Anyone here running Linux from a USB drive?

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

I'd like to add that Ubuntu Netbook Remix is a great distro for Netbooks. Very intuitive. Works great on my HP Mini.

Thanks, when I used the Wubi installer program, I chose the ubuntu netbook version.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by DJHARKAVY

Note that with Ubuntu you have four 'desktops' that you can work with. You can move applications that are running between desktops by dragging, so that you have less concern about screen real-estate.

Wuh?

Totally lost me with that. I still haven't even figured out if you can have two programs running at the same time! But I've got it open, I'm moving about...and thinking I need to go find the ubuntu help pages now and follow a tutorial or two!

[Jaime_Astorga]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Wuh?

Totally lost me with that. I still haven't even figured out if you can have two programs running at the same time! But I've got it open, I'm moving about...and thinking I need to go find the ubuntu help pages now and follow a tutorial or two!

You won't notice because you are using Ubuntu Netbook Edition (previously called Ubuntu Netbook Remix), but in the regular Ubuntu Desktop there are by default 2 desktop areas you can switch between. It's like minimizing all windows, but it also hides the tabs on the taskbar, and you can "restore" them all by switching back to the first desktop. There are a lot of other things that are different for UNE as compared to regular Ubuntu, which looks a lot more like windows.

You CAN have two programs running at the same time. And more. They open up in little tabs to the top-left of the screen in UNE. You can click the Ubuntu logo on the far left to see the programs menu again.

If you need help, I suggest you read the Getting Started with Ubuntu manual (pfd warning). Once you get advanced enough to use the terminal, you can also type "man x" (where "x" is a command) in order to learn what the command does and its proper syntax ("man" is short for "manual").

[frabjous]

I have a USB with Puppy Linux on it which I use when I want to use use linux on my wife's computer. (She won't let me make any real changes on her machine.) Very fast and perfectly useable. My only complaint is that if you want it to be persistent, changing and reloading the state from the USB seems a bit slow.

I don't really see the point of Wubi. Of course it's going to be slower than putting linux on a real partition, or booting from USB. What is the benefit exactly? Just not having to repartition the harddrive?

Can you run multiple programs at once? Just take a look at some of the Compiz compositing videos on you tube, e.g.:

[Doogman]

Originally Posted by frabjous

Can you run multiple programs at once? Just take a look at some of the Compiz compositing videos on you tube, e.g.:

Guys, if it's Linux, you can and are running multiple programs at once, even in the most basic of distros. Trust me, even if all you see is one virtual terminal, a few other programs are running in the background.

Unix had the multitasking problem solved a long, long time ago.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by Jaime_Astorga

You CAN have two programs running at the same time. And more. They open up in little tabs to the top-left of the screen in UNE. You can click the Ubuntu logo on the far left to see the programs menu again.

Yes, how embarrassing, I discovered that (quite by accident) about 20 minutes after my original post. I finally caught on that, rather than longer descriptions - like Windows task bar - the program bar at the top just shows icons.

I know it's not Windows! I just keep expecting it to act like Windows.

It seems to me you have to be a little more...active?...in the running and upkeep of a Linux system. For example, when I booted up today, it told me it had updates (actually, hundreds of them!) I approved the updates, and it warned me about half-way through that "I" had chosen to not install one of them (was it "Gun", "Grun", gad, I don't remember). Well, I had approved all, so I didn't know why it said that...and where the hell would I go to find out why it thought it had?!

I went with the assumption (dangerous I know) that it had something to do with the Wubi installer (this "grun-whatever" thing had something to do with a boot-installer or something) and running Linux the way it does. So I went ahead and agreed not to allow it to install. It rebooted okay (had an error message that flashed too fast for me to read it, but that was it).

But it seems to me there's a level of technical understanding it assumes that I don't currently have. I'm not sure if Windows assumes the same, and as a user for the last 20 years I've got the basics already built in...or if I'm right.

What I mostly want it for (at the moment, anyway) is to surf the web with less likelihood of being attacked by the latest worm or virus. I'm really not sure how much extra protection I have, given that it's running on a Windows machine. But that is what is making me willing to experiment and learn what I can about it.

[sabredog]

Sounds like "grub" to me, which is the boot manager.

I have been an on and off user of Ubuntu for several years now. The latest version simply will not shut my Acer notebook down completely, so I will be installing XP back on.

[celemark]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

But it seems to me there's a level of technical understanding it assumes that I don't currently have. I'm not sure if Windows assumes the same, and as a user for the last 20 years I've got the basics already built in...or if I'm right.

My computer background is exactly the opposite of yours. I've used only Linux (Slackware) at home since 1999 and two months ago I purchased a PC with Windows 7 installed (to watch Silverlight streaming videos). To me it seems quite a bit more complex than my Slackware PC (I'm using the Openbox window manager). I still get lost trying to find various settings/options in the Windows 7 Control Panel.

