HDgaming42,
Ext3 file system will be more resilient with power outage. Ext2 is not. So if this is a concern then Ext2 is not appropriate to use, because the rootfs will be corrupted when that happens. If you use Ext2, be sure to backup the USB very regularly. But in either cases, keep an image backup (i.e. clone) of the USB so you can just swap it whenever you experience booting problem.
My rootfs is basically the same as a pristine newly installed Debian system using Jeff's scipt, with the addition of later kernel that can boot most Kirkwood plugs, and some useful packages preinstalled. When you first install Debian using Jeff's script, it is a bare-bone system with no extra. This is the preferred starting point, since you will install what ever packages you need. It's a learning experience! If a "fully loaded" Debian system is preferred, then people usually start with Ubuntu (but Ubuntu is too big for these plugs).
The packages you require will need to be installed with apt-get (Debian packages management). So after you got the base Debian running, you will need to look for the information about how to install those packages from others (Google will turn up info). The kernel on my rootfs already has the drivers for your purpose, but the utilities/tools must be installed.
About backing up the USB stick. If you have Windows PC, then Acronis is the best tool, IMO, for this purpose. If you use Mac OSX, it has Disk Utilities. On Linux the 'dd' command, or 'cp -aR' command are usually used for back up. There are other great Linux tools to do this, too.
Ext3 file system will be more resilient with power outage. Ext2 is not. So if this is a concern then Ext2 is not appropriate to use, because the rootfs will be corrupted when that happens. If you use Ext2, be sure to backup the USB very regularly. But in either cases, keep an image backup (i.e. clone) of the USB so you can just swap it whenever you experience booting problem.
My rootfs is basically the same as a pristine newly installed Debian system using Jeff's scipt, with the addition of later kernel that can boot most Kirkwood plugs, and some useful packages preinstalled. When you first install Debian using Jeff's script, it is a bare-bone system with no extra. This is the preferred starting point, since you will install what ever packages you need. It's a learning experience! If a "fully loaded" Debian system is preferred, then people usually start with Ubuntu (but Ubuntu is too big for these plugs).
The packages you require will need to be installed with apt-get (Debian packages management). So after you got the base Debian running, you will need to look for the information about how to install those packages from others (Google will turn up info). The kernel on my rootfs already has the drivers for your purpose, but the utilities/tools must be installed.
About backing up the USB stick. If you have Windows PC, then Acronis is the best tool, IMO, for this purpose. If you use Mac OSX, it has Disk Utilities. On Linux the 'dd' command, or 'cp -aR' command are usually used for back up. There are other great Linux tools to do this, too.