Porteus: portability for pros

Linux notes from DarkDuck started back in 2010 as a blog about portable or pocket Linux distributions. Obviously, the blog has grown a lot since then, but nevertheless portable Linux is always interesting.

Porteus is one of the most famous portable Linux distributions. You can read some reviews of this operating system and even an interview with the Porteus team.

The newest version, Porteus Linux 3.2.2, saw the light at the end of 2016. You can download it from several mirrors that are listed in the flat file available on the original web site. As a side note, this is quite an unusual way to distribute the Linux distribution. Porteus 3.2.2 is available in several flavours, and my choice was the 64-bit Xfce edition. The ISO image is about 240 Mb in size.

The official guide says that the recommended way to boot Porteus is to burn it to a CD. Although booting from USB is also possible, it is a very complicated method. That's why I burnt the image onto a CD-RW disk. That disk is in the tray of my Dell Inspirion 17 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from CD. Let's go!

Linux Antique

I have mentioned several times that my acquaintance with Linux started somewhere in the XX century, long before it became a part of our everyday life. It was in a form of Linux distribution downloaded from the Internet, and in a form of CD I bought from a stall on one of the markets in Moscow.

I have recently found the CD I bought that time.

Let me introduce you to Linux Antique, aka Red Hat 5.2 KDE.

I hope you like the Linux history.

And if you want to buy a Linux disk for yourself, you can always use a service from Buy Linux CDs site.

Great News from BuyLinuxCDs.co.uk

You probably know that BuyLinuxCDs.co.uk is a commercial arm of Linux notes from DarkDuck. This is a site where you can purchase disks with any Linux distribution of your choice, delivered straight to your mailbox anywhere in the world.

I am happy to bring you some happy news from that site. As of today, you can purchase CDs or DVDs with your favourite Linux distributions via http://buylinuxcds.co.uk even cheaper!

It means that disk with a Linux distribution of your choice with delivery to USA now costs only $5.50 instead of previous $6.50.
A disk a Linux distribution with delivery to any other country, except for USA or UK, will cost you only GBP 3.50 instead of GBP 4.50.
The price for UK customers remains the same - GBP 2.00.

The choice of available distributions is astonishingly vast. Check yourself! Even if you don't see the distribution in the list, you can request a disk via the contact form.

Hope you like this little New Year present from BuyLinuxCDs, even though it is a bit late.

I would appreciate if you spread the news to help your friends get the disks they want.

Top 5 Reasons to have a Linux Live CD

Ubuntu is one of the most popular free and open source software available. A 2012 survey revealed it is the most popular Linux Distribution on desktop and laptop PCs. Below are some of the reasons why you should have Live CD / DVD with Ubuntu, or other Linux distribution.

Order your CD with OpenSUSE 12.2

The latest version of OpenSuSE 12.2 has been released just recently. Many of you already looking for downloading of your own ISO image of the system.

But many of you are not so lucky, and will need to wait longer, because you can not or do not want to create their own CDs with operating system images.

Here we are to help!

You can order your own copy OpenSuSE 12.2 (GNOME or KDE) right now. It means that CD with your favourite OS will be burnt to you as early as possible. Dispatched to anywhere in the world.

How you can get the CD? Go to http://buylinuxcds.co.uk site, purchase the OpenSuSE CD from there. That's easy.

To help you even further, here is a mini-shop which you can use straight away. It supports PayPal checkout, similar to Buy Linux CDs site.

UK (2.00 GBP): OpenSuSE 12.2 pre-order (UK) Variation GNOME KDE	USA (6.50 USD): OpenSuSE 12.2 pre-order (USA) Variation GNOME KDE
Other countries (4.50 GBP): OpenSuSE 12.2 pre-order (Other countries) Variation GNOME KDE

Mageia 2 GNOME: not that good

Mageia is a distribution forked from Mandriva some time ago. That's not a secret. Also, it's not a secret that Mandriva's preferred desktop environment was KDE. Even the fact that the latest version Mandriva 2011 has only a KDE option proves that position.
At the same time, Mageia continued the old Mandriva strategy, and released their distribution with two options: KDE and GNOME.
I have only tried Mageia KDE so far, and had no chance to try GNOME.
But there was an order from BuyLinuxCDs.co.uk site which let me do something new. The customer ordered a CD with Mageia 2 GNOME. I always check my CDs before dispatch, so I finally got a chance to try Mageia 2 GNOME myself.
The ISO image of Europe1-Americas version of Mageia 2 GNOME is 670 Mb in size.
I burnt it onto the CD-R which I intended to send to the customer and inserted that disk into the optical drive of my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from the optical drive. Let's go!

