Category: Desktop

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First look: BeleniX live CD

NewsForge brings us a review of the BeleniX LiveCD. While it does take forever to boot, it’s fun to play with once it’s done.

When the CD-ROM disk light stops glowing, you are staring at a beautifully done XFCE desktop running on top of xorg. This is auto-configured using the ddcxinfo utility ported from Knoppix. Essential devices like the monitor, keyboard, and mouse (synaptic, PS/2, and USB) work properly. Wired network cards are auto-configured through DHCP and USB sticks are auto-mounted.

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Open source desktop basics: Risk-free ways to get started, part 2

SearchOpenSource.com has an intro to Knoppix and LiveCDs aimed at the business PC user. The article explains what a LiveCD is and what it can do in an accurate and understandable way.

It’s easy to take Linux for a test drive. Some Linux versions have been tailored to run from a CD. You just put the CD into the drive, reboot your machine, and Linux will be up and running. No installation is required; nothing will have to be written to your hard disk. When you’re done, take out the CD and reboot your PC again, and you’re back in Windows.

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Breathing Life Into Older Computers

ASE Labs is currently being slashdotted for bringing us an article on reviving an old computer by installing Damn Small Linux. There is good information in this article, including what to do if the computer doesn’t have a CD drive.

While this laptop might seem old and out-of-date now, it is small and light. I needed something I could easily carry around, so I figured I would see what I could salvage out of this dinosaur. Windows would have a hard time running on this low-spec laptop, but there are many distributions of Linux that will work exceptionally well. The one we’ll be using today is Damn Small Linux.

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Interview with Barry Kauler, Puppy Linux

DistroWatch has an interview with the founder and lead developer of Puppy Linux. A good read, it provides some information into how they pack so much good software into a 60MB LiveCD.

Although Puppy Linux is a relatively new arrival on the Linux distribution scene, its popularity has skyrocketed over the past few months. Barry Kauler, the founder and lead developer of this minimalist, yet feature-rich operating system was kind enough to answer a few questions about the beginnings of Puppy and other topics of interest.

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Taking Linux On The Road With Ubuntu – Linux To Go

Tom’s Hardware has a review of an interesting product, the Ubuntu H2. It’s a 3 GB USB microdrive that comes with a bootable DVD to install Ubuntu onto it, for the purpose of booting Ubuntu off the USB device.

Once Linux is ready to go, you need to make the computer boot from the H2 Micro USB Drive. Usually computers will either boot from a CD/DVD, a floppy disc or the system hard drive. However, as we want to use the Ubuntu H2 as a portable operating system, we need to get the system to boot from USB.