GrafPup, The Puppy Linux Based

Grafpup is a compact distribution containing the Linux kernel and various Open Source and freeware programs. It is especially well suited towards graphic artists and other imaging proffessionals but has many other tools available as well. Grafpup has been loosely based upon Puppy Linux, which is a creation of Barry Kauler. However, there are a lot of unique features which set it apart both from it's parent and most other Linux distributions.

Grafpup strives to provide a complete workflow for the digital artist, from beginning to end. As such along with the major graphics applications like Gimp and Inkscape you will also find a variety of support programs and extra features. Color management is enabled for all applications that support it, and there is a basic selection of color profiles included in the standard install. For those doing photographic work there is almost complete support for raw image formats via both dcraw and the ufraw plugin (both Gimp and Cinepaint), as well as the gtkam utility for directly connecting a wide variety of cameras. Scribus and Abiword take care of publishing needs, and Gutenprint provides a wide range of printer drivers.

Desktop

One of the big problems with a lot of mainstream Linux distributions is that they have become quite bloated and slow. The prevailing mood seems to be that in order for a desktop to be functional and good looking it must also be huge, ponderous, and slow. Grafpup aims to shatter that myth with an extremely efficient yet good looking desktop based around the Openbox window manager and the Lxpanel desktop panel/taskbar. A slightly customized ROX-Filer makes file management easy and provides desktop icons. Tyinh all of these disparate elements together is a full suite of custom configuration tools, wizards, and other gadgets. Most of these are graphical, too, and better yet most of them use the gtk+ toolkit for a nice uniform look. Most file formats should open right up in an appropriate application just by clicking on them in a filer window.

At this point a few people will probably be thinking "Hey, gtk+ is really slow. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about!". But then most distros aren't small enough to run fully in RAM and still leave plenty of free memory for your applications! That's right, in most cases Grafpup loads totally into memory, and all of the applications will open within a couple seconds and respond instantly to your input. The base distro is distributed as a live cd that weighs in slightly more than 100MB. But Grafpup can also be installed quite easily to a usb pendrive, ide flash, a "frugal" install on your hard drive, or in a conventional manner with all the files decompressed onto your hard drive. Even in this last case it will only take up @2-300MB, depending on what extra applications are installed. Even if you just want to run the live cd though, you will still be able to save your files to a hard drive, flash media, or even back to the disk itself.

Extension

Speaking of extra packages, Grafpup comes with a pretty good package manager that resolves dependencies, and there are well over a thousand applications in the repository (and growing). These range from basic command line utilities to full office suites, audio and video production tools, and Java. Both KDE and XFCE desktops are available too.

In addition to conventional packages Grafpup is also able to load compressed modules (they have the .sfs extension) very much like Slax does. This capability is used to package very large applications like OpenOffice, or the full development environment. Just place one of these where you have your save file located and it will be found the next time you boot up. Coming soon there will be a tool to add them in on the fly (we already had this, in a limited fashion, in Grafpup-104).

Security

Most people are aware that Windows has a teriible track record with security. Maybe that is why you are investigating Linux in the first place. Being based on a very recent Linux kernel Grafpup is by it's very nature more secure than Ms Windows. However, some live distros (Puppy Linux included) compromise security somewhat by running all graphical applications as the system administrator. Grafpup is a big departure in this regard and runs a full multi-user environment, just like a conventional *nix is supposed to do. Now it's probably not the world's most secure OS (if you want that run OpenBSD) but the philosify is that things should be secured from the ground up. That means instead of nagging you with passwords and extra security "features" (which are really just ugly patches on a broken system) you have a hardy system which allows you to get your work done. Need to configure something or install a few software packages? Just give the admin password once and do what you need to do. Nothing too difficult here.
Download here or here and try it.

Finnix - Another Small Linux

Finnix is a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators, based on Debian testing. Today marks the release of version 89.0 for the x86 (and now AMD64), PowerPC, and UML/Xen platforms.

Finnix 89.0 features Linux 2.6.18, a new “finnix64″ AMD64 boot profile, netboot support with a built-in netboot setup wizard, MD RAID and LUKS crypt autodetection.

AMD64 support
An AMD64 kernel is now included on the Finnix x86 CD. To use this kernel on an AMD64/EM64T machine, type “finnix64″ at the boot prompt. While the Finnix userland is still 32-bit, using an AMD64 kernel on a supported platform yields several advantages:

* More than 4GB memory can be utilized natively.
* Statically-compiled AMD64 applications can be executed.
* You can chroot into native 64-bit AMD64 filesystems.

This addition gives a total of 6 supported kernel environments: x86, AMD64, PowerPC, PPC64, User Mode Linux, and Xen.

Netboot support
Finnix can now be booted via a network. A NFS server export is set up with the Finnix files in it, and the kernel and initrd are served to the user via TFTP. The Finnix CD contains a utility called finnix-netboot-server, which allows one Finnix instance to serve as a NFS/TFTP server for a Finnix netboot instance.

RAID/LUKS autodetection
Previous Finnix installations would detect and automatically set up LVM volumes. Finnix 89.0 goes two steps further with autodetection for md-based software RAID arrays, and LUKS-based dm-crypt encrypted partitions. Software RAID arrays are set up automatically if all array parts are found, while LUKS partitions are set up if the user types in a valid decryption password for each partition.

You can get it here.

Put Puppy Linux in Flash Drive

You can run Puppy on any bootable USB storage media, such as flash memory, USB-Zip drive and USB-hard-drive. Note, we have developed the habit of referring to a Flash-drive-installed Puppy as "flash-Puppy".
My "first take" with installing Puppy was on a tiny USB Compact Flash (CF) card (plugged into a USB-CF-reader interface), as I really like the idea of having all my personal data and the operating system in something that I can carry in a shirt pocket or wallet. In theory, I can then boot Puppy on any PC with a USB socket.






Simple as anything to go into the BIOS setup during power-up and change the second boot device to "USB ZIP" (Award BIOS) or whatever works for your BIOS.

A warning: Some USB Flash drives are difficult to boot off, and some PCs have BIOSes that do not boot from USB or have peculiar restrictions:

I have a motherboard that I purchased in 2004, and I have a friend with a laptop also purchased new in 2004, and both have one thing in common: the BIOS does not even have an option to boot from USB -- today, that is really pathetic, so do check before purchasing. Bring your Puppy usb pen-drive into the computer shop and see if it boots!

These days USB pen drives have the "standard USB mass storage interface", so will work on any PC running Windows or Linux without needing a special driver. Ditto for many digital cameras and mp3 players (in fact, Puppy can be installed to these!). However, there are some USB memory/camera/mp3-player that do not have a standard mass storage interface, and these will not work with Linux -- make sure before buying and if you find one for sale, be sure to tell the saleperson that it's crap.

How to obtain and install flash-Puppy

Go to the Puppy download page and download live-Puppy (file puppy-xxxx.iso, where "xxxx" is version number plus some options), that boots off a CD. Bootup Puppy, and in the "Setup" menu you will find an entry called "Puppy Universal Installer". Select that, and follow the simple instructions.

It's that simple, however you will of course need a PC with a CD burner to be able to burn the ISO file to CD. If you don't have a CD burner, you will have to use an "iso buster" program (see some links on the Puppy download page) to extract the files out of the ISO file, then follow the manual installation instructions given below.

