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Test drive Linux with nothing but a flash drive
OpenSource.com ^ | 27 October 2014 | Scott Nesbitt

Posted on 10/29/2014 3:48:38 AM PDT by ShadowAce

click here to read article


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1 posted on 10/29/2014 3:48:38 AM PDT by ShadowAce
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To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; amigatec; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...

2 posted on 10/29/2014 3:48:55 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Swordmaker

Apple interest?


3 posted on 10/29/2014 3:53:28 AM PDT by IncPen (None of this would be happening if John Boehner were alive...)
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To: ShadowAce

You can also just make a bootable disk (CD or DVD) and run it off that.

It will be much slower on a USB drive or disk than an installed on HD version. But it lets you see if your hardware is compatible.


4 posted on 10/29/2014 3:53:51 AM PDT by wrench (While not "airborne" at this moment, Ebola is a Snot-Borne virus)
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To: ShadowAce

I can’t think of any reason to install Linux on a Mac. On a windows PC I use Cygwin for my daily work. The Mac has everything Linux has (more or less) already.


5 posted on 10/29/2014 3:59:54 AM PDT by lefty-lie-spy (Stay metal. For the Horde \m/("_")\m/ - via iPhone from Tokyo.)
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To: ShadowAce

My wife’s laptop runs SLAX Linus on a 8 gig flash drive. It works great.


6 posted on 10/29/2014 4:05:54 AM PDT by struggle
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To: ShadowAce

BTTT


7 posted on 10/29/2014 4:28:15 AM PDT by stratboy
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To: ShadowAce

Now the question is will Linux greet visitors from the NSA?


8 posted on 10/29/2014 4:34:50 AM PDT by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: wrench

People trying this should also note that USB drives can vary greatly in speed.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3.0-thumb-drive-review,3477.html


9 posted on 10/29/2014 4:35:21 AM PDT by posterchild (It takes a politician to declare a settled science.)
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To: struggle

I’m rubbing Netrunner Linux on an older laptop and absolutely love it.


10 posted on 10/29/2014 4:38:44 AM PDT by The Duke
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To: The Duke

If you keep doing that your monitor will go dim.


11 posted on 10/29/2014 4:44:05 AM PDT by posterchild (It takes a politician to declare a settled science.)
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To: wrench

How is a flash drive with no moving parts slower than a HDD that is spinning with a head that has to physically move across the sectors to read the data?

Bkmk for a future try at Linux...


12 posted on 10/29/2014 4:45:49 AM PDT by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: ShadowAce

USB works with Ubuntu, too.


13 posted on 10/29/2014 4:49:39 AM PDT by kinsman redeemer (The real enemy seeks to devour what is good.)
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To: wrench
Yeah--this article is mainly for those curious, but not yet committed, folk who would like to try it.

As long as people realize the speed issue is due to the medium they are using, it should be a decent evaluation experience.

14 posted on 10/29/2014 4:49:52 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce

I might try this out but try to create a separate partition on my hard drive to do it. Hard drives are faster than USB aren’t they?


15 posted on 10/29/2014 4:53:56 AM PDT by McGruff (The whole Omama Administration is a breach in protocol)
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To: McGruff
Yes. HDD are typically faster than USB.

This article was trying to explain how to test it without making any lasting changes to your system--trying to remove any objections from that direction.

16 posted on 10/29/2014 4:55:31 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: posterchild
If you keep doing that your monitor will go dim.

Now that's FUNNY right there!
17 posted on 10/29/2014 5:20:13 AM PDT by 762X51
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To: ShadowAce

If you’ve got a rooted Android phone, you can skip using a flash drive altogether and use the DriveDroid app to try Linux.

DriveDroid comes with a catalog of Linux images that you can download straight to your phone. Once you have an image, you just tap it to select it from the DriveDroid main screen, choose to make your phone appear like a CD drive or USB drive, and then connect your phone to your computer.

Then, you just follow the same sort of BIOS boot selection that OP talks about.

Using a phone with DriveDroid will give you much better performance than a flash drive, and since it’s attached to your phone, which you probably carry at all times, it’ll always be available.


18 posted on 10/29/2014 5:50:56 AM PDT by Cato in PA (Resist!)
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To: ShadowAce

I would recommend anyone SSD to run your system. It is a flash -memory type drives with no moving parts typical to USB sticks and much faster than HDD on average.
I think installing OS on one of these is the most cost effective way to make your computer faster to date.
They are quite expensive for units larger than 256 GB to fully replace HDD technology by now, but sufficient to run system and demanding application already.


19 posted on 10/29/2014 5:52:01 AM PDT by wetphoenix
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To: ShadowAce

I saw an Apple Ibook G4 at the pawn shop for $99

I wonder how it would run with Linux?


20 posted on 10/29/2014 5:59:18 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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