Zorin OS 6 Lite: Windows replacement for low-end computers

Zorin OS is an operating system targeted to new converts from Windows to Linux. It eases up the transition, because gives the user a familiar interface.
As I wrote before, Zorin OS is based on Ubuntu and, until version 6, on GNOME 2 functionality. It means system resource requirements are quite high.

But what if your computer is not the newest one? Does it mean Zorin OS is not available for you? Not at all! The Zorin team releases a special edition for people like you: this is the Lite version. This operating system uses the LXDE desktop environment, not the GNOME one.

Zorin OS 6 Lite was released earlier than other members of the Zorin OS 6 family, in March 2012. Because of that, Zorin OS 6 Lite is based on Ubuntu 11.10, not 12.04.

I repeat explicitly: this article is about Zorin OS 6 Lite, and not Zorin OS 6 Core/Ultimate.

The ISO image size of Zorin OS 6 Lite is less than the “core” version and fits one CD. It is only 685 Mb.

This time round I decided to run my Live run of OS from the CD. The reason is that Zorin OS 6 Lite was the choice of the Zorin OS 6 contest winner. Before dispatching the disk to the winner, I decided to try this OS myself.

So, the CD is ready and is in the CD-ROM drive of my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505. Reboot the laptop. Select to boot from the optical drive. Let’s go!

Puppy Slacko: different, but the same

Most of my readers probably know, that apart from this blog, I also run Buy Linux CDs site. You can order CDs with Linux distributions there, and they will be sent to anywhere in the world.

There are not a lot of orders, I must admit. But sometimes I do get orders. A recent one was very interesting for me, because it allowed me to come back to my old friend, and see how it has changed in the last few months.

So, an order came from the Buy Linux CDs site. This order was for the Puppy Linux disk. Because I have not tried Puppy for quite a long time now, I decided to use the CD for my own review as well.

The latest current version of Puppy Linux is  5.3.1, and it was released on the 25th of October 2011. This is the Puppy Slacko version, which tells you that the roots of this Puppy are in Slackware. I believe this is different from Puppy I have used before, because it was previously based on Lucid Lynx version of Ubuntu, hence it was named Lucid Puppy.

The ISO image size for Puppy remained very small. The core system is only has 136 Mb in size. It is easy to download from one of the many mirrors.

When the CD was ready, it was time for me to start the review. Reboot my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop. Choose to boot from CD. Let's go!

Xubuntu 12.04: don't fix what is not broken

You can read this article in Serbo-Croatian language too.

There are not so many successful commercial companies on the Linux market. Of course, RedHat is the flagbearer in that area, with their over-1-billion dollars revenue for the last year. Who is on the second place? I think most people would name Canonical.

Canonical’s flagship is Ubuntu. The recent version of Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin was released on the 26th of April 2012.

But Ubuntu 12.04 is not the only operating system from Canonical. The company also officially supports three other Ubuntu-based OSes: Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu. These systems have different desktop environments: KDE, Xfce and LXDE respectively. There are also the less widespread variants Edubuntu and Myth-buntu, but they are targeted to specific markets, rather than to the general public.

I have reviewed Ubuntu 12.04 already, and my opinion is that the Precise Pangolin edition is better than Oneiric Ocelot. But it is still far from perfection.

Xubuntu 12.04 LTS (long-term support) was released on the very same day as Ubuntu 12.04.

If you are interested, this distribution is also available for order on CD through Buy Linux CDs site and through my eBay page. I had some orders for this OS, so I used one of the ordered CDs to run my own Live test of Xubuntu 12.04.

The disk image size for Xubuntu 12.04 is slightly less than Ubuntu's. It is only 680 Mb. I downloaded it through torrent, and there were no issues with this process.

So, the CD with Xubuntu 12.04 is ready and inserted into the drive of my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from CD. Let's go!

Ubuntu 12.04: A Stairway To Heaven?

Many of Linux users waited for that day, the 26th of April 2012. The day when Canonical released their Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin. The day when Unity became the only available desktop environment for the current long-term support version of Ubuntu.

The day has come.

Let's see what it brought.

Canonical stuck to the classical ISO image size this time: only 700 Mb, which is just fine to be burnt onto CD.

As usual, there are several options available, either in terms of the system (32- and 64 bit, desktop and server, text-only and graphical installation), or in terms of downloading options (direct download from a mirror or using a torrent). I chose 32-bit desktop version and used torrent this time.

