How to make a Live USB of Windows/Linux

After choosing an OS(Windows/Linux) the next challenge is to install it on your system without affecting any other system files/data already present in your system. It is a problem for Windows as it does not provide making a bootable live CD/USB with the feature to run from the bootable device without having to install (Live). This feature is in Linux OS so you can try the system without making any changes to you computers HDD. 

This a small procedure I have used to install Linux in different machines.

• Download the LiveISO file: Download the .iso file of the Linux system to be installed.
• Create a live USB/CD: Many Softwares are used to make Live CD/USB. For windows use unetbootin(cross-platform), universal usb creator. Linux automatically has tools such as "startup disk creator", "usb image writter", etc.. Select the particular USB/CD to be used (The USB/CD storage size should be greater than the iso file size. Also it is recommended to use USB flash drives as they can be used as many times as needed and they can be rewritten easily.) 

Set Brightness permanently in Ubuntu

Sometimes the brightness controls in Ubuntu do not work properly. Sometimes Ubuntu reverts to its default maximum value every time it reboots. I have used xbacklight but no change was visible. There is a simple fix to the problem using the following steps

• Locate the back light directory:  Simply type the command
  
   
  cd /sys/class/backlight/
   
  Next use ls command to list out all the graphics e.g. acpi_video0, radeon_bl0 etc..
  
• Locate the brightness file: Enter  the directory, locate the "max_brightness" file and display its content using
  
  
  cat max_brightness
  
  

  This will display the maximum value max_val of brightness. The "brightness" file controls the screen brightness. Choose the value X you would like to set the brightness where X can be an integer between 0 to max_val. A small tip is to use a fraction of the max_val say 40% to help decide value of X.

  (You may have to do the same procedure on as many folders as there are in /sys/class/backlight/ i.e. in my case I had both acpi_video0 & radeon_bl0 so I had to do it twice for it to work)
•  Set rc.local: Now that X is chosen simply edit "/etc/rc.local" file using the command
  
  sudo gedit /etc/rc.local
  
  

  This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel. Before "exit 0" command type the following:

  
  

  echo X > /sys/class/backlight/<graphic_folder>/brightness

   

  (In my case, 

   echo 6 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 

   echo 51 > /sys/class/backlight/radeon_bl0/brightness 

   exit 0

  )
• Reboot: Reboot your system and you will see that the settings would have taken effect