Ha, ha, it is putting the cart before the horse, but Puppy v2.10 (and later) has ISOMaster (see "Multimedia" menu), which is an "iso buster". You can use it to extract files from and insert files into a ".iso" file. Once you have got your first Puppy live-CD burnt and Puppy running, you will be able to use ISOMaster.

DeLi Linux

DeLi Linux stands for "Desktop Light" Linux. It is a Linux Distribution for old computers, from 486 to Pentium MMX 166 or so. It's focused on desktop usage.
DeLi Linux project includes email clients, graphical web browser, an office package with word processor and spreadsheet, and so on. A full install, including XFree and development tools, needs not more than 250 MB of harddisk space.

The trick is, that DeLi Linux uses only "lightweight" alternative software. If you are looking for the newest KDE, GNOME or Mozilla, DeLi Linux will not make you happy. The test computer is a 486 laptop with 16 MB RAM, and all apps which comes with DeLi Linux are running smoothly.

"Why the heck make a Linux for such old crap ?" you may ask. There are still many computers around with the configuration mentioned above, it would be a shame to waste them. Many people simply cannot buy a 2 Ghz machine for 1000 $ or more, but they can buy a Pentium I 133 for 40 $ from ebay.

Many people are still happy with the computer they bought five years ago. Especially in the so-called third world, new hardware is not affordable. Well, there's still Windows95 or Windows 3.1, which will run on these machines, too. But these versions are not supported by Microsoft anymore, they are no longer in production, and finally, you will not get any software for this old Windows version.

What's New in This Release:

· DeLi Linux 0.7.2 is the next and possibly the last release in the 0.7.x branch. DeLi Linux 0.7.2 have the following new features: Linux kernel 2.4.34.4; X.Org 7.2; a new default web browser, Konq-E (Konqueror Embedded) which has Javascript and CSS support; the pdq print system, which replaces lprng; improved and bug-fixed delisetup, deliget and netinstall; other new packages includes nano, Gutenprint, gv and xaw3d, and the new Liberation fonts from Red Hat.
You can get DeLi Linux here.

Linux on a Stick

Linux on a Stick is an attempt to make a Live-CD/USB-Flash server Linux distro. At its heart is a very small and simple Linux distro that boots off CD/Flash and runs from RAM (Ie no spinning hard drives of death).
This approach allows us to strip the OS to its very basic components, which minimizes the amount of resources required. This distro is targeted towards Server administrator who are familiar with Linux, its only configuration method is the command line.

New Release :

· Linux kernel 2.4.33 was replaced with 2.6.18.8.
· A USB booting problem that would prevent it from booting on some BIOSs (Namely AMI) was resolved.
· The ARDIS iSCSI target was replaced with the Enterprise iSCSI target (v0.4.14).
· The Open iSCSI initiator (v2.0.754) package with kernel modules is included.
· The distribution now boots on more than just Intel CPUs.
· Userland tools (v3.6.19) and kernel FS support were included for ReiserFS and XFS.
· The PHP CLI is included in php-5.2.0 in root.gz initrd.

Packages included with LoaS
LoaS comes with several pre-compiled packages.

Packages included:

BIND-9.2.2
MIDAS-2.3b
bridge-utils-1.1
dhcp-3.0p12
dhcpcd-1.3.22-p14
httpd-2.0.59
iptables-1.2.8
ipvsadm-1.21-11
iscsid-ardis-20040211
joe-2.9.8
jta-2.0
libssl.0.9.7
mdadm-2.2
messagewall-0.9.5
mod_auth_xradius-0.4.6
mod_line_edit-1.0
mysql-4.0.15a
net-snmp-5.1.1
ntop-3.0
ntp-4.1.2
openssh-3.7.1p2
openvpn-2.0
php-5.2.0
privoxy-3.0.3
proftpd-1.2.8p
samba-2.2.8a
squid-2.6
syslog-1.4.1
zebra-0.95a

All packages are compiled and linked using Slackware 9.1. Packages are simply BZip2'ed tar balls with a specific directory structure. This makes creating additional packages very simple.

You can download LoaS here.

Nokia 330 - Linux Satellite Navigation

The Nokia 330 is a Satellite Navigation system (Nokia call it “Auto Navigation”) that bears a passing resemblance to the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. Like the 770, the Nokia 330 isn’t a phone but the really surprising thing lies deep underneath.

One nice feature with the Nokia 330 is that it can play back multimedia content, such as videos and MP3 music tracks. It also comes with Bluetooth, presumably so that traffic updates and other value added features can be accessed. Overall, the Nokia 330 is a pretty slim satellite navigation system at 81 x 109 x 30mm and 205 grams in weight. The sales package includes the “gooseneck” mounting kit, a memory card, phone holder and USB cable.

The Nokia 330 comes with the Route 66 Satellite Navigation system and it offers pan-European mapping (although not every country has 100% coverage). The maps are preloaded on a 2Gb memory card, which can also be used to store other data. The navigation software has the usual combination of spoken and visual directions, 2D/3D views, and it comes with a touch-sensitive 3.5″ display. The GPS receiver is a SiRF III GSC3 unit.

Source: EliteZoom

Nokia N800 - Linux Internet Tablet

Nokia N800 is the follow-up with compressed Internet of Nokia 770, building on the platform of Maemo Linux developed by Nokia. N800 employs the third incarnation of Maemo, called edition 2007 of OS of compressed Internet which adds some new devices to the edition 2006 (which was in oneself an enormous improvement above the original platform).

It is harshly the same size as its predecessor - measurements of Nokia N800 75×144x13mm and weighs 206 grams. The 770 were 230 grams in its protective case, and 185 grams without him. N800 divides the same thing display excelé of the Pixel 800×480 of its predecessor. it is a display very of high resolution which puts competition at shame. N800 adds a webcam more of the improvements to the execution of WiFi and Bluetooth of the tablet.

A principal weakness of old men 770 was an internal lack of storage, and this was increased in N800. N800 also accepts a large variety of charts of memory, including RS-MMS, miniSD, microSD and units of MMCmobile, which gives much flexibility. A nice contact is that N800 has an integrated stand, one of the first things which are lost on 770 older.

It is important to note that Nokia N800 is not a telephone, although it supports Skype in the future. Connectivity is by the adaptor of N800 WLAN, or via a telephone of Bluetooth. The 770 were not limited on the telephones of Nokia either, thus you should be able to employ just about any Bluetooth fixed at the hand with the telephones of N800, including 3G, of EV-DO and HSDPA.

Range of the software available now and in the future for the demostrates of Nokia N800 clearly that it is a ultra-compact computer. There is a version of the web browser of opera, a customer of email, newsreader of RSS, player of multi-media, plays plus a range of the utilities and other applications. It will be also possible to employ N800 with a receiver of GPS like satellite system of navigation.

Nokia N800 has various glances too much - the 770 were a little, N800 is polished more and contemporary. One or the other manner, both compressed Internet of Nokia has the abundance of the factor of defect of the sound reproduction. particularly when people see the quality of display.

