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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!"

68 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm..birthday present! by 7Ghent · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, my girlfriend DID say she wanted a puppy.

    1. Re:Hmm..birthday present! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
      PuppyLinux is not necessarily a good birthday present for your SO

      Wow. Thanks, Captain Obvious. You saved all two nerds with girlfriends from imminent failure.

    2. Re:Hmm..birthday present! by aichpvee · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, but does she run Linux?

      --
      The Farewell Tour II
    3. Re:Hmm..birthday present! by nova_ostrich · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh come on now, you know one of those nerds doesn't count because his girlfriend isn't the 15 year old from the chat room he thinks she is.

      --
      It's scary being a Flash and Flex developer on Slashdot. You guys are unnaturally rabid.
  2. Not quite there yet... by winkydink · · Score: 3, Funny

    Early adopters of Puppy Linux have reported that they frequently need to take it out of the drive bay so it doesn't make a mess. Also, if they leave it alone for any legnth of time, it starts making whining noises and chewing up files.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:Not quite there yet... by mikael · · Score: 2, Funny

      They'll have this problem "fixed" in six weeks time.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  3. 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...

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    1. Re:Interesting, now for the next level... by ErikTheRed · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Heck, dual-layer is pretty cheap now.

      --

      Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
    2. Re:Interesting, now for the next level... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      If Knoppix can compress ~2GB of software into a 650MB CD, think what we can do with 4.7GB of space...

      hmm.. *scratching head* ~14.4GB?
      or perhaps 2 chicks at the same time?

    3. Re:Interesting, now for the next level... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      If I had a million bucks I think I could arrange that

    4. Re:Interesting, now for the next level... by noidentity · · Score: 2, Funny

      hmm.. *scratching head* ~14.4GB?

      My modem ran at that speed years ago!

  4. I read a review on this distro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's a real dog.

  5. Re:Puppy linux? by snuf23 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah I guess it should be called:

    Mutlisession CDR Bootable/Saveable Linux

    --
    Sometimes my arms bend back.
  6. I can see it coming... by ErikTheRed · · Score: 3, Funny

    And if the recordable disk goes bad, you get the exact same feeling as when your new puppy craps on the carpet!

    --

    Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
    1. Re:I can see it coming... by Pantheraleo2k3 · · Score: 2, Informative

      RTFA. Everything runs out of ramdisk. So, when you shutdown, your data gets burnt. Since it uses a ramdisk, you can remove the CD while the system is running. If you don't insert the CD at shutdown when it asks, your changes won't be saved. Simple as that.

    2. 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.
  7. Re:Puppy linux? by Locke2005 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Warm Puppy Linux?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  8. yeah, but by carambola5 · · Score: 5, Funny

    yeah, but does it run lin...

    oh, nevermind

    --
    IWARS.
    People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
  9. 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.

    --
    The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
    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.

    2. Re:DVD? RW? by BlastM · · Score: 5, Informative
      Of course, the CD is going to fill up eventually, so what then? No problem, at shutdown Puppy will automatically ask you to insert a new blank CD and will place a fully working bootable Puppy on it, create a first data track, and off you go again.


      So yes, it burns a new one, once you need it.
  10. Its been done by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

  11. Puppy huh by LittleGuernica · · Score: 3, Funny

    Finally I can send a K-9 unit to the rescue. This is a whole new "pedigree" of software indeed.

    1. Re:Puppy huh by LittleGuernica · · Score: 3, Funny

      and I just have to make this one too.. "Honestly, My Linux distro ate my homework"

  12. nice! by ErichTheWebGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was just discussing this earlier about whether Knoppix could do just that. I suspect it will only be a matter of weeks or even days before we see a Knoppix version that can also do this.

    --
    bash: rtfm: command not found
    1. Re:nice! by qewl · · Score: 3, Funny

      Funny- it was I, the parent of your post, who submitted this article ;-)

      --

      (\_/)
      (O.o) This is Bunny. (> <)
  13. Re:hmmm by snuf23 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shush! 640MB should be enough for anyone!

    --
    Sometimes my arms bend back.
  14. 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.

    --
    :%s/Open Source/Free Software/g

    YTARY!
  15. Forensics? by Chrontius · · Score: 5, Funny

    I predict this becoming big with the tinfoil-hat crowd -- they'll burn one session with music and keep it in their discman until they need it; then they've got their bootable Linux, and a way to get data out of a secure...

    This is reading like the plot of Alias, isn't it?

    Who cares. This is cool enough that I'm going to keep a copy in my backpack.

    1. Re:Forensics? by m50d · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I've already done that. I've got a CD with knoppix-std and a bunch of MP3s. Everything but the MP3s is hidden under rockridge and joliet, so unless you look at it in DOS you won't see anything else on there. And it plays fine in my mp3 walkman. But boot from it and you have practically every cracking tool under the sun. Or at least every one that was released when it was made, it's getting pretty old now. Anyone know when knoppix-std 0.2 will be out?

