Category: News

Posted on

Tails and the NSA in the News Again

Not only was the Tails LiveCD used by Edward Snowden, an article about it published by Linux Journal was (is?) a trigger to for the NSA.

The pattern matches one particular article on Linux Journal, posted in August of 2011: “Linux Distro: Tails—You Can Never Be Too Paranoid.”

via The NSA thinks Linux Journal is an “extremist forum”? | Ars Technica.

To celebrate, Linux Journal is publishing a new 3 part article on Tails, which can be read at:

 

Posted on

Ubuntu Combines Three Disc Images in 12.10 Beta 1

For years Ubuntu has released a LiveCD (Desktop), LiveDVD (DVD), and text-mode installer (Alternate) for each release. For 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal), Ubuntu is getting rid of these three images and releasing a single, 800 MB Desktop DVD image.

While their download sites still list this as the Desktop CD, it’s too large to be burned normally, so they’ll have to update the name.

See the announcement on their Email List. Also, check out coverage on OMG! Ubuntu!

Posted on

Is it the End of the Road for Live CDs?

Free Software Magazine asks if the era of Live CDs is starting to wind down. I personally can’t see this happening until USB flash drives are as inexpensive as CD/DVD media, and even then, the era of Live USB flash drives will be flourishing.

I was window shopping in a high street electronics store a few days ago. I was delighted to see a shelf display full of netbooks from vendors like Samsung, Acer, Dell, Advent and Asus (of course), to name a few. It looked like the Asus EeePC had launched an idea whose time had come and in the process possibly heralded the long withdrawing roar of the live CD.

Posted on

Linux: It’s Not Just for Servers Anymore

Wired gives credit to LiveCDs for the rise in the popularity of Linux desktop computing.

Part of this growth can be chalked up to the trend of the LiveCD, a bootable disk image that users can download and burn to a CD to test the software. Most of the popular Linux makers release software on LiveCDs, and many also ship physical CDs to curious users anywhere in the world for free or for a nominal fee.

Posted on

Puppy Linux targets sub-$100 mini-PCs

DesktopLinux.com tells of how Puppy Linux is being used on low cost PCs with PXE booting and settings saved to USB flash drives.

Following the addition of PXE network booting to the ultra-lightweight Puppy Linux distribution, a group of enthusiasts offering Puppy customization and support services has revealed plans for “Minipup,” a project aimed at ultra-low-cost diskless hardware such as sub-$100 PCs.