A little Linux can revive a pokey PC

The Los Angeles Times has a nice writeup on Damn Small Linux.

Apart from being compact and fast, however, DSL Linux may change the way you use your computer. For maximum speed to rehabilitate an old PC, you can install it like any other operating system, directly on your hard drive, either for exclusive use or as an alternative to Windows. You can also start and run it from a mini-CD, even if the host computer has Windows on it. So when you do visit grandma, you can take your DSL Linux with you.

A look into NepaLinux

Kantipur Online has a review of NepaLinux. NepaLinux is aimed at the “common Nepali” looking to use a computer without needing to learn another language.

As desired, NepaLinux can either be booted from its live CD or installed on the hard disk itself. The operating system requires a 64 MB RAM, 2 GB hard disk space and a Pentium II or higher processor, and can co-exist with Windows operating system.

Using a liveCD as your Linux Desktop

DesktopLinux.com posted an article a few days ago about using a LiveCD as a primary OS, or in other words, never installing. This is something that is increasingly becoming more plausible, as memory prices decrease having a LiveCD load into memory becomes faster in many cases than an installed OS, and as long as you still have some kind of media to write to, you can install apps and save documents without fear of losing them from rebooting.

However, many liveCD distros can be used as a day to day desktop without ever installing them to your hard drive.

Deploying Windows XP, Bart PE

ServerWatch has an in-depth article on Bart PE. It’ll let you know what Bart PE is capable of, before spending the time to create your own.

BartPE stands for Bart’s Preinstallation Environment. Currently in version 3.1.3, it was created by Bart Lagerweij, a Dutch programmer, who, for a number of years, has been providing the Windows community with various software packages sharing common purpose: feature-rich operating environment invoked via removable bootable media (e.g., modular and highly customizable CD-Rom Boot Disk).

Belenix – A Live CD based on Open Solaris

All about Linux has a review of the OpenSolaris based BeleniX LiveCD. The review also points out some advantages to running Solaris over Linux, which look likely to stir up some debates.

I had always wanted to try out Solaris OS ever since Sun released its code under an open licence and renamed it as Open Solaris. But even though open solaris had its own website, downloading a binary image was an entirely different matter and was not an easy proposition.