Posts

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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).

Posted on

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.

Posted on

Linux screensaver for Windows

IBM’s developerWorks has another thorough article about LiveCDs. This time it involves modifying LiveCDs and turning them into screensavers for Windows.

There is sufficient free and open source software available nowadays to enable Linux to install and run as a Windows screensaver. This article shows you how to construct an appropriate CD or DVD, and in doing so, demonstrates that the “free” and “non-free” sides of the software Grand Canyon are not so far apart after all.

Posted on

Ubuntu Flight CD 2 Released

Ubuntu has released its second test point, dubbed “Flight 2”, of Dapper Drake, Ubuntu 6.04. Scheduled to be finalized in April 2006, this test release has buckets full of new features for both the installed version, and LiveCD versions, which are available for download. Some of the new features of the Ubuntu LiveCD include:

  • a new splash screen – no more asking what keyboard/language to use
  • faster bootup
  • interface improvements
  • new gnome and apps, like Rhythmbox, Firefox, OpenOffice
  • new kernels and hardware support
  • UnionFS
  • some kind of boot performance measurement option

For a better description and screenshots, check out the official description.

Posted on

How to run a risk free Linux trial

The Deccan Herald Internet Edition is running a story about LiveCDs. It is aimed at Windows users interested in trying out Linux, and covers everything, from how they work, how to get them, advantages of running them over normal hard drive installs, and even several more specialized LiveCD projects.

One of the first live CDs to manage this was Knoppix, which is so good at sniffing out strange hardware and configuring it that sceptical Windows users are regularly bowled over by the sight of their machine being turned into a powerful GNU/Linux system in minutes.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

Opening Solaris opens door to community, derivative distros

NewsForge has an article about OpenSolaris and a few derivatives that have come from the project. In it several OpenSolaris LiveCDs are mentioned, including SchilliX and BeleniX. It talks about some of the licensing issues that exist, and is worth reading for anyone interested in seeing what may happen with regards to integrating CDDL OpenSolaris code with GPL Linux code.

Ghosh has been working for Sun for two and a half years, but he is not a part of its OpenSolaris team. He started working on BeleniX in his spare time — what he said was three months of weekends and late nights to figure out how to get the live CD to boot. Calling it “a great learning experience,” Ghosh spent that time filling in the holes left by pieces of Solaris whose code has not yet been released to the community.