On the opensuse-factory list this exchange has happened several times:
Q: Installation from LiveDVD is broken. Bug?
A: LiveCD's are not installation sources.
Clearly, something has changed in the Land of Linux Installers. Enough mind-share has shifted to "I install my linux with my LiveDVD" that it has become a very common question on the factory list when it doesn't work. When I was a kid, we installed our linux from an Install CD. LiveCD's were for things like Knoppix, used for ass-saving or quick access to Linux tools that don't exist on Windows. I seem to remember a way to install Knoppix to a hard-drive, but I never did so.
When did this change? Is this something Ubuntu is doing?
Q: Installation from LiveDVD is broken. Bug?
A: LiveCD's are not installation sources.
Clearly, something has changed in the Land of Linux Installers. Enough mind-share has shifted to "I install my linux with my LiveDVD" that it has become a very common question on the factory list when it doesn't work. When I was a kid, we installed our linux from an Install CD. LiveCD's were for things like Knoppix, used for ass-saving or quick access to Linux tools that don't exist on Windows. I seem to remember a way to install Knoppix to a hard-drive, but I never did so.
When did this change? Is this something Ubuntu is doing?
I clealry not have such a good knowledge than yours about Linux... LiveCD's are becoming more and more often the way people use to install a distro. I wonder if it could be a consequence of the great improvements around direct copies of the live filesystem...Whatever... DVD's (not live dvd's, i can't use them ^_^), particularly for opensuse, are the safest way to install openSUSE. And the finest, because people can really choose what they install, with a real choice on the media...I think that Ubuntu really worked in that way three or four years ago. I remember that livecd's were passing around in my University, and that people used it to install their system... Maybe it helped to improve the reliability of such isntallations. But it's not perfect... i often have problems with such medias...Finally... thanks for your posts, which are really interesting :)
Adding something to my reply, sorry ^_^I've just found the topic you mentioned in the factory mailing list. And what I understand is that a live cd cannot be used as a repository. The expression "installation source" is equivocal ^_^
OpenSolaris takes this approach as well -- the LiveCD is the install media.
> When did this change? Is this something Ubuntu is doing?Ubuntu has done this for quite a while, and it works well enough that I don't know of anyone using the desktop edition who was unable to use their normal installation method from the live CD.The server version of Ubuntu has a normal install CD and no live portion to it, mind.