Really sweet - portable ubuntu (only 437MB's)

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:36 pm

http://lifehacker.com/5195999/portable- ... de-windows

Runs in windows as an application. Pretty damn nice.

Paft · Post by **Paft** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:02 pm

...How the -hell-? That's awesome!

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:58 pm

I am interested in how the networking is handled. Would be nice to be able to kill Windows network mgmt and use the more secure linux networking, as well as use linux wifi. I just wish it wasn't Ubuntu.

Leatherneck · Post by **Leatherneck** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:05 pm

I have a little Linux on a thumb drive called "Damn small Linux" 50MB

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

Cypher · Post by **Cypher** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:11 pm

This is very cool indeed. DSL and Puppy also offer full distros that will fit on a flash drive. Very useful for troubleshooting, and messing around with. There was a BSD that was down to around 8MB. We used to burn it on eproms for embedded devices. It's common to find both of these OS's in routers, firewalls and NAS's.

If it runs as an app, I would imagine it's using the win stack

BMED · Post by **BMED** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:27 pm

I keep it on a 8G iomega thumb for emergencies...also have it on an old laptop running wifi. Nice OS and handy tool for the average Joe.

blacklab · Post by **blacklab** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:30 am

TonyT wrote:I am interested in how the networking is handled. Would be nice to be able to kill Windows network mgmt and use the more secure linux networking, as well as use linux wifi. I just wish it wasn't Ubuntu.

What is wrong with Ubuntu. I have been thinking about setting up an old puter I have with Ubuntu. Everything I have heard about it has been good, but you know a lot more about these things than I do.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:29 am

blacklab wrote:What is wrong with Ubuntu. I have been thinking about setting up an old puter I have with Ubuntu. Everything I have heard about it has been good, but you know a lot more about these things than I do.

Its a bit too restricted for him I bet. He's also very into Debian, and Debian shares a lot with Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is the more simple choice IMO.

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:51 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Its a bit too restricted for him I bet. He's also very into Debian, and Debian shares a lot with Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is the more simple choice IMO.

Not restricted, but finicky!

Ubuntu is built from Debian Experimental & Debian Sid, and its own branded modifications of some Gnome packages. (I run Sid).

I used Ubuntu several years ago, it helped me learn the ins and outs of Gnome and some other stuff. But Ubuntu default install comes packed with tons of stuff the average user will never need (bloat). I ended up learning enough so as to revert back to straight Debian and build my system exactly with just the apps I want and need, no extraneous packages, and continue to add packages that I want to play around with or use. I used to always do Debian w/ Fluxbox because when I first began using Linux it was on older systems, and 8 years ago, Gnome was just too slow and buggy. I prefer Gnome or XFCE now on newer systems.

Ubuntu is a great system for learning Linux.

tao_jones · Post by **tao_jones** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:13 am

Anyone using Fedora at all?

Cypher · Post by **Cypher** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:00 pm

I'm sure there are, but I've never been a fan of it, or it's derivatives. They're contribution to the open source community has been fantastic though.

Like Tony said, once you cut your teeth on Ubuntu, it's best to move to it's root distro. Another option is trying different installs of Ubuntu, such as a server instal, to reduce the amount of clutter. Or try compiling the kernel and modules for your specific hardware and needs.

You can still learn so much on any distro, depending how deep you want to dig. That's one thing I do with OS X as well. PCBSD is another example. You can play with that to get used to the layout, but you're always better off doing a straight BSD install once you get the hang of it.

Paft · Post by **Paft** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:11 pm

Well, I have a question in regards to 'root distro' - at some point, that logic would demand that we all move to the Linux From Scratch project, wouldn't it? It even beats out DSL or TinyLinux in terms of size and speed, it's infinately customizeable to your exact system requirements, compiled on the machine it's running on so it's down to the exact instruction set that runs the fastest...

And yes, before anyone asks, that's the Linux I run when I run Linux.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:15 pm

Fedora is nice looking but seems a bit slower than other distros, Slackware is quite fast, but not the friendliest of distros.

My beaf with Debian is that it never recognizes my very common graphics cards by default.

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:20 pm

Paft wrote:Well, I have a question in regards to 'root distro' - at some point, that logic would demand that we all move to the Linux From Scratch project, wouldn't it? It even beats out DSL or TinyLinux in terms of size and speed, it's infinately customizeable to your exact system requirements, compiled on the machine it's running on so it's down to the exact instruction set that runs the fastest...

And yes, before anyone asks, that's the Linux I run when I run Linux.

This is the kind of information that should be captured in a how-to or other tutorial for the SG community. I have instruments in place to get your work exposed should you wish to share it.

Cypher · Post by **Cypher** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:20 pm

Good points Paft.

If you were to do just what you said, it would increase your knowledge for whichever distro meets your specific needs. I started with FreeBSD before I tried any nix, so by the time I tried one, the worse was behind me. From one, learn all, as they say. I haven't tried LFS myself. I'll have to give it a go just to brush up and learn some more.

tao_jones · Post by **tao_jones** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:12 pm

We bought a new laptop and I have wanted to mess around with Linux on the old laptop. Thanks for the comments.

Paft · Post by **Paft** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:21 pm

JawZ wrote:This is the kind of information that should be captured in a how-to or other tutorial for the SG community. I have instruments in place to get your work exposed should you wish to share it.

I could work on a write up for ya'll on doing an LFS system. Granted, it would only be for one specific set of circumstances (my computer setup), but at least it would be a place to start...

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:21 pm

tao_jones wrote:We bought a new laptop and I have wanted to mess around with Linux on the old laptop. Thanks for the comments.

Try PC Linux.

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:23 pm

Paft wrote:I could work on a write up for ya'll on doing an LFS system. Granted, it would only be for one specific set of circumstances (my computer setup), but at least it would be a place to start...

Would it be possible to capture portions of it on video using this app? Just the most important steps or whatever you feel is most important. Maybe the whole thing is important lol.

http://www.screentoaster.com/

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:47 pm

Linus From Scratch is nice.
I'm not that energetic though, which is why I just start w/ a base Debian net install (deselect everything except base system) and build from there. Apt is a real time saver instead of building all the packages I want.

I did a HowTo for my Dell laptop some time ago:
http://members.cox.net/tonyt/d830
(it's also at http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/)

tao_jones · Post by **tao_jones** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:53 pm

Thanks again guys. I have got some studying up on Linux to do.

Paft · Post by **Paft** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:14 pm

JawZ wrote:Would it be possible to capture portions of it on video using this app? Just the most important steps or whatever you feel is most important. Maybe the whole thing is important lol.

http://www.screentoaster.com/

I can probally capture it with my digital camera, in seven minute segments.

Or explain the complex stuff.