(From http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2008/04/09/usb-ubuntu-804-installation-from-windows/)

This simple tutorial covers how to install, boot and then run Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) from a USB flash drive. Upon completion of this tutorial, Ubuntu 8.04 can be run from the portable flash device in the same fashion (but much faster) than it would from the Live CD. This specific tutorial does not cover a Ubuntu 8.04 persistence (persistent) feature option. Hence the user cannot save changes back to the USB device using this tutorial. Read more »

Before making your USB key bootable, be aware, that your USB Key will be deleted completely.  So a backup would come in handy.

Using DOS or Windows 98 you need to install drivers first, to access the USB key. For DOS there is http://www.pocketec.net/downloads.taf?f=pockey1DosDrivers. Read more »

http://www.ubuntu-unleashed.com/2008/04/howto-install-virtualbox-in-hardy-heron.html

When I last checked VirtualBox did not update their repositories for Hardy Heron. It’s not a problem, there is a hardy package without a repository. I have created a howto last year on howto setup VirtualBox completely and to seamlessly integrate windows xp into your ubuntu desktop here:
http://www.ubuntu-unleashed.com/2007/10/howto-integrate-windows-xp-desktop-into.html Read more »

In this new age of portable apps, and running software on USB sticks, it is possible to even run a virtual machine version of MS Windows XP on a USB stick. However, you’ll probably want to remove some of the “bloat” of your Windows XP installation, to reduce the file size of your O/S. A Windows XP installation can be reduced to ~600MB (~375MB if you’re willing to forego Internet Explorer).

To do this, there are 2 great apps available, nLite and XPLite. The main difference between the two is WHEN they are run.

NLite (http://www.nliteos.com/) is run before Windows XP is installed. It loads all of the installation files from installation media (CD), and lets you pick and choose which ones you want to include in your installation.

XPLite (http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html) is run after Windows XP is installed. It lets you remove unwanted items from your installation, which will reduce the “footprint” of your install. Note that the Free/Trial version only lets you remove a subset of the entire installation.

(From http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2008/06/02/usb-centos-5-live-install-via-windows/)

The following tutorial covers the process of installing CentOS 5 to a USB flash drive using a Windows host. Once CentOS is installed, it will operate just like the CentOS live cd. A persistence feature is not being utilized in this tutorial so you will NOT be able to save and restore your changes on subsequent boots. A little background info on CentOS; CentOS is an Enterprise class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public. This version of Linux is commonly used by many popular web hosting companies as a Linux server platform due to it’s extreme stability. We can use the Fedora LiveUSB Creator to install CentOS to a flash drive. Read more »