I had 2 purposes for buying the stick.

1. It’s better than the 512MB I have (one can never have too much space).
2. I wanted to try out a "full" Linux distribution booted off USB installed via UNetbootin.

Last week I tried this out with smaller distros, but now that I had a full 2GB at my disposal I could try the CD-sized distributions. So of course I installed Linux Mint "live" mode on the stick and gave it a go.

Here’s what I have to report:

Now that I’ve experienced what it’s like to run a CD-sized distro off a USB stick, I can honestly say that this beats the ever-lovin’ crap out of using an optical disc. It is faster and smoother all around in operation, and quiet. No annoying spin-up/spin-down noises whatsoever.

If given the option I will always use this method of booting a live Linux distro over using the disc. No question. I highly recommend that if your computer has the ability to boot off USB, are curious about Linux and hate running anything off the optical drive, use this method.

Side note about UNetbootin: If you’re asking "can I make my USB an emergency bootable repair tool?" Absolutely. It supports NTPasswd, FreeDOS, Smart Boot Manager and several others. Like I said, if you can boot off USB, use the stick instead. See the UNetbootin web site for details on that.

It’s actually pretty easy. But before I tell you how there’s a small list of things you need to do first:

1. You need a USB stick that you don’t mind erasing all the data off of so you can put a distro of *nix on it.
2. The computer you do this on must be physically connected to the router, i.e. no wireless here. Must be wired. Granted, some *nix distros come with decent wireless support, but better safe than sorry here. Configure the wireless later.
3. The computer you do this on must be able to boot from USB. Being that the vast majority of computers can do this it shouldn’t be a problem. Just head into the BIOS, look at the boot device order and make sure USB is before HDD and you’re good to go.

A utility that you can use to create a bootable Ubuntu NetInstall image on a USB stick is UNetbootin. This is available as a Windows app or a Linux app.

In my particular situation I only had a 512MB USB stick at my disposal but wanted to install Ubuntu 8.10. Not a problem because Ubuntu has a "NetInstall" version so you don’t need a USB stick with large space (you could even get away with a 128MB).

I downloaded UNetbootin and ran it. This is what I did:

Above: I select the distribution as Ubuntu and the second drop-down menu as the 8.10_NetInstall because that’s the one I know will fit on the little 512MB USB stick. At the bottom the USB Drive is selected so that’s where the image will be written to.

Above: UNetbootin is retrieving the image from the internet to push to the USB stick.

Above: UNetbootin has completed the image install to the USB stick. Now I have a USB-loaded version of Ubuntu 8.10 NetInstall ready to rock. I clicked Exit to close the problem.

Notes before continuing: UNetbootin supports a ton of different *nix distros, including a few BSDs! You don’t have to use Ubuntu if you don’t want to. You could use Linux Mint or Fedora for example. But it should be noted that Ubuntu (aside from the "biz-card" ones like Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux) is the only one that has a NetInstall feature. This is the reason I chose it to begin with. I wanted a full distro without the size because the stick couldn’t hold it. Ubuntu was the one.

At this point you do the following:

1. On the destination computer, make sure it’s wired into the router for internet connectivity.
2. Insert the USB stick into the destination computer.
3. Boot it.

If all goes well, the PC will boot from the stick, automatically acquire network connectivity and then ask you a series of simple questions (i.e. what keyboard layout do you want, etc.).

From there the base Ubuntu will be installed with no GUI.

After that you will be asked what you want for your Ubuntu. You can do the regular Ubuntu Desktop, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, "Media" version, "Basic Server" or whatever you like. Most likely you’ll just opt for Ubuntu Desktop which is what I did.

Depending on how fast (or moreover slow) your internet connection is, it may take time for the installation to complete. Possibly a really long time. Be patient. It will eventually complete.

If you didn’t use a NetInstall but rather a regular "full" distro, everything will load off the USB stick without issue and you’re good to go.

This article is going to explain in a basic sense why Linux has the rock-solid reputation that it does and what makes it less prone to crashes compared to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

Here are 3 reasons why Linux is reliable:

1. Better background process management.

Generally speaking, when a background process is enabled in Linux, the OS will only use it for as long as it needs to and then disable it until needed again.

In Mac OS X, even though the OS is Unix-based, there are background processes that are “always on” in order to provide a better GUI experience - and you can’t shut them off. With Linux you can shut everything off including the GUI and go straight to a command prompt if you choose.

In Windows a long-standing complaint is the “always on” nature of many “services” that do nothing but eat away at system resource and cause your computer to run slower for basically no reason.