You could regard Nokia N800 as of compressed Internet of Nokia. The original version of the 770 had the abundance of the approximate edges (call it version 1.0) which were mainly fixed by the OS 2006 (call it version 1.1). Perhaps N800 will be polished enough to make him an adapted product for human consumption, while old men 770 were really for enthusiasts.
Source: EliteZoom

Vector Linux

Speed, performance, stability -- these are attributes that set VectorLinux apart in the crowded field of Linux distributions. VectorLinux is a lighterweight, fast, Linux operating system for Intel-AMD x86 compatible systems and is based upon Slackware, one of the original Linux distributions. Slackware is the true 'Unix' of Linux distributions and its popularity stems from the fact that it is a robust, versatile and almost unbreakable system. VectorLinux has improved Slackware to produce a bloat free, easy to install, configure and maintain operating system that is second to none. We include automatic hardware configuration, unique administration tools and easy software package management via the Gslapt/slapt-get system. VectorLinux is considered to be the fastest, non-source Linux distribution on the planet!
The VectorLinux team is proud to announce the release of VectorLinux 5.8 GOLD LIVE CD and the first SOHO-5.8 alpha live CD and DVD. This is the final release for 5.8 standard GOLD live. The hard drive installer that has been problematic is fixed and should work well. The SOHO 5.8 alpha live comes in either CD or DVD versions. The DVD version includes all that is in the SOHO-5.8 install release plus 62 additional language packs for KDE. The CD version has lost some funtionality due to size constraints. The development tool chain and OpenOffice (replaced by Koffice) were removed. However, for demo purposes the CD live version of SOHO-5.8 should work well.

These live CD's demo all that is making the 5.8 Vector release famous like browser plugins, seamonkey firefox and opera, the newest xfce4 desktop, The Gimp and Xara LX, Abiword and Gnumeric, vasm and vl-hot, wireless drivers and configuration tools, support for read and write to ntfs via fuse and ntfs-3g, and lots of fun and games.
You can download the ISO here.

Wizpy - Linux Gadget

TurboLinux has delivered Wizpy in Japan, a portable media device. It can be used as a video player, music player, recording, FM radio, picture viewer, e-book… I almost forgot, it has TurboLinux installed and when it is connected to a computer is a portable hard drive as well. Sweet! Wizpy also has 1.71“ OLED screen, 4GB of flash memory, weights only 60g and is accessible through the USB 2.0 port. The best thing about Wizpy is its versatility. If you’re on the move, you can take advantage of the entertainment features that are offered by this all-in-one portable device that looks and acts like a PDA.

One of the biggest advantages of Wizpy is the portable hard drive feature and the bootable Linux operating system. TurboLinux is the popular Linux distribution in Asia, and hence it’s on Wizpy! When Wizpy is plugged into a computer it acts like a portable drive and all you have to set is the boot options for the USB and you’re working in TurboLinux. The TurboLinux Fuji operating system itself has a lot of bundled applications, like Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, Skype, OpenOffice etc. I often use portable applications when I’m working away on other computers. There’s something about the ability to save your accounts, bookmarks, data etc. that makes me love this solution by TurboLinux. Imagine, you just sit on another computer, plug-in your Wizpy and there’s your operating system, data, the familiar look… Also, there are a lot of other useful features like the availability to install additional software, make software updates and use P2P services. One of the disadvantages of Wizpy is that the files can be locally stored in the /media folder, accessible when it is attached to the host PC, or in the documents folder, when they are accessible by the operating system itself. Also, the files on the host PC are not accessible. But, Wizpy is an interesting portable media device, and the bootable TurboLinux is a nice thing when you’re going to show off to your friends later on in 2007, when the global release is scheduled.

Installing DSL to a USB Flash Drive (Linux way)

Installing Damn Small Linux to a USB Flash Drive from your Linux Desktop

Here the steps for doing that:
Minimum size for USB Drive: 128MB.
Save all of your data on your USB to another storage medium, such as a CD/DVD or hard drive.

• Begin by determining the location of your flash drive. It will be something like /dev/sda

 fdisk -l

• Check your syslinux version and upgrade it if you want FAT32 support. (Syslinux 2.11 works for FAT16; Syslinux 3.35 works for FAT32). Compile & install the latest syslinux from here.
  
• If you need to wipe the MBR on the Flash Disk, do it with a command like below. This shouldn't be necessary unless there's another funky bootloader in the MBR (like, if you were experimenting with another bootable USB linux distro).

 dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=512 count=1

( BE *VERY* CAREFUL NOT TO WIPE YOUR HARD DRIVE'S MBR HERE!!!)

Download ms-sys then install and put another MBR in its place:

 ms-sys -s /dev/sdX

Another way to put MBR in its place is using 'mbr.bin' 512 bytes file from the Syslinux package:

   locate mbr.bin
 cat /somepath/share/syslinux/mbr.bin > /dev/sdX

• Run fdisk on /dev/sdX, so it looks like this:

    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdX1   *           1        1021      253177    b  W95 FAT32

Use d to delete existing partitions until none remain.
Use n,p,1 to create a new primary partition. Use a to make it bootable.
Use t,b to make it W95 FAT32. Don't forget to hit a to make it bootable!
Use w to save the changes and exit

• Download the dsl-embedded zipfile.
• Create a FAT16 or FAT32 partition on the pendrive:
  

mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdX1 ("-F 32" will do FAT32; "-F 16" will do FAT16)

• Mount the pendrive & unzip the dsl-embedded.zip file onto this.
• Unmount the pendrive
• Type syslinux -s /dev/sdX1 to make it bootable.
• You can now boot via QEMU (from within Linux or windows), OR as native from the USB drive.
• You can also run DSL from a GRUB bootloader menu on your USB key. This is very useful if you're using DSL as part of a data/system rescue toolkit, as you can include multiple preset configurations of DSL as well as other utilities.

Note: syslinux needs the package "mcopy" included in the package "mtools".
Note: Unfortunately, this method does NOT give a 50MB Linux Distribution because qemu dir
and method is (comparatively) big. You will end up with a 110MB distribution.
Note: The iocharset=utf8 option when mounting the USB stick may result in
the "KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX" not being found upon booting.

Method I: Using GRUB as boot loader

Note: This method has been reported not to work under certain conditions

• Download the current.iso dsl-cd image.
• Create an ext2 partition (=> 51MB) on pendrive. Mount it.

    mke2fs -v -L "DSL" /dev/
   mkdir -p /tmp/pendrive
   mount /dev/ /tmp/pendrive/

where is the corresponding file which represents your USB storage device/partition.

Note: ext3 is ok too.

• Change to the directory where you mounted the ext2 partition, install GRUB boot loader:

    cd /tmp/pendrive/
   grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=. /dev/

Note: Replace with the corresponding file which represents your USB storage device/partition.
Note 2: This method did not work for me, I used the manual method of running grub and
entered "root (hd1,1)" and "setup (hd1)" (your paths will probably vary).

