Comparing Linux USB flash disk distros . Some provide installers to get them onto thumb drives, while others can be coerced onto a USB flash drive with some simple modifications. I tested five Linux distributions - - Damn Small Linux (DSL), Puppy Linux, Pendrivelinux, Ubuntu, and Mandriva Flash - - to see how they fare running from a flash disk. Of the five, only Ubuntu doesn't offer a native method for getting it to run from flash, while Pendrivelinux and Mandriva Flash are designed to run exclusively from flash.

The five Linux distributions can be divided into two classes: the small, compact distributions (DSL and Puppy Linux), which are less than 1. MB in size, and the full- blown distributions (Mandriva, Pendrivelinux, and Ubuntu).

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Small is beautiful. Both DSL and Puppy Linux are small and don't have huge system requirements. DSL can run on a 4. DX with only 1. 6MB of RAM, although this feature is of dubious utility because it would be hard to find a 4. DX machine that could boot from a USB device. These two distributions aim to be small yet versatile with flexible boot and install options. They're also fast, because they load the whole OS and applications into RAM.

DSL is a 5. 0MB download and boots from a live CD. Once booted, you can install it to a USB drive using the Pendrive install application (Apps - > Tools - > USB- HDD Pendrive).

The text- based installer runs in a command window. DSL detected and installed to my flash drive without any problem. DSL is handy as a recovery tool that enables you to boot a broken machine and copy valuable data from it. It uses the lightweight JWM window manager, which should be easy to learn for those who are used to a .

DSL tries to be feature- rich and contains many standard types of applications, such as a music player, a couple of Web browsers, a word processor, and a spreadsheet. With the exception of Firefox, they're all specialized, small applications, but DSL is extendable using the my. DSL Extension Browser. With the packages in its community repository you can add some of the more popular software to DSL, including Open. Office. org. DSL is a marvel to look at, has potential for expansion, but it isn't as strong as some alternatives as a serious, portable desktop.

Like DSL, Puppy Linux is a small download (less than 1. MB) and boots from a live CD. Once you boot the CD, you're up and running with the whole OS and file system loaded into RAM, which means that Puppy isn't always pulling files off the CD. To install to USB flash, use the Puppy universal installer, which can cope with almost any USB flash disk, regardless of whether it's unpartitioned or using the wrong boot flags. However, the downside is that the installation process can be quite complicated. The installer does a good job of trying to explain what's going on, but you will need to know how to work with disks and partitions if the need arises; for example, if the flags are wrong on a partition, the installer will fire up GParted for you to fix it rather than correct the problem automatically.

The recently released version 4. JWM window manager it offers Abi. Word 2. 4. 6 as a word processor, the Gnumeric 1. Sylpheed 2. 4. 7 for email, and Mozilla Sea.

Monkey 1. 1. 8 for Web browsing and other integrated Internet applications. Puppy Linux also has a package manager called PETget that automatically connects to the official Puppy repository and offers additional software to install. Currently the 4. 0 repository doesn't offer Open. Office. org but I was able to install it from the version 3. One possible problem with Puppy Linux is that your data isn't immediately saved to the flash drive. As you're working, the files you create and edit are saved to memory, but that memory copy is only written to the flash disk periodically or during the shutdown process. There is also a Save button on the desktop to force a write to the flash disk.

How to Boot Mandriva 2010 from a USB drive. To download Mandriva Seed. Is there an alternative to UNetbootin that will get Mandriva 2009.1. How do I make a bootable flash drive with Mandriva 2009. Download the latest LTS version of Ubuntu, for desktop PCs and laptops. LTS stands for long-term support. How to create a bootable USB stick on Ubuntu.

This intermittent saving can leave a window for losing files.

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