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MandrakeMove Bootable Linux CD Announced

joestar writes "MandrakeSoft just announced the release of the MandrakeMove release candidate, a special desktop version of the Mandrake Linux distribution that boots live from the CD and uses a USB key (included in the retail version) to automatically store personal data. It looks a bit like Knoppix, but comes with more features, such as the capability to eject the MandrakeMove CD-ROM during its use, in order to read audio or video files from another CD! The download release candidate is available here."

25 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Good idea using a USB Key.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since it may permanently disable the CDROM drive. ;)

    1. Re:Good idea using a USB Key.... by joestar · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not anymore since LG fixed their buggy and so-called ATAPI drives.

    2. Re:Good idea using a USB Key.... by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 4, Informative

      CD-Rs/CD-RWs were not affected by the FLUSH_CACHE bug, only the CD-Roms were. I think it even says so on the LG site.

    3. Re:Good idea using a USB Key.... by Dave_bsr · · Score: 4, Informative

      Go To: us.lgservice.com and go to Product support, then Device driver, CD-ROM and "Emergency download for Physical Dead Drive from Mandrake Linux 9.2". So you're drive isn't really dead.

      Also, by going to LG's site, you can get firmware updates to fix the problem.

      And finally...I'm sure Mandrake fixed this problem in newer kernels, as did the Gentoo team for their kernel.

      --


      Who is this Anonymous Coward character, how does he post so much, and why is he always such a whore?
    4. Re:Good idea using a USB Key.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I sure hope LG posts a patch for the FLUSH_SENSE_OF_HUMOR bug that seems to occur in many Slashdotters. :)

  2. Hrmm by acehole · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Also sounds like the 'Slackware Live' cd.

    Can you create your own in mandrake like you can with slackware?

    --
    Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
  3. USB Key by stanmann · · Score: 4, Informative

    I must assume that USB Key means thumbdrive, although I couldn't find any reference on the linked site indicating what size this might be..

    --
    Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
    1. Re:USB Key by LinuxTek · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you go to the order site, and preorder MandrakeMove, you can see that it's a 128MB Key.

      That, and the $59.99 price makes it very wortwhile.

      --
      Signatures are supposed to be funny?
  4. Great for schools by PPGMD · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The biggest problem schools seem to have would be kids messing with the system. Using MandrakeMove (or the first major one Knoppix), from a read only source (such as a compact flash card), and require the kids to have a USB Key (or another compact flash card).

    Might be the future of school PCs, or at least computers that are open to the public without a login.

    1. Re:Great for schools by ender81b · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah for linux desktops this would be a great idea since, currently, there really is no solution equivalent to deep freeze for windows/mac os X. Brielfy, deep freeze is a godsend that basically creates a static image that you can do whatever the hell you want to and all changes are gone at reboot. It's absoultely fantastic if you are administering a lab or lots of public computers as it allows you to not have to lock up a computer at all and still not worry about anybody messing the sytem up. Saves so many headaches and students love it since they get a full computer they can install/change however they want while I don't have to worry about crappy security programs or kiosk modes.

      This cd would give the same sort of functionality to Linux based labs that has been missing. Of course, personally, I would like to see some sort of open source deep freeze program but.. what the heck. Close enough ;).

    2. Re:Great for schools by grolschie · · Score: 4, Informative

      ...or you could have no harddrive, and boot Linux from the network via a remote desktop. Means that they can do what they will, and nothing to mess up. This works fine also. I run Windows 2000 and Photoshop via Citrix on the said Linux system no problems. My pc at work is a P166 with a tiny 32MB RAM. Everything is done on the server. Just can't do animations or play games. It's fine for academic/office work though.

  5. That "removable cd feature"... by geesus · · Score: 5, Informative

    Is already in knoppix, check out the "cheat-codes" file, its a boot param which obviously isnt enabled by default so knoppix can run on systems with low memory

    --
    Gnome wasnt built in a day.
  6. USB hard drives? by NiceGeek · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder if usb hard drive (I have an Archos Jukebox Studio 10) work as well as a usb key?

    1. Re:USB hard drives? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Basically I'd say anything that doesnt require drivers (and even some stuff that does), should work like snap.
      I loaded knoppix the other day and spent a good 5 minutes trying to figure out if and how it is possible to mount my usb memory stick (the manual promises it works on w2k/xp, but w98 needs drivers).
      While I was trying to figure out if I could somehow mount it, I didnt notice nice knoppix had already put an icon for me on the desktop. Doh!

  7. Great!! by c_oflynn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Live CD's are great IMHO.

    Perfect for showing people Linux, or recovering another system (especially a Windows system, because it introduces them to Linux ;-)

    The whole USB idea is pretty good as well, good way to do stuff w/o touching the hard drive at all.

  8. You can remove the Knoppix CD by cesman · · Score: 5, Informative

    At the splashscreen:knoppix toram

    --
    When the source is open, the possibilities are endless.
  9. DVD... by SignificantBit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    4+Gb of opensource/free software on a single disc... why don't do a Linux DVD Live distro? ..just wondering.

  10. Re:Since when is Mandrake *not* for the desktop? by HornyBastard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Did I miss something? I thought Mandrakes focus was new users/desktop users.