• Copy the contents of the cd image to the usb drive.

    mkdir /tmp/dsl-cd
   mount [/path_to/]current.iso /tmp/dsl-cd/ -o loop
   cp -vR /tmp/dsl-cd/* /tmp/pendrive/

• While in the same directory - where you mounted the ext2 filesystem - create a menu.lst file for grub in the directory ./boot/grub/menu.lst

   cat > /tmp/pendrive/boot/grub/menu.lst << root="/dev/sda1" lang="us">
    Note: You might have to change (hd0,0) to the correct partition for your USB drive. However,
    the default should work on most systems. 
 Unmount the filesystem. 
 You can now boot from your USB storage device
Method II: Using GRUB as boot loader  
Someone found the above process doesn't work and has documented for others
this working process 
The Situation:  
 Running SLED 10 (Suse) 
 The USB key is a 1GB and appears as /dev/sda 
 Logged in as root 
 The DSL ISO is downloaded to /root/Desktop/dsl-3.3.iso 
 Two partitions, the first to use as general USB storage, the second for DSL 
 The DSL partition wanted to be ext3 so that Windows doesn't mess it up 
 The first partition needs to be the big storage one as Windows doesn't
  like addressing the second partition on flash drives
Here is the procedure:  
 fdisk /dev/sda 
 d - Delete all partitions on the key 
 n - Make a partition 
 p - Primary partition for general storage 
 1 - First partition 
 1 - From the first block 
 948 - Most of the space, about 933MB 
 
 n - Make a partition 
 p - Primary partition for DSL 
 2 - Second partition 
 949 - Start from the next available sector 
 1012 - To the end of the disk.  I give it 64MB 
 
 a - Make the partition bootable 
 2 - Mark the DSL partition bootable 
 
 t - Change the partition type 
 1 - Change partition 1 
 b - Change it to Win95 FAT32 
 
 w - Write the changes 
 
 fdisk -l   - Gives the following output: 
 
        Device    Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         948      954131+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2   *         949        1012       64416   83  Linux
 Your flash drive should now look like this

 mkdir /mnt/iso 
 mkdir /mnt/usb 
 mount -o loop /root/Desktop/dsl-3.3.iso /mnt/iso 
 mke2fs /dev/sda2 
 
Note: If you want to have an ext3 filesystem, add the -j flag: mke2fs -j /dev/sda2 
 
 mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/usb/ 
 cd /mnt/iso 
 tar cvf - . | (cd /mnt/usb; tar xvf - ) 
 mkdir /mnt/usb/boot/grub 
 cp /boot/grub/*stage* /mnt/usb/boot/grub/ 
 cat > /mnt/usb/boot/grub/menu.lst
 
 title Damn Small Linux
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/isolinux/linux24 root=/dev/sda1 ro lang=us toram noeject frugal
initrd /boot/isolinux/minirt24.gz
boot
cd /mnt/usb/ 
 grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=. /dev/sda 
 cd /root 
 umount /mnt/usb 
 umount /mnt/iso 
 rm -r /mnt/iso 
 rm -r /mnt/usb 
 Done! Your DamnSmallLinux on USB is ready. Reboot and try it!!

SLAX - The Pocket Linux

SLAX is fast and beautiful Linux operating system which fits on small (3.14") CD-ROM disc. It runs directly from the CD (or USB) without installing. The Live CD described here is based on the Slackware Linux distribution and uses Unification File System (also known as unionfs), allowing read-only filesystem to behave as a writable one, saving all changes to memory.

Imagine the ability to boot your favorite Linux distribution whether you are at home, at school, or at work. Imagine walking on the street and carrying the only thing you needed in life - the 8cm compact disk with your Live Linux CD. Wouldn't you want to experience such a feeling?

When your computer boots from the LiveCD, the first step is loading the kernel image (vmlinuz). After this, a 4 MB ramdisk is created in the computer's RAM. The rootdisk image (initrd.gz) is then unpacked into it and mounted as a root filesystem. Large directories (like /usr) are mounted directly from the CDROM.

Features

The primary goal of SLAX is to provide a wide collection of useful software while keeping the cd's image small enough to be written to a 185 MB CD-R(W) medium (small 8 cm CD). SLAX boots directly from the CD or USB devices and it provides a full featured Linux operating system

Modularity

With other Live Linux systems, you're stuck with the type and amount of applications the creator decided to include. With SLAX, you can customize the system to fit your needs, by adding additional software in the form of compressed modules. SLAX itself is very useful without any modules, but you can add a lot of own programs to make it even more suitable for your needs.

Speed

Other Live CDs contain all software in a single compressed file. If you run such a Live OS from CD-ROM, the CD drive has to seek back and forth really frequently, because different files are located on different locations of the CD medium. This makes the system notably slow.

With SLAX, all conformable parts of the filesystem are compressed to a standalone file, which doesn't contain anything else. For example, all files which belongs to Xwindow are packed in xwindow.mo, KOffice related stuff is in koffice.mo, etc. If you work with KOffice, you usually need only files from KOffice and nothing else; and hence all files from that part of the filesystem are separated from the rest of it, your CD drive has to seek only in a 10 MB area. This significantly improves the speed.

Other features

SLAX 5 is the most inovative and promissing SLAX ever. It switched to 2.6 kernel line. Zisofs compression was replaced by SquashFS, which provides better compression ratio and higher read speed. Ovlfs (which was the most amazing and exciting feature specific only for SLAX) was replaced by unionFS. And finally, slax-installer GUI was created.

SLAX CD contains

- Linux kernel 2.6 offering excellent hardware support
- the newest ALSA sound drivers
- ndiswrapper for loading Windows drivers for WIFI cards
- madwifi drivers for native support for WIFI cards (Multiband Atheros)
- X11 (xorg) Xwindow system, supporting many gfx cards and wheel mice automatically
- KDE 3.5, an excellent desktop software
- webconfig feature allowing you to save your session data to slax' web

You can get the 6th preview of Slax 6 here.
More info about Slax can you reach from its site.

The Linux-based Motorola RAZR2 V8 : Reviewing

The RAZR2 V8 is a quad-band GSM and EDGE phone, it features two 240x320 TFT screens (one internal 2.2" and one external touchscreen 2.0"), 512 MBs internal storage out of which 420 MBs are accessible, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support, a microUSB charging/data/audio port, and a 2 MP camera without flash. The V8 came with a headset, a British-style charger (PureMobile added to the package both a converter and a mini-USB Motorola-branded charger), a microUSB 2.0 data cable, CDs and manuals, and a 770 mAh Li-Ion battery.

The V8 is one of the most beautiful phones ever released. It is RAZR on steroids in terms of industrial design. It is extremely thin (11.9 mm), weighs 117 gr and feels "right" on the user's palm with its stainless steel frame. It features volume up and volume down buttons on the left (also couple as user-profile selectors), a lock/unlock/confirm button below that, and a voice recognition/camera-shutter button on the right. Each time you click these buttons there is a vibration effect that provides tactile feedback. The external QVGA screen is a touchscreen one, but it only works as such when you are using the music player or when reading SMS. All other functions/screens shown in the external display don't have any touchscreen support. Speaking about the screens, the internal one is very bright, and while the external one is of the same quality as the internal one, it is not so bright because it does not have its own TFT light but it piggybacks on the internal's one. This is a good trick to save battery life, while by using the same resolution for both screens the graphics and menus don't have to be redesigned, so it saved Motorola engineering time.


