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Puppy Linux Lets You Run From, Save To The Same CD

Posted by timothy on from the dog-ate-my-homework-jokes dept.

qewl writes "Now there's a live CD that can actually save data back onto its own disk! How does it work? The PC boots with a multi-session CD inserted in the CD-burner drive -- thus, Puppy Linux automatically knows which drive is the CD-burner, in case you have more than one CD/DVD drive. Then you use Puppy in the normal way. At shutdown, all the changed files in your home directory are saved back to CD. That's it. Next time you boot, all the personal files are restored!"

10 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting, now for the next level... by kcb93x · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is cool. I'll have to take a peek at it, but what would be really cool (mainly due to the size of modern distributions) would be a DVD +/- RW version of this, if Knoppix can compress ~2GB of software into a 650MB CD, think what we can do with 4.7GB of space...

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  2. DVD? RW? by Apreche · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will this thing work with a CD-RW? How about a DVD? DVD-RW? If it only works with a CD-R that's sort of useless because the CD will eventually fill up, and its basically a one-time use deal.

    What would be extra cool is if you could combine this with something like the gentoo catalyst livecd making software. So not only could I save files on the RW disc but could also customize which software is on the disc to begin with. So if I wanted to get rid of X and save more space for files I could do so.

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    1. Re:DVD? RW? by timeOday · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I wonder if you can pop in a fresh CDR at shutdown and have it burn a copy of Puppy + the current state of all your files? The media cost of CDR itself is hardly a concern.

  3. Its been done by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Linspire "Thriller" (membership req) LiveCDs have been able to do this for some time.

  4. At last! by c0l0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Finally an application for rewriteable optical media that truly makes sense. Another nice feature is this distribution is cached into system memory completely at runtime, so you're able to unmount and use your CD-RW-drive for other tasks while running this system as well.

    This project deserves to be watched closely in the future, I'm eager to see what it's gonna offer in the future.

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    :%s/Open Source/Free Software/g

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  5. Linux Live CDs now required to surf the Net! by usurper_ii · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Pretty funny for all the "everything will be connected, even your toaster," crowd out there ... it now seem that because of the ever increasing spyware/malware/viruses, etc., pretty soon we will have to boot up a live Linux CD to use the Internet.

    I would use Ubunto, which is the first live Linux I have gotten my hands on, but it wouldn't pick up my modem correctly (probably a win modem thing). Other than that, and the fact that it wouldn't play MP3s without a plugin, I loved Ubunto. Linux is way close to "getting there."

    But after I wasted three days getting some powerful trojan crap off my computer not too long ago (yes, on an XP system), running from a CD and having a read only hard drive while connected to the Net seems like a pretty good idea, to me!

    Usurper_ii

    --
    Ron Paul
  6. Internet Cafes by headkase · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wouldn't using a live CD as your OS as an internet cafe owner save you megabucks on the hard drives you didn't have to buy? Not to mention no spyware dangers, or no users mucking up the configuration of the machines? And as a customer, simply rebooting when your done would clear all sensitive information.

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    Shh.
  7. Re:USB Key? by pjr.cc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Personally, i use RUNT, which (as far as i can tell) is the only truely useable usb bootable distro... and yes, im with you, i think having a bootable usb linux is much more usefull than a cd distro, if only cause of size.. The best part of runt is the fact it boots off the key using umsdos rather than various knoppix distro's that boot off the key and load into ram... the advantage of this is the filesystem on the key is "live"... i.e. anything you do on it, stays on it.. (its based on slackware 10 fyi) Runt's also not busybox based which fits one of the uses i have for it perfectly... a robot... an epia (or similar) based robot, booting off a usb key running native linux... (so much lower power req's than a hd or cdrom drive) OK, so a cd is 0.50c, and a 512m usb flash is only AU$90, buts its so much more usefull...

  8. Re:I can see it coming... by damiam · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Wouldn't a simple USB keychain memory stick be so much easier and quicker? Not to mention reliable? Knoppix has done this for years...

    Yes, which is why USB sticks aren't news. This is novel and at least potentially somewhat useful (not everyone with a CD burner has an extra USB flash drive lying around).

    --
    It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
  9. And its going to Everest! by luckytroll · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have archtected Puppy Linux in a laptop on an expedition to Mt. Everest - the Flash/CDROM combination will enable the laptops to work above 18000ft, where a lot of hard disks "pop" out.