    This actually looks the ideal solution for people wanting to mess around with linux without messing up their hard-drive.
    With the USB drive, you can do quite a bit on it, and get a proper feeling for the OS.

    --
    Death has been proven to be 99% fatal in lab rats.
  11. Re:price by Black+Perl · · Score: 4, Informative

    think it'd be useful to know the price (obviously for the USB key) and size of the key. and perhapse a tentative release. sure, its RC1, but the final could be in a while

    Why not just follow links to the Mandrake Store? The price is $59.90 and it includes a 128MB USB 2.0 key.

    --
    bp
  12. The direction the parade is heading. by chill · · Score: 4, Informative

    I just installed Mepis on my laptop last night -- a Debian derived Live CD that has the ability to install direct from the Live CD. Very slick.

    The SuSE 9.0 Live CD didn't recognize the wireless LAN card on my desktop, so that didn't get anywhere.

    Mepis was the first Live CD that I could effectively use for work, and not just a rescue CD or quick test. I used various tools for hours on the laptop (450 MHz P3, 328 Mb RAM) and it just worked.

    Live CDs are the way to go.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  13. Good way to circumvent library filters? by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This could be a plus for people that need to access the Internet in local libraries that utilize draconian filters to block out politically questionable material...unless the entire network is run through a proxy server...in which case you could use this to SSH tunnel into an unfiltered proxy server!

    Mandrake has always been my favorite Linux company & I like throwing them a couple bucks for a boxed set now and then. Good work!

  14. Re:Membership and Mandrake? by nolife · · Score: 4, Informative

    Okay, I'm an idiot. I found the torrent link from the mirrors page.

    --
    Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
  15. Live CD's + USB storage + iButton == Nirvana by PureFiction · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been working on a linux distro for a few months now that is using this combination of technologies. It definitely appears to be a configuration of growing use and interest.

    I added the cryptographic iButton to the list as the only piece missing from the live CD / USB fob picture is secure authentication so that when you are accessing your files remotely from any location, you need not fear about Man-in-the-Middle attacks or insecure password / authentication allowing attackers access to your data.

    I talk about some of the features I want in this thread of wanted features / technologies

    The future trends are moving quickly towards seamless access to data via mobile devices and wireless communications. A trusted operating system on a mini-CDR with a USB key fob storing dynamic data and strong authentication via cryptographic hardware is all you need to access files, music, movies, anything back at home or work with complete security (or, as much security as you can provide given a good OS configuration)

    And the best part: it fits in your pocket. You can take it anywhere. You can "phone home" via wireless and reach everything there as if it was local.

    With AES encryption of sensitive data on the USB fob you can prevent any kind of unauthorized copying that would reveal private data, and compression added to the mix lets you store a lot more than 256M or so of data as well.

    The latest USB devices are capable of throughput in excess of 6 MegaBytes / second, which is more than adequate for most tasks.

    Userspace / overlay filesystems with selective encryption, networked access, and secure decentralized distribution are going to make this kind of setup extremely sweet.

    I can't wait for it...

  16. Re:Some answers.. by PhB95 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I currently try 9.2 : Xine has been replaced by Totem (which uses a xine engine). To play encrypted DVDs I just added libdvdcss from plf. This is becoming very easy, I remember I had a few things to find/download/install to get xine to play encrypted DVDs on Mandrake 9.0 and 9.1. And getting it to correctly handle DVD menus was not so simple either, while now totem does well out of the box.

    --
    One of those Europeans...
  17. You can't have it all by InodoroPereyra · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Instead of modding you as overrated, I will answer some missconcceptions.

    Ok, you can't have it all. As you mentioned: your non-geeks friends and family are having fun with Mandrake. However you want to install and compile things, and Gentoo is more like what you want. Cool again. That's what free software is all about, freedom and choices.

    But this needs to be clarified:

    I see Mandrake now at a very delicate point, getting each day more and more like proprietary OSes, hiding a lot of stuff from the user (even thought the tools and the utililities are open source they sometimes choose ways that are non-standards).

    This is inaccurate. First of all, Mandrake is much, much, much closer to debian or whatever distro you could think of, than it is to proprietary OS's. You get the damn source, period Also: Mandrake is LSB (standards) compliant. Another period ;-)

    Now, what you propably would agree with me, is that Mandrake has become too agressive in their customization of free software packages, and this includes the kernel. IMHO, they would be much better off shipping vanilla packages plus a minimal set of patches. Take for instance the kernel, they should (IMHO) jus add supermount, and add the third-party modules as they do, and that should be it. All of this on top of the latest vanilla stable kernel.

    If you follow cooker or read the changelogs in their RPMS, you'll notice that they spend a lot of energy backporting things from development branches for several packages. Notably, they do it with the kernel. This precious time would be much better invested on improving their own tools, which as you said, have some flaws, but as you also said, give you overall a great distro working out of the box.

    In the end, even when mandrake can be improved, you have to realize that you can't have it all. You either put a lot of your own time on building your customized distro from scratch (or a la gentoo), or you take a distro that does it for you, and yes, it will make some decisions for you. It is your choice, enjoy freedom ;-)