As for the internal keypad, it feels better and more rigid than previous RAZR phones. While this is a very thin phone, it has a very strong infrastructure. I can definitely "trust" the hardware to not fall apart in pieces or break. The only problematic thing I found about the hardware is that it's getting really hot when playing music or talking for more than 10 minutes on the phone. Reception was amazing, one of the best phones we ever tested. Voice quality was good too, although the placement of the microphone was an unfortunate one: instead of placing the mic in the middle of the keypad, it's placed on the right side of the keypad, so if you are using the phone with your left hand, there is a good chance that your fingers will cover the mic. Battery life was not too bad either, although it seems to be reducing fast if you also play music or use the EDGE network. Overall, we managed 4 hours of talk, while standby was not bad either.

The phone uses a microUSB connector, which unfortunately is not as standard as the miniUSB. If you need a new headset, or a new charger or a new data cable, well, good luck with that. It will take some time before the market is caught up to yet another kind of jack. I am unhappy about the microUSB connector mostly because the needed thickness to implement a miniUSB port in the phone does exist on the top & bottom parts.

Our version of the V8, which comes from Hong Kong, comes with a 512 MB internal flash storage, out of which 420 MB are available for usage. The American version that will be sold by T-Mobile, will have 2 GBs in it. The other three major US carriers will not be using the V8, but the V9, which is *not* Linux-based but instead it's using Motorola's old operating system (and it's actually a somewhat bigger/heavier phone). Very unfortunately, there is no microSD slot on the V8 (there is on the V9), so all you get is 420 MBs of storage, and no FM radio (in case you run out of music space).

On the highlights, we found the Bluetooth 2.0 performance. It maxed out in file transfer at 95 KB/sec, it worked great with two A2DP music headphones we had around, plus a mono voice headset. Speaking about audio, the included headset is one of the best we've seen included with cellphones. I have smaller ears than most people so I have difficulty using earphones, but V8's fitted fine -- for the most part. Audio quality was top notch, while voice was good too: the headset has a answer/hangup big button too just like in the iPhone.

The 2MP camera is one of the better ones we've seen on phones, albeit without flash. It has a night mode, but even without it, it performs well on low-light. A funny thing was that on the first ever boot of the phone, it would refuse to snap a picture for us, but after a reboot it never exhibited the same problem again. A cool feature is that if you open the camera application and then close the phone, you will see yourself via the camera in the external screen, like a mirror (although you unfortunately can't snap a picture or video in this mode). The phone won't zoom-in when on 2MP mode, but it will zoom-in up to 4x when on video or VGA/QVGA picture mode. The only bummer is, the phone is not capable of recording video in QVGA format, but instead only in QCIF one (176x144). More over, it will refuse to playback 30fps QVGA mp4 files, as it already drops frames with 15fps ones. Video performance was always very poor on Motorola's Linux phones, either when they used to come with RealPlayer, or their current video player. The music portion of the phone offered us a better experience with MP3 and WMA, and especially with its external screen support.

Now, regarding the actual software: the phone is running on the MotoMAGX platform instead of their previous one called EZX. While EZX used exclusively a 2.4.2x kernel, the V8 uses a 2.6.10 one. When the native SDK will be released next year, there is a good chance that this phone will be supported. Problem is, you will have to wait a whole year before -- and if-- you get any native applications to install in it. Until then you can only install Java applications and so this phone must be called a "feature phone" rather than a true "smartphone" as of yet.

On the V8 you will find a pretty flexible file manager with a lot of options and information, a calendar, alarm, tasks, SyncML support, email, SMS, MMS, photo dialing, a good multimedia navigator, there is theme support, some pre-installed games, J2ME 2.0 support (Opera Mini 3.x, Gmail and Google Maps worked great but Opera Mini 4 beta had problems). The V8 allows you to run more than one Java application at the same time, but there is no application switcher utility. The phone's browser is an Opera v8.50 port which worked adequately well, it had a full screen mode and it managed javascript and CSS too. There are various audio profiles to choose from too, but if you want to turn ON flight mode you need to restart the phone and choose that in the "login" screen, it won't do it via the profiles.

While under the hood the MotoMAGX platform has changed significantly over the EZX, the actual user experience hasn't, compared to the previous non-touchscreen Linux devices from Motorola (e.g. the Z6 or the ROKR E2). I still have the exact same problems as I had last year, and the year before that: the inaccurate battery reading, the artificial inability to boot without a SIM, the 12 clicks you need in order to turn ON/OFF Bluetooth, the low video playback performance, its inability to both vibrate and ring at the same time (this feature is actually implemented in the software, but was again artificially removed as Motorola for some reason usually does for most of its phones) and more. The only application that seems to be somewhat rewritten is the camera app.

One funny bug we noticed is that when you boot the phone, the "Options" menu in the front-screen is normal and your modified user settings have *not* loaded correctly by the phone, but if you then close the phone and the external display's configuration data is loaded, and then you re-open the phone, your user settings are now active and the "Options" menu has now reloaded with new data (we know that because there is a typo in the second set). Finally, it is not yet a good phone to hack on with Linux, and it probably will never be as the rumor at LinuxWorld Expo had it that the API prohibits full access to the system (the native Linux apps will be somewhat restricted, just like Java apps are).

The way I see the user interface of MotoMAGX is that is lacking compared to the usability of Symbian S60. There is no copy/paste, the UI feels disconnected and not well-thought. To be honest, I think that older Motorola users who used the old Moto OS, will absolutely love the new Linux UI. Why? Because it is a definitive upgrade for them! It's so much better than the old OS. But users who are already on Symbian S60 or on a touchscreen-based smartphone, they won't be easily lured away no matter the good hardware looks of the V8.

Overall, this is a great upgrade for existing Motorola users, or for users who want a sleek-looking phone. Its industrial design makes justice to carry the name "RAZR", and the software is a step-up from the previous RAZR offerings. However, while this is one big step for Motorola as they announced that 60% of their phones will be Linux-based in the future, they still need to make more steps (and quickly) to properly compete with Nokia and the other smartphone players in that market.

Source: OSNews

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• AdSense SEO
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Read and good luck friend!

Mini Linux PC breaks $100 barrier

Taiwanese integrator E-Way Technology Systems is shipping a tiny, 200MHz x86-compatible mini PC for $99, in single quantities. The TU-40 is passively cooled, comes with 128MB of RAM, and can run lightweight versions of Linux, such as Puppy Linux, the company says.

The TU-40

E-Way says the TU-40 is suitable for use as a low-end embedded system, industrial controller, set-top box, or thin client. It could also be used in vertical applications, such as electronic signage and industrial control, the company suggests. Cost drops to $85 in large volumes, the company adds.

The TU-40 is based on an unspecified 200MHz processor said to be x86-compatible -- possibly an SiS550. It comes standard with 128MB of RAM, of which up to 8MB can be shared by the integrated graphics processor.


The TU-40, shown with optional serial ports and coax connector

I/O includes:

• 15-pin D-type female VGA connector
  
• 10/100 Ethernet
  
• 44-pin EIDE interface header
  
• CompactFlash Type I/II slot
  
• 1 x front and 2 x rear USB ports
  
• PS/2 keyboard and 6-pin mini-DIN mouse port
  
• AMI BIOS
  
• Battery-backed RTC (real-time clock)
  
• AC-97 V2.1 compliant CODEC
  
• MIC-in & line-out phone jacks
  
• 0 to 108 deg F (0 to 60 deg C) operating range
  

Additionally, the system is optionally available with pre-installed flash and microdrives, a mini-PCI slot, and an 802.11b/g WiFi module.

