[MLB-WIRELESS] Tiny Linux, puppy linux

[Datec]

Saw this article on PC World's web site.

may be of interest to some! Maybe not.

Cya
Peter



Tiny Linux hits the streets
A very small Linux operating system, known as Puppy Linux, has had a "major
upgrade" after version 3.0 hit the streets this week
Tom Jowitt (Techworld.com) 04/10/2007 08:13:30


What makes Puppy Linux different from other distributions of Linux is that
the Puppy 3.0 Live CD can be run direct from the CD, without installing to a
hard disk. Indeed, the operating system is just 97.6MB in size.

Puppy is designed to be a very small Linux operating system designed to be
"reliable, easy to use and fully featured." The entire operating system and
all the applications can be run entirely from RAM. It comes with
applications such as SeaMonkey/Mozilla Application Suite, AbiWord, Sodipodi,
Gnumeric, and Gxine/xine.

One of its most compelling features is that users can boot from the disk,
work, and then save their files back to CD for the next time they boot the
CD. It can also be run from USB storage sticks or Zip disks. This allows the
Puppy operating system to be used on older computers, or as an emergency
rescue system, a Linux demonstration system, or as a complete general
purpose operating system.

According to developer Barry Kauler, Puppy Linux 3.0 is a major upgrade over
previous releases. One of the major changes in this release is a move to
make Puppy Linux and Slackware compatible to allow users to install
Slackware packages on Puppy. Slackware is one of the oldest Linux
distributions, and aims to be the most Unix-like Linux distribution.

"To that end, I used all the building block packages from Slackware 12, such
as glibc 2.5, gcc 4.1.2 and gtk 2.10.13," said developer Kauler. "Most of
the libraries in Puppy are now from Slackware. Note, though, this does not
in any way make Puppy a clone of Slackware - apart from aiming for binary
compatibility, Puppy is fundamentally unique from the foundations upward."

Kauler has also "totally rewritten the key scripts that control how Puppy
boots up, is configured, and shuts down." Other changes include better USB
writing method, after "finally getting periodic flushing of RAM to Flash
drive working properly - this is part of a mechanism that constrains writes
to Flash drives so that they don't burn out."

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