Downloading of ISO image from the torrent was not a big problem. Initial downloading speed was low, but I guess that was an issue of the last mile, i.e. my connection to the provider. Soon that problem was resolved, and I got my own ISO image of the Ubuntu 12.04 operating system.

This time the image was burnt onto the CD-R disk, because I was fulfilling orders which came via my eBay site and via Buy Linux CDs page. I usually quickly test each CD for the ability to boot and to run few programs. That's why I decided to use one of those CDs to get my own picture of Ubuntu 12.04.

So, CD is in the drive of my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from optical drive. Let's go!

Six (plus one) ways to use Linux Live CDs in your business

Do you think an operating system should always be installed on the hard disk of a computer?
It was true up until a certain point. Things changed when Knoppix Live CD was released by Klaus Knopper in 2000.
Knoppix was a pioneer in Live CD for Linux, and it still remains one of the most respectable Linux distributions. Of course, Knoppix is not alone. There are many more Linux distributions available on the market now that can run in Live mode.
There are basically two types of media which you can use as your Live Linux: CD/DVD or USB. Some distributions allow you to have Live USB, some only work from optical media. In both cases, some distributions allow you to save changes you’ve made. This feature is called “Persistence.”
Here are the main ways in which Live Linux can help your business.

#1 Evaluate the features and compatibility of new releases

This is the main reason why most Linux distributions currently have the ability to run in Live mode. You can check new features, hardware compatibility, and get a general feel for a Linux distribution right away without the need to install it on your hard drive.
If your company runs Linux on desktops or servers, Live run can help you with the initial evaluation of new releases. Of course, thorough testing should be done when the OS is installed, but running Live can help you in your decision-making.

#2 Test the security of your network

There are some specific distributions on the market which aim at the niche of security specialists. The most famous and most powerful of them is Backtrack Linux (now Kali). It is a Live CD which hosts lots of tools for security specialists. Even if you have no security specialists on staff, it is worth it to periodically check your network vulnerability using the most common testing tools.
Of course, you don’t need these tools in your everyday life, that’s why having Live CD is the most convenient way to run the checks.
Another purpose of Backtrack Linux could be forensic research if you need to investigate any suspicious activity of users on your systems.

#3 Perform one-off tasks

Do you plan your office party? Do you want to invite a professional DJ or maybe just prepare your in-house mix? Or maybe you want to make a short video to show your customers or vendors, but don’t have enough budget for a professional team of multimedia creators or editors.
Live Linux can help you here. There are distributions which are oriented to the multimedia market: running your own DJ set or editing video is easier when you have the proper tools. Musix and PureDyne are good examples.
Of course, usage of multimedia-oriented Live Linux CDs is not the only area. There are many more niche-oriented distributions which host useful software for specific tasks.
Because these are one-off tasks, you don’t want and don’t need to install additional software onto your hard drive. Run it from Live CD!

#4 Secure your transactions

It is not true that you can use only pre-built Live Linux distributions. Some of them like SLAX or Puppy have a persistence option or the ability to add your own configuration steps. It can help you, for example, to secure your financial transactions. Pre-configure your SLAX, save changes as an additional module and run this operating system from a CD or from USB without saving further changes. What do you have in this case? A stable, secure system that prevents an intruder from being able to change it and activate malicious code. You may use it, for example, during access to your online bank.

#5 Impress your customers (or suppliers)

You just have finished a very important meeting with a potential customer. It’s time to say goodbye and leave a business card. Stop! Who says your business card has to be paper? You can have it on plastic with your name on one side and a recorded CD or DVD on another. Yes, modern technology allows you to record information on almost any piece of plastic.
So, your customer puts your business card into a CD reader (sounds funny, isn’t it?) and starts…your own operating system! It is branded with your name. It brings full-featured copy of your website right to the customer’s desktop. It lists all the marketing materials which you usually send by post or hand out during presentations - and all of them are in electronic format.
It’s just another application of Live Linux…
And yes…customers can install it on their own desktop or laptop computers, if they want.