The TU-40 appears to be physically identical to another sub-$100 PC announced last month, and said to be capable of running Puppy -- NorhTec's MicroClient Jr. (pictured at right). However, the TU-40 has a 200MHz CPU, instead of the 166MHz CPU previously reported available in the NohrTec PC.

Like the MicroClient Jr., the TU-40 is housed in a tiny, square case 4.5 inches (11.5cm) to a side, and 1.4 inches (3.5cm) high. It weighs 1lbs., 2 ounces (500grams), draws up to 3 amps of 5-volt power, and comes with an AC adapter. The TU-40 system is CE and FCC certified, and complies with RoHS requirements, according to E-Way.

E-Way president Stephen Frieberger said that the company started six years ago, as an embedded Linux consultant to customers that included "the world's top three notebook manufacturers, the top two Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers, the Taiwan Phone Company, and many top tier factories including Acer, Tatung, [and] Gigabyte, and even the Taiwan Air Force." The company developed its own embedded Linux kernel, Frieberger said, which can auto detect hardware and boot in about 25 seconds, while supporting systems as slow as 166MHz, with 64MB of RAM.

Currently, E-Way manufactures its own hardware designs in Taiwan and China, with the goal of offering "quality systems at world's lowest costs," Frieberger said. The company has grown 250 percent per year for five years, and plans a NASDAQ IPO in 2007, he claims.

Availability

The TU-40 is available now, at $99 in single quantities, with pricing as low as $85 in larger quantities.

Wolvix - Another Slackware family

Wolvix is a LiveDistro built from Slackware and the Linux-Live scripts. It's a desktop and multimedia oriented Linux distribution designed to suit the needs of regular to advanced desktop users. Wolvix comes with the Xfce desktop environment and the Fluxbox window manager and includes a carefully selected group of development, graphics, multimedia, network and office applications.

Features:

• Portable: Bring Wolvix along wherever you go on CD or USB media.
• Modular: Customize it by adding additional software modules.
• Compact: Small in size with a comprehensive suite of programs.
• Flexible: It runs from CD and USB, or as Frugal or Full install on a HDD.

The final release of Wolvix Cub and Wolvix Hunter version 1.1.0 has done. Get the ISO's from the download mirrors or from LinuxTracker. You can also support us by purchasing a nicely printed CD of Wolvix Cub or Wolvix Hunter from On-Disk.com.

Download Wolvix Cub: Download Mirrors | LinuxTracker

Download Wolvix Hunter: Download Mirrors | LinuxTracker

SmoothWall Express 3 - "Polar" Has Released

SmoothWall Express 3.0, a free firewall distribution that includes its own security-hardened GNU/Linux operating system and an easy-to-use web interface, has been released. Express 3.0 is our latest version of the long running and successful SmoothWall Express firewall.

New features relative to 2.0: supports a 4th network card for Wireless Access Points; 64-bit support; based upon Linux 2.6 kernel; new realtime traffic graph shows traffic bandwidth usage over time (AJAX); per-IP address traffic statistics collection in all traffic stats pages; Instant Messenger proxy with logging and filtering abilities; SATA and SCSI support; streamlined installer and setup; outbound filtering; new update mechanism which can download and install all pending updates with a single click....

Polar is available in four editions:

• User edition - 32bit
• Developer edition - 32bit
• User edition - 64bit
• Developer edition - 64bit

The developer editions includes the complete SmoothWall Express functionality, but also contains the needed tools for working on Express itself, including complete builds, check outs and commits. It is therefore possible for interested coders to work on Express from their very own firewall. This marks a turning point for SmoothWall: it is now easier then ever for people to work on the project, make custom modifications and get involved with the SmoothWall team.

Please bear in mind that in order to do full builds of Express, a reasonable spec machine and a fair of amount of patience is required. Typical build times are about 5 hours for a 1Ghz machine.

64bit support

Degu (the version before Sammy, our Release Candidate) was the first ever version of SmoothWall to come in multiple architectures: 32bit, for standard x86 compatibles; and 64bit, for Intel Core 2s (and other Intels with 64bit support) and 64bit Athlon chips. This change to multiple processor types means that updates are specific to the different architectures. We are especially interested to hear from people running Smoothie on 64bit machines.

Please note that there are some small limitations on hardware support when running on a 64bit machine. The BeWAN driver, used in Smoothie for years, is not available on 64bit machines because it uses a binary blob (compiled code) that is not available for 64bit machines. Also, the Connexant driver does not work on 64bit machines.

Headline new features relative to 2.0.

• Supports a 4th NIC for Wireless Access Points.
• 64bit support - additional builds for 64bit Intel and AMD chips.
• Based upon linux 2.6 kernel.
• New realtime traffic graph shows traffic bandwidth usage over time (AJAX).
• Per-IP address traffic statistics collection in all traffic stats pages - you can now view weekly, monthly, etc totals for specific internal IPs, or see which local IP is using the most bandwidth, in real-time.
• IM proxy with logging and filtering abilities (MSN/AIM/ICQ/Yahoo).
• SATA/SCSI support.
• Support for many new gigabit NICs.
• Streamlined installer/setup.
• Quality-of-Service (QoS) support for traffic-shaping and management - nice and easy to use but powerful, can traffic shape Peer-to-Peer traffic.
• SIP proxy support using siproxd, with transparent mode.
• Protection-level profile selector at install time can be used to pre-configure default settings.
• Timed-access feature for allowing or blocking access to a list of IPs or subnets based on time of day and day of the week.
• Outbound filtering.
• Portforward and other networking pages now use the new service list controls.
• New update mechanism which can download and install all pending updates with a single click.
• Brand new even prettier theme. The polar bear is back!
• Devel editions for people interested in hacking on smoothie.

Detailed list of new features and impovements

• Added support for empty hostnames in Dynamic DNS pages.
• Runtime kernel now has DMA support for all supported IDE chipsets. Added bridging module (but no tools) for people who want to work with bridging.
• Added ISC DHCP integration option to dnsmasq, but no UI.
• Added support for setting the NTP servers that the DHCP server will supply to clients. DHCP server now marks itself as "authorative".
• Hostname can now only contain valid chars to stop the situation where you could set a hostname that would be incompatible to squid.
• Minor fixes to the networking probe setup code.
• Added support for the VT8237A VIA SATA chip.
• Updated autorun HTML page so it looks supercool.
• Swap sized according to the amount of RAM.
• Widended setup password entry from 20 to 25 chars.
• Added support for more gigabit nics.
• Added Conexant ADSL PCI support.
• UPnP support using miniunpd.
• Online help now has a glossary.
• The "Other" system log viewer has been renamed "System" logs.
• Slashes now allowed in PPP usernames and passwords to fix problems with some ISPs.
• Cleanups of install and setup code. Also changed probing so it will not re-probe from the top of the list after adding a NIC.
• Added EHCI USB, and TUN/TAP modules, but neither are ever loaded at present.
• Smoothd privileged deamon replacing setuid helpers, increasing the speed of te web interface.
• Installer now supports USB keyboards and CDROMS, making it possible to install Smoothie Express on "legacy-free" hardware.
• Now includes a POP3 proxy with support for Anti-Virus using ClamAV.
• Online validation using javascript to show input validity before the Add and Save buttons have been pressed.
• Many core components have been version-bumped to the latest versions for improved security and reliability.
• Tables of data are now sortable.
• Can update snort rules using sourcefire's "Oink code" mechanism.
• Comments can be included in portforwards and similar listed items.
• Can now DROP bad traffic instead of REJECTing it.
• GREEN is probed with the other NICs now so it is possible to replace GREEN.
• Firewall log viewer looks much nicer and has some AJAX coolness.
• Includes many new NIC drivers that are in 2.6.
• NTP service for the local network.
• Local hosts list that can be served through the DNS proxy.
• Replacement traffic stats page.
• Many internal changes to make the code more organised and easier to work with.
• Jazzed up control page.
• Easier to use log viewers with Google-style pagination.

