Some people might wonder whether installing this Linux derivate really is easy to do, and we are pleased to report that it is. We picked an ordinary computer system in our office, plugged the H2 device into an empty USB 2.0 port, and inserted the mini DVD into the drive to boot from it. After starting the Ubuntu installation procedure, you merely have to confirm some questions about three times, and the whole process was done in six minutes. Compared to how long it takes to install Windows XP, this really is a piece of cake. The downside is that you don't really have any choices during the setup procedure, and this operating system mini DVD will automatically install onto the USB drive (which was our intention). Ubuntu partitions the 3 GB drive in a 2:1 ratio (we found a 900 MB data partition on the H2).
Booting Ubuntu H2
Once Linux is ready to go, you need to make the computer boot from the H2 Micro USB Drive. Usually computers will either boot from a CD/DVD, a floppy disc or the system hard drive. However, as we want to use the Ubuntu H2 as a portable operating system, we need to get the system to boot from USB.
Go into the motherboard BIOS by pressing either F2 or DEL right after starting the system. Some BIOS versions come with a dedicated boot menu, others will host these options on the "Advanced Options" page. Look for the item that allows changing the boot device and boot device order, and either select USB or, in our case, select the device called "Cornice Inc. Storage". After a reboot, the computer should now start from the H2 USB device.
Ubuntu placed a direct desktop link to access the 907 MB data partition on the H2 Micro USB Drive, which we found useful. Since this storage area was formatted with FAT32, you should be able to access it virtually from every possible host system.
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Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.