#6 Use for low-maintenance computers

How many times do you see powerful computers with huge hard disks being used for trivial tasks? Let me give you some examples: print servers, routers, Internet kiosks. Do they actually need hard disks? Almost surely the answer is no. Then, why do they boot from a hard disk?
Let’s start them off Live Linux CD or USB instead. As a bonus, you have stable system which can be easily restored to initial state (and nothing else) in a matter of seconds. It is well-protected from external intruders, hackers and silly users — there is no place to record malicious code. It is easy to maintain as the only operation you may need there, if any, is reset/reboot. It is quick, because most of the time it runs from memory. It’s low in resource requirements, because Linux distributions like TCL, DSL and Puppy were built with low-resource computers in mind.
Dust off your old computer and make it a print server instead of a current quadro-core monster!
As you can see from above, there are lots of places where every company can employ Linux, and not only Linux working as a normally installed operating system, but also as small and modest Live Linux systems.
Do you use any of them in your company right now? How do you like to use Live Linux in your workplace?

This post was first published as guest post at TechRepublic. But readers of my own blog have benefit of yet one more...

Bonus reason. And the most obvious one:

#7 Save your data

When your OS fails to boot (whatever it is, Windows or Linux) or hard disk starts playing funny games... Boot your computer from Live CD or USB with Linux. It can save you lots of time and efforts to save data on computer. Once data are copied to safer place, you can think of re-installing OS or repairing the disk.

Fedora 16 GNOME: New and Stable

It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Do you think I am going to talk about Christmas? No, not yet. Too early still. Even if shops are already full of Christmas stuff, we are in autumn yet. That's why I am NOT going to talk about Christmas.

What then? It's a wonderful time when most world famous Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora release their fresh versions.

I have already written about Ubuntu 11.10 and Kubuntu 11.10.

And literally yesterday another big event has happened. Fedora Project released Fedora 16, the latest version of their baby.
ISO image of GNOME version of Fedora 16 weights just above 600Mb. It is much less than Ubuntu, I should admit. I downloaded it from BitTorrent and was able to write my own CD in few minutes.
So, CD is in the drive. Reboot. Choose to boot from optical drive. Let's go!

Disappointments of Kubuntu 11.10

There are 2 times a year when all Linux users, and especially Ubuntu users, are excited. They are April and October. These are months when new versions of Ubuntu Linux are released.
This October is not an exception. 13th of October (sorry, not Friday this time) saw release of version 11.10, nicknamed Oneiric Ocelot. As usual, Canonical, company beyond Ubuntu, releases whole family of systems based on the same core: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu.
There is a lot of new in Ubuntu 11.10 version. Especially because it is first system where Unity takes ownership of the system and moves old good GNOME2 fully aside. That's why it needs more detailed review.

For the time being... Let's first have a look at little bit less popular, but still very good branch of Ubuntu which uses KDE as Desktop Environment: Kubuntu. It is also interesting for me since I am fan of KDE myself.
I tried to download Kubuntu just few minutes after its release on the 13th of October. When I tried to do so, BitTorrent file with 32bit x86 version was not available on the server. Such a pity, but that pushed me towards direct download link, which increased load on Kubuntu hosting servers. As usual, all Ubuntu releases fit standard 700 Mb size for CD, unless you want to go for DVD version specifically.
ISO image was downloaded, and that was a time for me to attempt boot from USB using the image. Unfortunately, neither command dd nor tool Unetbootin were able to create bootable USB for my laptop. The same fault as with my previous attempt to boot Debian hybrid ISO image. It is a fault of BIOS on my laptop. As a result, I gave up with Live USB creation and burned ISO image to DVD-RW disk.
Reboot. Choose to boot from optical media. Let's go for the Live run!

Russian Linux: Simply Works!

Different Linux distributions get their names different ways. Debian was named after its founder and his wife. Ubuntu got its name from African language. Fedora is a type of hat, which gives us a clue to its link to RedHat.
Developers of distribution which I will talk about today did not want to make the name of their product difficult to remember or something unusual. They called it... Simply Linux.
What is Simply Linux? This is distribution which is based on the core of Alt Linux. I wrote about Alt Linux couple of times, so you may wish to have a look at those posts. Alt Linux is commercial product which is marketed in Russia for use in schools and government organisation.
On another hand, Simply Linux is not commercial, but community project, which is also supported by the team of Alt Linux.
I honestly tried to write a review of Simply Linux earlier. But unfortunately up until recent version this operating system was not released in Live mode. Latest release of version 4.0, which happened on the 29th of August 2011, changed the situation. There is Live mode now.
There are 2 options available for download: 32-bit CD and 64-bit DVD. They are not much different in size actually, but 64-bit version weights more than 700 Mb. I decided to go for CD version.
As you may be aware, I currently don't have proper Linux-running laptop for my tests, and use Toshiba L500-19X which has Windows 7 installed. It means I could not test all the options for Live USB creation from the iso image. The only one which I tried was Unetbootin, but it did not help. That's why I decided to go via well known way of burning CD-RW.
So, image is burnt to the disk. Optical drive is ready. Reboot. Choose to boot from CD. Let's go!

