I have not used MultiSystem, but that one I have seen recommended as well as several others.
MultiBootUSB - Install and boot multiple Linux from Pendrive / Flash drive / USB disk w/grub2
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallAndBootMultipleLinuxFromPendriveFlashDriveUSBDisk
See yumi for multi-boot versions
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/
But to understand it better you can just install grub2 to the flash drive, create your own grub.cfg with boot stanzas and copy ISO into flash drive. Very similar to a hard drive install like this link.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot
To install grub2 into a flash drive, default /media now varies depending on version. New version add the user to the path. Also assumes sdb as flash drive, confirm that is correct if not sure.
Label partition - if label is grub2 & mount:
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/grub2 /dev/sdb
Newer versions automount with $USER name also, this one labeled MC4GB, with user fred
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/fred/MC4GB /dev/sdb
In creating grub.cfg, the boot drive is always hd0, so if directly booting from flash drive setting will be hd0,Y where Y is partition usually 1.
loopback loop (hd0,1)$isofile
Otherwise examples are like these:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot/Examples
First entry in my grub.cfg in MC4GB
set default=0
set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
set gfxpayload=800x600
menuentry "Ubuntu 13.04" {
set isofile="/boot/iso/ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso"
loopback loop (hd0,1)$isofile
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz.efi boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile nomodeset
initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry " " {
set root=
}
Note I added nomodeset to all entries as I have nVidia.
Also new versions now use vmlinuz.efi for both BIOS & UEFI boot. Older versions were just vmlinuz.
Other distributions may need different boot parameters. Find example in above example thread or mount and check what ISO has for its boot parameters.
Best Answer
Download Ubuntu Desktop
Open the Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities/ or query Terminal in Spotlight).
Convert the .iso file to .img using the convert option of
hdiutil
(e.g.,hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o ~/path/to/target.img ~/path/to/ubuntu.iso
)Note: OS X tends to put the .dmg ending on the output file automatically.
Run diskutil list to get the current list of devices.
Insert your flash media.
Run diskutil list again and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. /dev/disk2).
Run
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
(replace N with the disk number from the last command; in the previous example, N would be 2).Execute
sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.img of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m
(replace /path/to/downloaded.img with the path where the image file is located; for example, ./ubuntu.imgor ./ubuntu.dmg).Using /dev/rdisk instead of /dev/disk may be faster If you see the error
dd: Invalid number '1m'
, you are using GNU dd. Use the same command but replacebs=1m
withbs=1M
If you see the errordd: /dev/diskN: Resource busy
, make sure the disk is not in use. Start the 'Disk Utility.app' and unmount (don't eject) the driveRun diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your flash media when the command completes.
Restart your Mac and press alt/option key while the Mac is restarting to choose the USB stick.
there!