Installing

The installer will automatically probe for and load SATA and SCSI drivers if no IDE disk is found.

The old "media menu" has gone. While only CDROM installs are supported, it isn't needed anyway, but in the future it will not be needed anyway because the installer will know what type of install is required.

To speed along the install, the ISDN, ADSL, and DHCP screens are not automatically presented. Instead a menu appears where these features can be configured.

IM proxy

3.0 incorporates an IM (Instant Messenger) proxy called IMSpector that is able to log and filter IM conversations in a variety of protocols including MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo and IRC. This proxy also has an optional swear-word filter with a premade list of naughty words. The configuration page is under services; log viewer is under logs and is noteworthy because it shows conversations as they happen by using AJAX techniques to update the webpage.

Other notes

We've made a small change to the call-home process. It will now send back a dump of "lspci", "lsmod" and the USB device table. This was done so we could hopefully in the future build a compatibility matrix for smoothie from this data. Such a chart might even be useful to the Linux community as a whole as well.

To enhance the security of the web interface, a password is now required to view the home page whereas previously this page was publicly viewable from the internal network. Any valid username (admin, dial, etc) will be able to view the home page.

The traffic graphs page shows traffic stats for each interface, with current hour, current, day etc totals, as well as "real time" reports of traffic load on each interface. Note that this code was written for the commercial series of SmoothWall products, GPLd, and included in Express. We'd love to see this particular piece of software used in other projects as well.

A new page, bandwidth bars, shows a continually updated representation of the bandwidth usage for each interface which is updated once a second through the use of AJAX and Javascript.

The time server is enabled on the "time" screen under Preferences. The timeserver (based on openntpd) has been tested against linux (ntpd etc) and Windows and works well. The time server will service requests on the GREEN side only.

The update mechanism has been reworked. In addition to the older "refresh updates list", download, upload and install mechanism, Express 3.0 has a semi automated installer. This will perform the actions of downloading and installing updates (in sequence) by use of a single update button. This should allow for much easier maintenance.

The ISO's of this Polar release can you download in:
32 Bit Version: Download (MD5): smoothwall-express-3.0-i386.iso (68.9MB)
And it's 64 Bit: smoothwall-express-3.0-x86_64.iso (70.3MB)

Ubuntu On USB Flashdisk

Here the step of USB Flashdisk Ubuntu installation tutorial:

1. Download the Ubuntu ISO and burn it to a CD. You can get it here.
2. Reboot your computer into Ubuntu from the Live CD
3. Insert a 1GB or larger USB flash drive
4. Open a terminal window and type sudo su
5. Type fdisk -l to list available drives/partitions. Note which device is your flash drive (example: /dev/sda) Throughout this tutorial, replace x with your flash drive letter. For example, if your flash drive is sdb, replace x with b.
* type umount /dev/sdx1
* type fdisk /dev/sdx
* type p to show the existing partition and d to delete it
* type p again to show any remaining partitions (if partitions exist, repeat step 3)
* type n to make a new partition
* type p for primary partition
* type 1 to make this the first partition
* hit enter to use the default 1st cylinder
* type +700M to set the partition size
* type a to make this partition active
* type 1 to select partition 1
* type t to change the partition filesystem
* type 6 to select the fat16 file system
* type n to make another new partition
* type p for primary partition
* type 2 to make this the second partition
* hit enter to use the default cylinder
* hit enter again to use the default last cylinder
* type w to write the new partition table

6. Type umount /dev/sdx1 to ensure the 1st partition is unmounted
7. Type mkfs.vfat -F 16 -n usb /dev/sdx1 to format the first partition
8. Type umount /dev/sdx2 to ensure the 2nd partition is unmounted
9. Type mkfs.ext2 -b 4096 -L casper-rw /dev/sdx2 to format the second partition
10. Remove and Re-insert your flash drive
11. Back at the terminal, type sudo apt-get install syslinux mtools
12. Type syslinux -sf /dev/sdx1
13. Download this custom usyslinux.tar file using the archive manager and extract the syslinux.cfg file to your “USB” stick
14. Type cd /cdrom
15. Type cp -rf casper disctree dists install pics pool preseed .disk isolinux/* md5sum.txt README.diskdefines ubuntu.ico casper/vmlinuz casper/initrd.gz install/mt86plus /media/usb/
16. Reboot your computer and set your system BIOS to boot from USB-HDD or USB-ZIP. Also set the boot priority if necessary.

If everything has gone as it should, you should now be able to boot Ubuntu from the USB flash device and it should save your changes, restoring them on boot.

Notes:
If your having trouble getting Ubuntu to boot, your memory stick may have a corrupted mbr. To repair the mbr of your USB device, at the terminal type sudo apt-get install lilo then type lilo -M /dev/sdx (replacing x with the letter of your flash device)

DSL, Damn Small Linux

The author said that DSL was originally developed as an experiment to see how many usable desktop applications can fit inside a 50MB live CD. It was at first just a personal tool/toy. But over time Damn Small Linux grew into a community project with hundreds of development hours put into refinements including a fully automated remote and local application installation system and a very versatile backup and restore system which may be used with any writable media including a hard drive, a floppy drive, or a USB device.

The default Window Manager is fluxbox which is very light and responsive. For users who are used to Beryl, it will look dated. However, the default theme is colorful and isn't distractingly old. The desktop icons were chosen very well chosen and even though you may not have heard of "Siag", you can see that it's a spreadsheet program. In fact, I didn't have any problems at all using any of the alternate, lightweight programs included with Damn Small Linux 3.2.

Here's a rundown of the software you get for 50MB:

* XMMS (mp3, ogg, mpeg, cd audio) and mp321 and ogg123 (that's right, you got Music and Video)
* Firefox 1.0.6
* Vim, an enhanced Vi
* Assorted Xbase utilities (Xcalc etc.)
* ssh, sshd
* betaftpd, a very small FTP daemon
* Sqlite a small and very fast SQL database engine
* Nano, a Pico Clone
* MS Office Viwer
* Postscript Viewer
* AxY FTP
* Telnet client
* Microcom
* Midnight Commander
* Bash Burn, CD Burning App
* Fast and Light GUI Admin tools
* Monkey web server
* VNCviewer
* Rdesktop

There are many more applications available to you, if you so desire to install them via the MyDSL package repository. For most users, the included applications work just fine. You've got a nice document editor for times when you need to write a nicely formatted document for school or work, a pdf viewer, paint program, e-mail reader, spreadsheet - it's all there.