SalixOS: older brother of SLAX

My second advent into world of Linux happened somewhere in September 2010. It was so much unusual experience for me that I decided to put my thoughts and feeling into this blog. What was in the beginning? No, it was not Word. It was SLAX.
SLAX OS is pocket oriented Linux distribution based on Slackware. That's why my first post in this blog is named "How to put a system in a pocket". SLAX itself is very user-friendly and easy for beginners. I must admit, I was lucky enough to start from SLAX.
But today I will not talk about SLAX. And I will not talk about Slackware. I will talk about older brother of SLAX - Salix OS.

Salix OS is not intended to be "pocket size" OS. But, as I  will tell you in next few paragraphs, it can be put into the pocket.
But first of all, let me introduce Salix OS. It is Linux distribution based on Slackware and intended to be "simple, fast and easy to use". It is released in 4 options: KDE, XFCE, LXDE and Fluxbox. I am great fan of KDE, but because I am currently interested in replacement for Linux Mint XFCE, my choice this time was for XFCE edition.
Unfortunately, Live version of Salix XFCE is only available for version 13.1.2 (released in November 2010), whereas installation version has been already upgraded to 13.37 (released in May 2011). Did this stop me? Of course not! So, ISO image of Salix OS 13.1.2 XFCE is downloaded and ready to use.
What is surprisingly interesting, process of creation of Live USB is described in Salix Startup Guide. All you need to do is to copy files from ISO into USB root folder and run a script. Where have I seen similar before? Yes, it is the same approach as SLAX uses. Unfortunately, this process did not work for me, because Live USB creator script requires 63 sectors for MBR and my USB stick only had 62.
No problem, Live CD is still an option and CD-RW was burnt using same ISO image.
CD-RW is in the optical drive of my Compaq C300 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from CD. Let's go!

OpenSuSE 11.4 KDE: Where Desktop Environment Matters

Nothing is stationary in our world. Everything flows and changes. You can never predict what happens next.

I have already reviewed OpenSuSE 11.4. That was review of GNOME version in Live run. I was not much happy about this system. That time I decided myself: enough for OpenSuSE until next release.
I got lots of critic for that review. In general, they all came to 2 main points:

1. Live run is not decisive for system selection. I wrote about this point already, and won't repeat my reasons again.
2. GNOME implementation in SuSE s***cks and I should try KDE version. Maybe, but... GNOME is still a version available for everyone, why shouldn't I review it?

If you read my blog from time to time, you should be aware that I also run site buylinuxcds.co.uk, which is commercial part of this blog. You can order your own CD with Linux there. But I also put my items on eBay site sometimes. This time surprise came from that direction. A person bought a CD on eBay asking me to ship OpenSuSE 11.4 with KDE desktop environment. Could I miss such an opportunity to peek and create my own opinion? Of course not! Moreover, I have to test the disk before handing it down to buyer.
So, CD is recorded. It is in the CD-ROM of my Compaq C300 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from optical drive. Let's go!

Aptosid 2011-02: is it any good?

Aptosid is Debian-based Linux distribution aiming desktops of users wishing to live on cutting edge of technology. It is based on Debian Sid, which is unstable branch. Sid is kind of sandbox where developers can test their ideas before they are moved to Testing and eventually to Stable releases. It means that while Debian as whole is considered by many as rock-solid system, Sid should never be considered as such. And this is a platform for Aptosid.
I have looked at Aptosid already, that was Aptosid version 2011-01. I was quite impressed that time, even though there were some issues which were show-stoppers for me.
July saw release of new Aptosid version, this time 2011-02. It was released on 13th of July. Even though it was not Friday, but still 13th. Was it bad day for Aptosid? Let's have a look.
Aptosid allows you to choose several options: XFCE, KDE-full and KDE-lite. My choice, as in previous time, was for KDE-lite version which fits CD. Eventually CD-RW disk was burnt and Compaq C300 laptop prepared for a test.
By the way... If you want to get your own CD with Aptosid (or many other distributions), why not order them at Buy Linux CDs site?
Reboot. Choose to boot from CD. Let's go!

Kongoni: You have the right to remain silent

I have written about Linux distributions from different parts of the world. Australia, Cambodia, Turkey, Russia, Latvia, and even Brasil.
This time round I'll make a trip to a continent which I have not visited yet: Africa.

