Post by mikkh on Apr 8, 2022 11:34:21 GMT
There are many 'live' versions of Linux - that you can boot off a USB stick and effectively carry a computer system with you.
Most will work without a hard drive making them ideal testing devices or to boot and use a PC where the hard drive has failed.
The grandfather of live CD's is one called 'Puppy' which was aimed at breathing life into old hardware that could no longer cope with the bloat of Windows
or even the more mainstream heavyweight versions of Linux. Times have changed and some versions of Linux require just as many resources as Windows - RAM wise especially.
The creator of Puppy decided to do an offshoot called 'EasyOS' to concentrate on his own ideas and leave Puppy to the other developers.
EasyOS is still basically Puppy at heart and initially looked the same, but the latest version branches out into it's own style and I like it a lot.
I like a nice clean desktop with minimal icons, but the original Puppy desktop and early versions of EasyOS were awash with them, including many I consider too specialist for everyday use.
Enter the latest version of EasyOS, not a single desktop icon - hoorah! Everything you need (frequently) is on the taskbar with everything else available via the start menu or by right clicking the desktop.
Unlike other live versions where you either can't save changes or have to navigate a thing called persistence, EasyOS saves the changes automatically and just gets on with the job.
The menus are a bit busy and overcrowded, so when I tried to find a screenshot utility, I actually found three, which is a bit over the top and thankfully not repeated across too many other things.
I only tried the first one which gave me the options for full screen, active window or selection - basically all you need from a screenshot utility and leaving me wondering what the other two have to offer.
It has it's own adblocker which I activated, but it didn't seem to do anything, particularly on YouTube and it's annoying adverts.
Luckily I was able to use the Adblock Plus extension in Firefox to correct that.
It also came with sound muted by default, which I thought was a strange choice. Most come with the volume set very low for those with sensitive ears (?)
but muted is not good if there's no obvious unmute option. As a long term Linux user I knew I had to find 'alsamixer' to correct the problem, but anyone new to Linux would be wondering what to do.
Minor nit picking quibbles aside, it's a very nice portable OS that should run well on most PC's/Laptops right down to 20 year old (Windows XP era) ones.
I've only tried it on my ultra modern main PC, but I know from previous experience of Puppy and EasyOS it has very low requirements and should breath life into old hardware long forgotten.
Most will work without a hard drive making them ideal testing devices or to boot and use a PC where the hard drive has failed.
The grandfather of live CD's is one called 'Puppy' which was aimed at breathing life into old hardware that could no longer cope with the bloat of Windows
or even the more mainstream heavyweight versions of Linux. Times have changed and some versions of Linux require just as many resources as Windows - RAM wise especially.
The creator of Puppy decided to do an offshoot called 'EasyOS' to concentrate on his own ideas and leave Puppy to the other developers.
EasyOS is still basically Puppy at heart and initially looked the same, but the latest version branches out into it's own style and I like it a lot.
I like a nice clean desktop with minimal icons, but the original Puppy desktop and early versions of EasyOS were awash with them, including many I consider too specialist for everyday use.
Enter the latest version of EasyOS, not a single desktop icon - hoorah! Everything you need (frequently) is on the taskbar with everything else available via the start menu or by right clicking the desktop.
Unlike other live versions where you either can't save changes or have to navigate a thing called persistence, EasyOS saves the changes automatically and just gets on with the job.
The menus are a bit busy and overcrowded, so when I tried to find a screenshot utility, I actually found three, which is a bit over the top and thankfully not repeated across too many other things.
I only tried the first one which gave me the options for full screen, active window or selection - basically all you need from a screenshot utility and leaving me wondering what the other two have to offer.
It has it's own adblocker which I activated, but it didn't seem to do anything, particularly on YouTube and it's annoying adverts.
Luckily I was able to use the Adblock Plus extension in Firefox to correct that.
It also came with sound muted by default, which I thought was a strange choice. Most come with the volume set very low for those with sensitive ears (?)
but muted is not good if there's no obvious unmute option. As a long term Linux user I knew I had to find 'alsamixer' to correct the problem, but anyone new to Linux would be wondering what to do.
Minor nit picking quibbles aside, it's a very nice portable OS that should run well on most PC's/Laptops right down to 20 year old (Windows XP era) ones.
I've only tried it on my ultra modern main PC, but I know from previous experience of Puppy and EasyOS it has very low requirements and should breath life into old hardware long forgotten.