      --
      I am trolling
  16. Encryption might be good. by un1xl0ser · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a great idea.. but it says "The files are saved on the CD as normal files, not encrypted or compressed."

    That's great for Windows compatability, but I'd prefer my files to be encrypted, even on a livecd.

    --
    v4sw6PU$hw6ln6pr4F$ck 4/6$ma3+6u7LNS$w2m4l7U$i2e4+7en6a2X h
  17. Re:Puppy linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Whatever, 'winkydink'.

  18. Uhh... by inertia187 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm pretty sure that burning a puppy is illegal in most states. And I'm pretty sure that's doubly true for re-buring. Remember, Dead Puppies Aren't Much Fun.

    --
    A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
  19. USB Key? by xtal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wouldn't using a flash USB key make a lot more sense? Or am I missing something here?

    --
    ..don't panic
    1. Re:USB Key? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not all flash devices are bootable and lots of computers don't support boot from usb. However, nearly all computers with a cdrw would be able boot the disc so it seems to allow a larger audience.

    2. Re:USB Key? by Chrontius · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not everything will boot from USB.

    3. Re:USB Key? by Grey_14 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Also, 650MB of CD-R space is WAY cheaper than 650MB of USB Flash space.

    4. 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...

    5. Re:USB Key? by Trejkaz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah. It would be good if a USB key or another kind of removable storage could overlay the entire filesystem so that you could do things like editing configuration files in-place.

      Imagine that for net cafes, though. As an ordinary user, you could get root access and install whatever apps you want, as long as your key is big enough to fit the overlay. As soon as you leave, the computer is automatically back in the pristine state, and when you return, no matter which computer you use, you see the same setup as when you last left... unless, of course, the net cafe has upgraded the distribution at some point, and then you might have some trouble. :-)

      --
      Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
    6. Re:USB Key? by kidlinux · · Score: 2, Insightful

      One could carry a bootable CD with the distribution on it, and a USB key with their homedir/configs.

      --
      -kidlinux.
    7. Re:USB Key? by docflan · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wouldn't using a flash USB key make a lot more sense? Or am I missing something here?
      Yes.
      In spite of all the posters saying nothing will boot from USB, it is in fact quite common on even low cost motherboards these days.

  20. I may be a bit out of date on cd-rs by imsabbel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...but isnt there a session overhead of about 20-25MB for every burn?
    Wouldnt that make even an empty cd fail be filled after a months, nevertheless rather full distro cd?

    Whats wrong with using an USB stick for such things?

    --
    HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    1. Re:I may be a bit out of date on cd-rs by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Last time I looked it was 5MB overhead per session. I'm certain it's not 20MB. Even if it's 10MB that's not that bad. If you don't change anything it wrong write a new session. It wouldn't be a bad idea to use some kind of PacketCD-style thing to store the data; since you're booting your own OS it's pretty reasonable to handle writes that way.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:I may be a bit out of date on cd-rs by imsabbel · · Score: 2, Informative

      I just googled around and it seems the overhead is 18MB.

      --
      HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    3. Re:I may be a bit out of date on cd-rs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually its 28 mb for inital sessions, and 13mb for following sessions. http://www.mscience.com/faq67.html

  21. Re:Puppy linux? by AaronStJ · · Score: 4, Funny

    Could they have picked a gayer name?

    No, they could not have. This name is more sexually attracted to other names of the same gender than any other name.

    --
    Stupid like a fox!
  22. Re:DVD? RW? Read the FAQ! by splante · · Score: 5, Informative
    Read the FAQ

    Why should I use a CD-R, why not a CD-RW or DVD disk?

    I do not recommend a CD-RW simply because it isn't necessary. A CD-R is "write-once", but in multi-session mode, tracks can be written one after the other, up to 99 tracks or the CD becomes full. You could use a DVD-R, however I would discourage you. Puppy has a mechanism for keeping track of deleted files, and this may become unwieldy if a very large number of deleted files have to be kept track of. This mechanism works on a per-CD or per-DVD basis, and is going to be more manageable with the smaller number of files on the CD. Also, it could take years before you fill-up a DVD, and in the meantime, unless you leave it permanently in the drive, there is the increased risk of it being scratched. Note however, this is tentative advice -- it may turn out in practice that a DVD-R is a good way to go.

  23. Good for data recovery and such by Arthropod · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Anytime you need to get info off a messed-up pc that can't transmit to a useful network location, and doesn't have USB-ms drivers on it, but that has a cd-rw, this sucker would be a godsend. I've booted up on a knoppix cd more than once with the idea of writing files to a cd using knoppix. Though I suppose it would work just as well to boot into something that can load itself completely into memory, and free up the drive.