For system configuration, you have the DSL Control Panel where you can Backup and Restore your custom configuration settings, set up printers, cron jobs, floppy disk formatting, PCMCIA tools for laptops, dialup configuration for modem support and even some support for wireless networks. It's not flashy, but it works.

Once you have the system configured the way you want it, you can install it to your hard drive, USB thumb drive or remaster the DSL CD image and burn it to a disk using their text-based cd burning utility.

Again.... Puppy Linux !

Puppy Linux Release 2.17.1 has released!

Another wonderful new Puppy! The 'standard' release is puppy-2.17.1-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso live-CD and is 82.6MB. There is one thing that stands out from reading the release notes, and that is the major advances with hardware support -- which astounds even me, considering that version 2.16 was released barely 2 months ago. Yes, everything listed below is in that 82.6MB!

Release notes:

• Enhanced dialup: Puppy now has enhanced support for those who have to access the Internet by dialup. Automatic detection and setup of serial and many soft-modems -- quite amazing if you happen to have a compatible soft-modem!
  
• For dialup, there is a new GUI application called PupDial. PupDial is integrated with the new auto-detection to provide extremely simple Internet connection.
  
• Enhanced printing: Finally, Puppy has CUPS! This includes the complete Gutenprint 5.0.0 package so Puppy supports over 500 printers out-of-the-box. Extra Hewlett Packard drivers are available as a PET package.
  
• Print-to-PDF: This is out-of-the-box setup for CUPS, with the 'CUPS-PDF printer' ready to go.
  
• MMC and SD cards: These are now fully automatically supported. You should not have to setup anything.
  
• Boot configuration: The BootManager was introduced in Puppy 2.16 to manage loading of SFS files (application combo-packs). My intention was that the BootManager would be a one-stop-shop for configuring all aspects of bootup, and I have now taken the next step and added management of modules.
  
• Mount image files: One-click mounting of .2fs (a file with ext2 f.s. inside), .3fs (ext3), .sfs (squashfs) and .iso (CD image) files.
  
• Hardware information: PupScan is my GUI application to view PCI and modules information. USB information is now added.
  
• Pmount is a drive mounter. It has been totally revamped for 2.17. As well as an improved display and bugfixes it is also now much faster. Underlying scripts test-eide, test-scsi, probepart and probedisk totally rewritten.
  
• Boot from USB CD/DVD drive: the live-CD will now boot from this, as well as the usual internal CD/DVD drive.
• Boot from floppy disk: Puppy has this for a long time, now WakePup2 (floppy image file) has been greatly enhanced.
  
• ePDFView PDF viewer. This is great, replaces Gsview.
  
• Notecase outliner. I am waxing poetic about this one. Version 0.5.8 has everything I dreamed of in a note-manager/outliner.
  
• The default finance manager application is now HomeBank (v3.2.1).
  
• We have removed Dillo in favour of Gtkmoz for our internal HTML viewer.
  
• The following packages have been upgraded: RutilT v0.15, Pfind v2.2 , Pbackup v2.4.4, Geany 20070626 (now has FreeBasic highlighting), WakePup2, ROX-Filer v2.6.1, puppyserialdetect v1.1g, xkbconfigmanager v1.1 (Dougal), puppybasic v 2.5b (MU).
  
• The Linux kernel has been upgraded to version 2.6.21.5.
  
• Lots of bugfixes (of course).
  

Dialup modem detection and setup
If you have a hardware modem, it should work fine. If you have a soft-modem, which is most modern internal modem cards or on-motherboard modems, then Puppy will auto-detect if it is potentially usable by Puppy. When you start PupDial, there is a message whether a modem was detected or not -- if your modem was detected then it is potentially usable, otherwise it probably isn't. I use the word "potentially" because getting it to actually work can be very difficult with some soft-modems.
Puppy does try to auto-configure, but may not get it right, and so far only a few testers have worked on this -- see my news blog and the forum for success/fail reports so far.
An example of one fail report is an 'mwave' modem in an IBM Thinkpad. Puppy has the driver and all firmware and executables to get this going, and there is a startup script in /etc/init.d, but I don't have the hardware to test it. This is an example where someone is needed to dig in and find out what needs to be fixed for it to work.
When we do get a fix, we can put it permanently into Puppy.
Note, you may get lucky -- I have an ESS modem that worked out-of-the-box. Another person reported the same immediate success with a Trust MD1100 internal modem (these are currently available, so if you're looking for a Linux-compatible PCI modem, this one looks like a goer). Somone else reported that he just had to uncheck the "Check dialtone" checkbox in PupDial and his modem worked.
So, testers wanted, and we'll turn this pup into the best distro for dialup users!

Upgrading from earlier version of Puppy
No problem. If you run Puppy from live-CD, just boot the new CD and Puppy will automatically perform any required upgrading of your personal storage file/partition (usually pup_save.2fs file).
For USB or frugal-hd installations, just copy the latest files (vmlinuz, initrd.gz, pup_217.sfs and zdrv_217.sfs) to the USB or hd boot media.
If you have already tested an earlier experimental, alpha or beta of v2.17, it is extremely important that you get rid of any old pup_217.sfs and zdrv_217.sfs files that may be found alongside the "pup_save" file on the hard drive (in /mnt/home).
I strongly recommend that you boot an old version of Puppy or a different operating system to do this -- or, you can boot the new CD with the boot parameter "puppy pfix=ram". After you have removed these old files, boot Puppy 2.17 live-CD and type the boot parameter "puppy pfix=clean" , so that a proper upgrade of the latest version will occur. If you want to be extra cautious, make a backup of the pup_save.2fs file before upgrading!

Download
If you want to obtain the latest Puppy live-CD, or the "devx" module, that turns Puppy into a complete C/C++ compiler environment, or the patched 2.6.21.5 kernel source, please go to the Puppy download page.
Note, file 'devx_217.sfs' is what we call a SFS module, which is a "combo-pack" of applications in a single file. It can be loaded at bootup and you instantly have all the apps "installed". Or, not load it at bootup and all the apps are immediately "uninstalled". Normally, you just download a SFS file to /mnt/home then reboot Puppy, and it automatically loads.

A note on the kernel source: If you want to compile a module, or a package that needs to reference the kernel source, we have the kernel source available as an SFS file. Download 'devx_217.sfs' and 'kernel-src_217.sfs' to /mnt/home then reboot Puppy and you're in business (that's how simple SFS files are to use, but note you can manage loading of SFS files by running the BootManager (System menu)). Get the official SFS files from here.

Source: Puppy Linux News

Puppy Linux

Puppy Linux is one of small Linux distros. What's different here is that Puppy is extraordinarily small, yet quite full featured. Puppy boots into a 64MB ramdisk, and that's it, the whole caboodle runs in RAM. Unlike live CD distributions that have to keep pulling stuff off the CD, Puppy in its entirety loads into RAM. This means that all applications start in the blink of an eye and respond to user input instantly.
Puppy Linux has the ability to boot off a flash card or any USB memory device, CDROM, Zip disk or LS/120/240 Superdisk, floppy disks, internal hard drive. Even it can use a multisession formatted CD-R/DVD-R to save everything back to the CD/DVD with no hard drive required at all.
You can download it's ISO here.