Kongoni is Linux distribution developed in South Africa. It has name with roots in Shona language.
Kongoni is based on Slackware. There are not many Slackware-based Live distros (SLAX, Porteus and Nimblex - those I know). That makes each new review in this area very interesting for me.
Also Kongoni claims to contain only Free Software Foundation approved software. Moreover, Kongoni uses Libre kernel, where all the non-open source binaries are removed. Although Kongoni is not listed as FSF-supported. My previous experience with FSF-supported systems was pretty much different. What does Kongoni have to offer?
Latest version (Kongoni 2011) was released recently. Funny enough, it was released twice.
The reason for double-release was inability to run Live USB from iso image. Bug report says that person was successful in creation of Live USB using Unetbootin.
First of all, I downloaded the image (just below 700 Mb) and tried to "burn" it to USB stick. Neither Unetbootin nor dd command helped me in this. My Unetbootin has latest version (549) and I tried it under Mageia, Debian and Windows XP. Same result.
I was in despair. The only way which I saw was to burn CD-RW. Old-fashion way, of course. But it worked.
Do you want to try Kongoni yourself? Why not order a CD via Buy Linux CDs site?
So, my CD-RW is in the drive of my Compaq C300 laptop.
Reboot. Choose to boot from optical drive. Let's go!

Knoppix 6.4: can you spot the difference?

I wonder how different is world of Linux!
Some distributions tend to simplify the interface. Others try to do their best to get users out of their way. Only few try to find golden middle.
Do you want examples? I have them.
Unity. Isn't it simplifying of interface? Yes, it is. But for some users this is over-simplifying. Something of Linux soul was lost in here. From "do whatever you want" it switched ideology to "do whatever we allow you to do".

Next example is Knoppix. What can be simpler than getting ISO image with operation system onto USB image? Having multiple methods for this, you should expect at least one of them to work. But that is not the case. I have tried both Unetbootin and dd options. Not much success. Knoppix has developed its own process of getting Live USB. And it is not the simplest for unprepared user. Knoppix is not alone in this issue. I have already written about PureDyne which has exactly the same approach.
After few failed attempt to build Knoppix Live USB I decided to try CD version.
This is not my first review of Knoppix. I wrote few words about it in one of the first posts in this blog.
Now few words about the version of Knoppix I tried. This is not the latest version. Simply because latest version 6.5 was exclusively distributed with Linux Magazine in March 2011. Previous version 6.4 is freely downloadable on official mirrors. That is the version I burned onto my CD-RW.
Disk is in the drive of Compaq C300 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from CD. Let's go!

Puredyne: pure creativity

How old are you? 20? 30? 40? Whatever is your age, you are now older than few years ago, aren't you? When you were younger, had you ever dreamed of being an artist? Sculptor? Maybe DJ? Any kind of creative profession? Fame, fans, furor...
Sure, most of us wanted to create something unforgettable. Whether your dream became a true or not, that is different story.
Do you think that artists are still people who use easels, brushes and chalk? Or they still use pianos and violins? Sure, some of them do. But in modern era some of them became electronic-based artists. Those who use computers as their tools. Most people think (and maybe they are right) that Mac is the best friend of artist or musician. But are there any open-source projects oriented to people with creativity talent?
Yes, there are. I have already told you about one of them: dynebolic. Today I will tell you about another one. Puredyne. Actually, Puredyne is not a project grown on the empty space. I would say it has dad and even granddad.
Dad is... dynebolic. Yes, Puredyne project was inspired by Dynebolic. They have lots in common. And most important, both are oriented to creative people.
Granddad is... Ubuntu. Yes, Puredyne is based on Ubuntu. To be more precise, Xubuntu, one of many Ubuntu remixes.
Latest release of Puredyne has version number 9.11 and nickname "Carrot and coriander". It is dated March 2010.
Puredyne is initially oriented to Live usage, although it has installation features. But native method of Live USB creation is too long and windy. Even quick glance on that method fought off any wish to start it.
That was a time for me to try methods of Live USB creation. Unfortunately, Unetbootin does not support Puredyne. USB drive created by Unetbootin was not bootable.
That's why I tried methods with command dd and command cat. And miss again. Unfortunate for 3rd time in a row, I decided not to waste more time and use more classic method. Finally, CD-RW was burnt. It is in the drive of my Compaq C300 laptop. Reboot. Choose to boot from CD. Let's go!