    Anyhow, even if some of that is available, it might just plain be convenient. I like the idea, anyway

    1. Re:Good for data recovery and such by rj4x · · Score: 2, Informative

      I've booted up on a knoppix cd more than once with the idea of writing files to a cd using knoppix. Though I suppose it would work just as well to boot into something that can load itself completely into memory, and free up the drive.

      I use knoppix-std (security tools distro) from time to time. there is a "tomem" cheat code available at bootup for loading the image into memory - provided you have enough. As you would expect, things run faster.
      I can't say for sure but I presume the cdrom is free after knoppix is up and running.

    2. Re:Good for data recovery and such by Quino · · Score: 3, Informative

      Puppy linux does load completely into RAM, freeing up your burner, btw.

      It only asks for the CD that it booted from during shutdown to burn the changes.

      I've been running it for kicks for the last couple of hours, and I'm very impressed! It's of course minimalist, but very functional (with Gxine and Firefox installed, I'm even streaming music).

      If you're going to give it a try, keep in mind that, for me, it ran significantly better after the first reboot (and burn of session). Not sure why that would be ....

  24. dogs & cats by brer_rabbit · · Score: 4, Funny

    since you can only have 99 tracks the CD, wouldn't "Eleven Cats" would be a more fitting name? Or "99 bottles of Linux"?

  25. Re:first 2 say! by thryllkill · · Score: 2, Funny

    Was that your grammar homework, or spelling homework?

    --

    Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.

  26. 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
  27. Wonderful by cdcarter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have been using Puppy Linux for a while now, and it is a wonderful distro. It's small, but it has tons of stuff. It has a nice working X server, abiword, a few web browsers, tons of other utility's and NTFS support. It is really fast if you have enough ram for /usr to be a ramdisk. I highly reccomed it for anyone looking for a non-knoppix derivative.

    --
    "Love is like a trampoline, first it's like "SWEET!!" then it's like *BLAMM!*"
  28. Packet Writer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why they not use packet writing instead of multisession cd-r?

    It's a patch for the linux kernel that make it treat CD-RWs as another local filesystem, you can write and remove files as you can do that in your harddrive, no need to blank all the cdrw.

    I tried it on the nitro kernel patchset, and it was fast on 4x media :D

    (I think Nero InCD does the same thing)

  29. Re:Puppy linux? by linguae · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, but at least it's not named:

    Extreme Multisession CDR Bootable/Saveable Linux XP 3000

  30. Re:first 2 say! by JNighthawk · · Score: 2, Funny

    -1 for "2" instead of "to".
    -1 for no capitalization of "I".
    -1 for no punctuation.
    -1 for "know" instead of "now."
    -1 for terrible joke.

    Congratulations, you have reached the famed moderation level of "-4, Never Post Again."

    --
    Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'.
  31. 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.

    --
    Shh.
    1. Re:Internet Cafes by saitoh · · Score: 3, Informative

      While not entirely unrecomendable, there is the problem that people who go into inet cafes generally only know about Windows and how to use Windows and part of your business model is having a place where people can come and "easily" use the systems, even to the point of it being painfully easy and intuitive. This can be argued endlessly, but if your ever doing something like this, its something to consider.

      As for the solution for windows users to prevent the altering of a configuration:
      www.symantec.com/goback/

      My university uses it to lock down the general student labs. In 3 years, I've seen it work well.

      --
      We don't need an "overrated" so much as we need a "you completely missed the parent's point, dumbass..."
  32. Re:Puppy linux? by AnonymousCowheart · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or cowheart!

  33. Re:Now for it's next trick... by Trejkaz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    DVD should be somewhat simpler. You could theoretically use a rewritable DVD with a UDF filesystem to write whatever you want onto the disk, whenever you want. I think you could even delete files fairly easily using this approach.

    --
    Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
  34. Yup. by sootman · · Score: 4, Funny

    They don't come
    when you call.
    They don't chase
    squirrels at all.

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  35. load "kernel32.sys" ,8,1 by saboola · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, but does it run Windows?

  36. 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.

  37. Torrent by gamepro · · Score: 4, Informative

    I know I know, TF is infamous for the curropt LG3D file. Sorry about that, it was an accident. Heres a torrent for the puppy-1.0.0alpha-firefox-multisession.iso it's tested and works, pretty cool too. You have to be a member to DL the .torrent file, but we don't care who acesses the tracker. If someone wants to mirror the .torrent they are more the welcome to. heres the link for members http://www.titaniumforums.com/torrent/software/ind ex.php

  38. Re:So when I boot and download pr0n by Lehk228 · · Score: 2, Funny

    the distro is 50 megs, so you've got about 3 average porn downloads on there.

    --
    Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  39. Re:improvements to the LiveCD model by m50d · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are a couple of distros that do that already, for example MEPIS.

    --
    I am trolling
  40. Re:Boot by Andrewkov · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I mean just use a USB mem stick to store your profile and changes .. You'd still boot and run off the CD.