Unbutu from usb

I havethe bbasic AAO with 512Mb RAM and 8GB disk currently running original system which I find difficult to use, full of stuff I don;t need and short of applications I want. I would like to try booting up with the more user friendly Unbutu system from usb. If it works ok I could then install nit on hard drive?
Can anyone help - is it possible on this basic system, which version should I try and most importantly simple instructions on how to do it.
Thanking you in anticipation

 

It's certainly possible to use Ubuntu (and most other major distros) from a live USB flash drive.
I can give you simple instructions for Fedora (will work with with Mandriva but not with Ubuntu):
1. Download the latest live image file
2. Insert your USB stick
3. If your USB stick is automounted, unmount it
4. Open a terminal window
5. su dd if=<live-image-file> of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
6. Reboot (make sure to select the USB stick as the bootable device)
You won't get a persistent overlay file doing the above, but it's the best I can do off the top of my head without knowing precisely which programs you've got on your Linpus system. Ubuntu actually isn't much more difficult to install on a live USB stick, but (starting with Linpus) you'll need to use the unetbootin (which is not installed on your system by default).

 

Thanks for that but can you explain the bit about 'if your usb stick is automounted, unmount it'
Thanks

 

Via the desktop: right-click on it's icon and select unmount
Via a terminal window: sudo umount /dev/sdb

 

Thanks I'll try ithttp://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/po ... 7&t=18007#

 

will the wireless work with fedora or will i have to download drivers for it..?

 

wireless just works for me, and should for you too