Category: Desktop

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Download, burn, and boot: doing disaster IT with a shelter lab LiveCD build

Ars Technica put up another thorough article detailing the needs of computer stations and labs setup after hurricane Katrina for the survivors. Hannibal goes over what he learned, talks about current solutions, and details what needs to be improved.

One of the most unexpected and least visible aspects of hurricane Katrina’s aftermath was the critical role that information technology played in the relief effort. Throughout the Gulf Coast, shelter workers and residents built and used improvised computer labs consisting of donated, Internet-connected PCs and printers.

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MCNLive Jordaan Review

GNUMAN.com reviews MCNLive. A clean looking distro, check out the control panel in some of the screenshots.

MCNLive is an XFce (version 4.2.2) based distro, that is more compact (200 MB) compared to running it on KDE. XFce is light weight and with any live CD that is made with the most essential tools and that can be trimmed to fit on a USB stick

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USB smart drives set for lift off

PCPro has an article about how USB “smart” drives, or USB flash drives with a bootable OS like Knoppix installed, are going to take of in the near future. Would have been a better article if there wasn’t a giant flash ad covering half of it.

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Linux+Live DVD Review

Gnuman.com reviews the new Linux+Live DVD.

One thing I could honestly say about this distro is wow. I’ve seen programs that come as part of this live DVD that I never heard of, like kover to make cd covers, there are so many tools included in this one DVD that I could go on for pages talking about what is included.

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Kubuntu 5.10 Preview Screenshots

OSDir has screenshots of the Kubuntu 5.10 preview release.

On a somewhat related note, I installed Ubuntu 5.10 preview and am thoroughly impressed. The one thing that has shocked me is the “Add Programs” application. In Ubuntu 5.04 Add Programs is not very useful, it has the names of some 20 extra programs not included by default. But now, it’s got hundreds, if not thousands, of apps. They’re all organized, with their own icons, and summaries of what everything does. I’m not sure how to describe it, the experience is something like viewing software boxes at a computer store, except everything is instantly, legally, and freely downloadable. This app should be in every distro and on every window manager. It’s going to have a huge impact on the acceptance of Linux as soon as people discover it.

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Windows In Your Pocket

Tom’s Hardware has a detailed article about installing Windows XP onto a USB flash drive using Bart PE Builder. Adding software like Firefox and Nero is also described in this article.

All it takes is a minor error in the Windows Registry or a virus infection, and your operating system can become unbootable. But with a properly configured USB flash drive on hand, you’ll always have a compatible replacement no further away than your pocket or keychain.