD/DVD drive on the Toughbook dying a slow death.  So, I moved on to experimenting with USB stick-based stuff.

The highly recessed, single USB port on the Toughbook makes it a pain to work with.  Some checking with a Targa USB extension showed promise, but I never got 'round to doing much with it.

On to the TC1100, which nicely has 2 fairly accessible ports on the side of the screen.  (Or the bottom of the unit, if you're using it as a tablet in portrait mode.)  (This is getting confusing.)  I did a quick check on trying to boot Precise Puppy 5.6 from my 8GB thumb drive.

No such luck.  I can't find the USB option listed in the bootup menu...  Odd...  Sort of disgusted, I pack the computer back away on my overloaded office chair and go on to other things.  (Reference the Toshiba bit above.)

Well, tonight. I somehow ended up on YouTube, watching a video of someone booting an older version of Ubuntu on a TC1100.  From a USB thumb drive.

Hmmm...

Out comes the TC1100, and into the System Setup I go...

And, yeah, I know there are folks out there chuckling right now, saying, "You found it hidden under the 'Hard Drive' option, didn't you?"  Well, yeah, I did.  Which irks me mightily.  But a simply click of the '+' key altered the boot precedence, and faster than you can say "Golly Gee, Willikers!", I was booting from the USB drive.  No problems!

OK, one problem:  Precise doesn't recognize any of the pointing devices on the TC1100.

But I can deal!  At least I know that I can boot from USB now, which makes me very happy.  (Yeah, I know...  Doesn't take much...)

This also opens up some new things for me.  I had some trouble on my Acer desktop, and the old Acer Aspire laptop, with finding a USB boot option.  Again, I never thought to look under "Hard Drive" in the setup. 

Hmmm...