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Re: Total M$ Patch Fatigue; lightweight "LIVE" CD alternative?

__/ [ Rex Ballard ] on Saturday 12 August 2006 00:58 \__

> 
> Oliver Wong wrote:
>> "Beve Stallmer" <stall-more@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:_Y5Dg.189$rT5.19@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> > STRAIGHT TO THE POINT: is there a version of Linux that I can burn onto
>> > a CD or DVD and use to boot my laptop (Sony Vaio), which will then allow
>> > me to use the following software and do the following things:
>> >
>> > 1)openoffice (can I store my own custom dictionaries on the HDD?)
>> > 2)firefox (must be able to use my own bookmarks & modify them)
>> > 3)thunderbird (must be able to access my stored email)
>> > 4)truecrypt (to load encrypted volumes on the HDD)
>> > 5)skype
> 
> Not sure about truecrypt.  The rest is available with LiveCD versions
> of Ubuntu, Knoppix, SUSE LiveCD, and several others.
> 
>> > LONG VERSION OF STORY: I'm just sick of updating XP with "critical"
>> > patches, some of which seem to fuck up my system, & all of which have no
>> > credible explanation, and now that the US spy agencies are recommending
>> > I urgently download mysterious Microsoft "patches",
> 
> Yep.  It seems that Microsoft sent out a "MUST DO NOW" patch that
> woudn't take no for an answer.  It amazes me that Microsoft would leave
> the back door open for that often, then force-feed a patch that is
> supposed to close it, but then opens it even further instead.
> 
>> >  I'm spitting the dummy.
>> > I've had enough. I want to leave XP on the machine for use with
>> > PhotoShop, Dreamweaver etc, but I'd like to boot up for everyday work
>> > with a Knoppix-like Linux variant that lets me keep some static data on
>> > the hard drive (OOo docs, FF bookmarks, TB emails). The only big problem
>> > is that the current HDD is partitioned into multiple NTSF drives.
> 
> Since the current HDD is already partitioned, you are ahead of the
> game.  I often use a USB2 drive.  On a laptop, the external USB2 drive
> is faster than the laptop drive, usually 7200 RPM vs about 3600 to 4500
> RPM.  You might want to consider creating an ext2 or ext3 partition.
> There is software that will make that partition visible to Windows, and
> you can have the security of Linux when you've booted into Linux.
> Better yet, DON'T put in the ext3 partition driver, so that Windows
> can't put little "goodies" into your ext3 partition.
> 
> Thumb drives also work very well.  Most people only need about 1/2 gig
> for their "home" partition, and that's assuming they want to download a
> bunch of porno videos.  OpenOffice documents don't take all that much
> space, and the browser cache will adjust to what you have.


Applications on a USB $tick:

http://portableapps.com/

Create your own Knoppix for a USB bootstrap (free).

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/01/knoppix_linux_on_usb/



>>     AFAIK, writing to NTFS is iffy in Linux (though reading is supposed to
>>     work fine).
> 
> Actually, writing to NTFS is iffy in Windows too.  Linux is just a lot
> more reluctant to let you lose your data, especially when good reliable
> formats are available.  The main issue is that it is possible to
> corrupt a drive if write-behind caching is enabled and the power to the
> hard drive is unplugged.  There isn't enough time to flush disk buffers
> to all of the various locations.  Linux doesn't LIKE it when you pull
> the plug, but you can recover with fsck.


I suspect that the latest of Xandros Linux can handle that flawlessly 'out of
the box'. I suggest you have a look at it. It also eases a transition from
Windows XP and assumes no prior experience with GNU/Linux.


>> You might be better off buying a USB key and storing your data
>> there, or using a tool like GParted to convert your partitions from NTFS
>> to FAT32[*] http://gparted.sourceforge.net/features.php.
> 
> Converting to FAT32 is a really bad idea.  FAT32 has absolutely no
> security or user level protection, which means that pretty much
> anything can get to anything on your hard drive.
> 
>>     I haven't used Dreamweaver much, but you might want to check out
>> http://www.nvu.com/ which is also a web site editor, and it runs on Linux.


There is software that will run Photoshop and Dreamweaver under Linux. In the
case of Photoshop, it's perfectly legit. Last month I linked to an HOWTO for
Dreamweaver under Linux. Hoeever, I didn't read it carefully, so I could not
spot the fact that it involved some serial number cracking (or something
along these lines). Either way, NVU is the way to go, but there is other
good and free (to modify even) software that run natively in Linux. WinE's
use operates on and interprets files that are not Linux binaries, so...

Either way, I'd argue against WYSIWYG for Web design in general. and The GIMP
is excellent! The UI needs to be learned though.


> You might want to consider running Windows as a VM.  This will give you
> the security of Linux, including at the file system level, and you can
> run your favorite Windows applications on the VM.  Linux gives up
> memory more quickly so if you give Windows about 1/3 of your memory,
> you will end up with a faster Windows system than native Windows.
> 
> I use VMWare, but Xen also runs both together very very fast.  There
> are some Intel chips and AMD chips that will let you run an unmodified
> Windows XP system under Xen with Linux as the 'controller' host.
> Fortunately, you are already licened for Windows so piracy is not an
> issue.


Dual-boot seems like a good way to go, but make sure that your transition to
Linux is not a 'cold turkey'. Have a Windows cushion at hand's reach. In due
time, I can assure you it will become obsolete. You will find that you can
do merely everything more effectively under Linux.

Good luck and best wishes, Beve Stallman. Or Beavis Ballmer. Or whatever...

Roy


-- 
Roy S. Schestowitz      |    "Software sucks. Open Source sucks less."
http://Schestowitz.com  |  Open Prospects   ¦     PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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      http://iuron.com - knowledge engine, not a search engine

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