News from the LiveCD World
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.
All about Linux has a review of PCLinuxOS 0.92. PCLinuxOS is a nicely made LiveCD and installable distribution that not everyone is aware of yet.
PCLinuxOS is released as a live CD which also can be installed quite easily on to the hard disk.
Amnews.com has a writeup in their tech section about SystemRescueCD and the usefulness it provides.
This week I want to introduce you to one of the most handy tools in my tech box. This handy tool that I am referring to is the free SystemRescueCD. This disk is one of the ultimate tools for a tech to have handy when working on computers.
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).
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.
Linux.com brings us a brief review of Tao Live.
Tao Live CD is a live CD based on rebuilt Red Hat Linux source RPMs.
DistroReviews.com has posted impressions, or a short review, of the new Ubuntu Linux 6.04 Flight 2 release. Included with the review are screenshots.
OS News has a review of the Amiga Forever Premium Edition, which comes with a LiveCD, although this article did not talk about it much.
You can boot into this emulator in two ways: you can launch it from Windows, or use it as a live CD. The latter uses KX Light (a modified version of Debian/Knoppix) to boot the Linux version of UAE, running AmigaOS 3.x.
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.
DistroWatch’s Featured distribution of the week this week is the Archie LiveCD, a LiveCD based on Arch Linux. Check out the screenshot, it looks really nice.
Archie is unique in the sense that it is not based on any of the big “top-level” distributions with their live CD offshoots, such as Debian/Knoppix, Slackware/SLAX or Mandriva/PCLinuxOS, which currently dominate the live CD scene.
All about Linux has a review of Damn Small Linux. Includes some ideas of how and where to use DSL.
All aspects of configuration, which includes wireless network, mouse, keyboard, printer setup and most other services can be achieved via the DSL (Control) Panel.
Henry The Adequate has a humorous review of the new Damn Small Linux 2.0 release.
Now this is a bit of a problem. How do I put the CD in before starting the computer?
DistroWatch’s featured distribution of the week this week is the Gentoo-based RR4 Linux LiveDVD. For those who like cutting edge software, it comes with the beta graphical Gentoo installer, and the stuff below:
The latest version of RR4 Linux has kernel 2.6.14, X.Org 7.0 from CVS, KDE 3.4.3, GNOME 2.12.1, and Firefox 1.5rc
The DragonFly BSD LiveCD got a mention in this article over at Server Watch.
DragonFly BSD is provided as a Live CD and will boot into a fully functional DragonFly BSD system. Unlike pure Live CD products, however, it can also install DragonFly BSD.
And page 2 has even more information on BSD LiveCDs, including introductions to Frenzy, FreeSBIE, and GuLIC-BSD.
The Frenzy Live CD is similar to Knoppix and LiveCD.
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.
DistroWatch’s featured distro this week is BeleniX. BeleniX is a new LiveCD based on the OpenSolaris project, and looks like something fun to try.
BeleniX is probably the best and least intimidating way to learn the basic concepts of Solaris.
All about Linux has a post reviewing Knoppix 4.0.
Mad Penguin dot org has one of the longest book reviews of a tech book I’ve ever seen. Despite it being long, it is actually an entertaining read (so far, I’m not done yet), and it includes a review of the LiveCD the author of the book created, WFTL.
His distro takes you to a home page with hyperlinks to his very own Linux Users Group, where you can get great support from a community that he has created from scratch. When I first started using Linux as a simple end user in late 2000, my greatest concern was where to go to ask stupid questions in the event that my Linux guru friends were too busy to take yet another tech support call. It certainly would have been nice to have a resource like Marcel’s community available back then.
NewsForge has an article about the BeOS-based ZETA LiveCD.
It’s Halloween, and what better way is there to celebrate than by reanimating a dead operating system on your PC? The zombie of choice this year is the ZETA Live CD 1.1, the first free download to bring the long-lost BeOS back from the grave.
DistroWatch.com’s distro of this week is the LG3D LiveCD. Go read the review.
Your first reaction after booting into LG3D is likely to be that of awe. The panoramic background, 3D visualisation effects of the taskbar and windows, specialist 3D applications such as the background selector on the screenshot below – all these are likely to lead to several hours of exciting desktop entertainment.