[brainycat]

Originally Posted by Mitch G

Jolicloud is another netbook distro worth checking out IMO.

Mitch

Another vote for JoliCloud. Optimized for netbooks, it's the fastest and best use of screenspace I've seen on a netbook. I installed it on my Lenovo S10, and it created a dualboot system with 3 clicks and 15 minutes. I like the distro a lot more than the stripped down Ubuntu for netbooks; being designed from the ground up for netbooks, it feels like it uses it's resources much more efficiently. The Ubuntu feels like it's a desktop they tried hard to shrink, and feels clunky and unfinished IMHO.

The netbook lives by the couch, we only use it for light surfing and playing streaming music. I wouldn't even consider trying to do "real work" like coding on it; the keyboard is painfully small.

I've been a LONGTIME slackware guy, which probably says a lot about my biases. YMMV, of course.

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by brainycat

Another vote for JoliCloud. Optimized for netbooks, it's the fastest and best use of screenspace I've seen on a netbook. I installed it on my Lenovo S10, and it created a dualboot system with 3 clicks and 15 minutes. I like the distro a lot more than the stripped down Ubuntu for netbooks; being designed from the ground up for netbooks, it feels like it uses it's resources much more efficiently. The Ubuntu feels like it's a desktop they tried hard to shrink, and feels clunky and unfinished IMHO.

The netbook lives by the couch, we only use it for light surfing and playing streaming music. I wouldn't even consider trying to do "real work" like coding on it; the keyboard is painfully small.

I've been a LONGTIME slackware guy, which probably says a lot about my biases. YMMV, of course.

I've been using Ubuntu on a dying laptop, and am replacing it with a netbook.

I took a look at the Jolicloud website. Jolicloud seems like the AOL of Linux; Good for a starting point, but everything seems to need to be done through them. They don't recommend adding apps that are not on their list because of potential conflicts...

The netbook is going to be my primary computer for teaching. I will be running a few Windows apps with WINE, the Smartboard program for interfacing with the smartboards at my school and connecting it to a tablet computer that I can carry around the classroom and write on with a stylus. Will Joliecloud support all this, or should I continue with Ubuntu?

[Hellmark]

I personally use Sidux, a debian sid based distro, and it has the ability to install to USB flash drives. Pretty easy to get everything going too.

[jimbob101]

Originally Posted by DJHARKAVY

It's slow because you are running the OS inside of Windows.
If you like Ubuntu or another linux distro, you can always load it onto your HD as a boot option and dual boot into either Windows or Linux as needed.
The rest can be played with. Note that with Ubuntu you have four 'desktops' that you can work with. You can move applications that are running between desktops by dragging, so that you have less concern about screen real-estate.

What wubi does is creates a virtual partition containing ubuntu aUnd then creates a boot menu entry to boot to this. This is why it runs slower. Windows doesn't boot at all so you should be safe from viruses (VIRI?) As most of them require Windows to be running to work.

[SameOldStory]

Thanks to FizzyWater's post I tried Linux again. The last time was in the mid-late '90s.

I swapped my normal drive and installed it on an old 40gig drive. Clean install.

One thing that I liked was the way that it went out to the internet and downloaded the needed drivers.

And that was the only thing that I liked. From there on it went downhill.

I have a new system that I put together before Christmas. Lots of horsepower, more ram than is needed, fast hard drive, and a very fast Nvidia graphics card.

The biggest complaint was how slow it was. I use large dual monitors and with both "turned on" it was like I was running a 486 cpu. "Turn off" one monitor (with the video card software) and it ran better. Not good, just better.

And before anyone suggests replacing the graphics card the answer is No. I spent several hundred dollars for it and don't want to get rid of it so that I can run Ubuntu a bit faster. And if you haven't used dual monitors let me tell you it is worth every cent.

The next complaint is one that would be taken care of in time. It seemed that whatever I wanted to do, I had to download one thing or another. There were more requests for permission to run some program or another than I have on Windows 7!

I'm sure that there are a million Linux programs out there. But reading thru all of the c#$& to find them just wasn't worth it to me.

In short, I just didn't want to devote my time to Linux. The 1 and a half days working with Ubuntu were enough.

[jasonfedelem]

Y'all are inspiring me to try Ubuntu on my netbook...

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by SameOldStory

In short, I just didn't want to devote my time to Linux. The 1 and a half days working with Ubuntu were enough.

Seriously, I wish i was near enough to help out.

I've been using various versions of MS from nearly day 1 (Intel was one of the early buyers) and Linux since the early 90's. I've played with both Vista and Win7. Linux is faster, easier to install and easier to maintain.