How about a complete, fully functional operating system with a full array of software pre-installed and configured, and it runs entirely from a CD? You can install it if you like, or use it as a live CD. Uses include:
Checking hardware to see if the hardware is at fault - or Windows.
Scanning Windows drives for viruses when the machine won’t boot.
Accessing the net when the machine won’t boot.
Surfing without leaving a trace on the hard drive.
Making partition images for backup.
Playing REAL solitaire.
I have it installed on my desktop as the main OS and I dual boot it with my laptop. On the desktop I also use it for:
audio mixing
graphics manipulation
writing
web authoring
desktop publishing
watching DVDs
surfing the net safely (No viruses/spyware)
scanning/copying/printing
playing various games
IM chat
Playing CDs
duplicating CDs
ebay business
On the laptop, I use it for:
Burning duplicating masters
playing Neverwinter Nights
It’s a very useful liveCD. It resembles Windows in look and feel by default, but you can make it look and feel like a Mac, or almost any other kind of computer you can think of. Updates are free, easy, and fast. So are all the thousands of programs you can download and install. Uninstalling software is simple, too, and doesn’t mess up the system. Firewall is built in, and takes 2 or 3 clicks to set up. And it’s freely downloadable from http://www.pclinuxos.com
My assistant uses it every day and she loves it. Took her 5 minutes to be doing everything she wanted to do, without my help. It’s that easy. And the community is wonderful. The guy who puts all this together still handles a lot of forum stuff himself. It’s been a real pleasure to use for the last two years now. (One nice thing about it is, when new versions come out, you just download the updates and voila - new version installed.)
Knoppix, the grandfather of all liveCD linuxen. I use PCLinuxOS because it’s got a somewhat more comfortable menu system setup for my taste, but I know and love Knoppix.
Almost anything would be better than WinDoze, but this damn eBay software I depend on barely runs on Windows as it is… Won’t work on 95, crashes my 98SE constantly, barely works on the XP (evil incarnate spyware IMO by the way) system I “borrow” for it… Computers… PHOOEY!
Idiot lazy programmers who write convoluted code… PHOOEY!
Manufacturers who use proprietary hardware (Compaq, HP, etc.) … PHOOEY!
I haven’t found a decent accounting program, and I can’t print on CDs directly the way I need to. Audition doesn’t run on Linux either. But knock those three out and it’s over.
Some day, Microsoft. Some day… Muah ha ha ha ha!!!
You want that last ten percent? What are you doing using Linux? Dude… get with the program… it’s all about the BSD for that.
I miss my BSD installation. sniff sniff Had that baby all tweaked out down to the last compiler flag. And system compiles and KDE compiles and X.Org compiles only took a day… all those customizations… sniff But I had to kill it after two years of faithful service and effortless upgrades. Well, mostly effortless. I did put in some time now and again as a broken ports reporting stooge. Nobody’s perfect.
If you like Gentoo, you’re going to really love FreeBSD or NetBSD. I prefer FreeBSD myself, but Dragonfly looks interesting too.
Had that baby all tweaked out down to the last compiler flag. And system compiles and KDE compiles and 