The ability to have total control over background processes is part of the reason Linux runs circles around OS X and Windows in the speed department. It also adds stability.

2. Less “nannying”

Both Windows and OS X are very guilty of the “let me do this for you” style of computing. This is done to make the OS easier (supposedly) to use. But there are times when this does nothing but get in the way of what you want to do.

A classic example is when you install a program and that program “hijacks something” where you say to yourself “No.. DON’T DO THAT. Why did you do that? That’s not what I wanted to happen!” Linux doesn’t do this. When you install applications under *nix there is never anything that changes like that. File permissions stay the way they are, file extensions are still assigned to proper applications and so on.

Linux is generally engineered to empower the user first. This ultimately gives the user more control over the OS - and that’s a good thing.

3. Picky by nature

Some people who use Linux for the first time find it annoying to “sudo” things and/or allow permissions for certain events to happen. This is a pro and not a con; the OS is purposely engineered this way to prevent end user mistakes from happening.

Windows Vista on launch actually did finally employ some fairly decent security measures but it annoyed many people because they were used to the “let everything happen” way Windows used to be. My response to anyone who feels that way is get used to it. Linux has been doing this for years and the plain fact of the matter is that it’s necessary and required.

OS X does obviously have security in place but it’s not nearly as “picky” as Linux is. Some say this is a problem and that OS X should be locked down a bit more. This is an ongoing challenge for Apple engineers because they’re always faced with the same question: “Should we employ more security and make the OS less friendly or not?” It is very true that the more security you add, the less ‘friendly’ an OS is to use.

Be that as it may, the picky nature of Linux does add to its stability. Any Linux distro will purposely state in the installation “Okay, now you’re going to add yourself into the system as a user and not an administrator.” It’s things like this that while seemingly insignificant are actually very significant. Anyone who has root access has complete control over your box. But if not, even if they have your username and password they still can’t get root (unless root has the same password as the username which is dumb).

Good security and user empowerment make for a reliable OS

Those who have been using a GNU/Linux distribution for a while do understand that the seemingly overprotective security and “let the user do it” way of computing does lend to the reliability of Linux.

One of the reasons is the Linux community itself. And on a tightly related note, it is because it requires corporate backing. Yeah, I said it…

Eeekk! Did You Say Corporate? But, That’s Evil!

For me to explain myself on this one, let’s back up a moment and look at the Linux community itself.

The Linux community is inherently very anti-commercialism. That spirit is part and parcel of the entire Linux movement. And that is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. It leads to a great OS being distributed for free and everybody likes that.

EXCEPT when it gets in the way. The noncommercial nature of Linux means that the community is responsible for it’s development. Again, good thing…except that it also leads to a lot of confusion. There are practically more Linux distros now than there are Linux users. Each distro does things a little bit differently. The typical desktop user would look at this scene and, well, their eyes will cross and they’ll run the other way. And the distaste for proprietary code in Linux means that many of the conveniences OS X and Windows users enjoy need to be set up manually by the Linux user after installation.

Linux Community Isn’t Exactly That Helpful

Linux users are the most high-and-mighty of the nerd community. We’ll laugh at the hardcore Mac followers and the “mactards” who hang on every word that comes out of Steve Job’s mouth. But, a lot of Linux users are just as snobby about their choice of operating system. And there is no “welcome mat” at the Linux door.

When a Windows user looks to convert to Linux, it is inevitable that frustrations enter because Linux doesn’t do things like Windows. And all too often, such a suggestion is met with a tongue-lashing for daring to suggest that Linux become a little more Windows like.

Another example would be the scolding a Linux die-hard might give to a person who uses Ubuntu Linux. Are you kidding me? Calling an Ubuntu user a “newb”, as if that is some kind of insult, is exactly the WRONG reaction you should have to a person testing the Linux waters.

Ubuntu As an Example

The fact that Linux die-hards react harshly to Ubuntu is a concrete example of why Linux fails to reach mainstream and always will - without corporate backing.

Ubuntu is, today, considered the de facto standard for Linux when it comes to newbie Linux users wanting to test the waters. It is because Ubuntu is among the easiest Linux distros to use. And what’s more, Ubuntu has a commercial sponsor in Canonical Limited. By having a company serve as the central development for the Ubuntu operating system, they have actually managed to make Linux into a usable operating system that a newbie can understand and use.

Canonical is doing with Linux what Mark Shuttleworth said needed to happen with Linux. Namely, they need to become more like Apple. They need to make Linux easier to use and “more beautiful”. Shuttleworth happens to be the guy behind Canonical.

Windows and OS X do well because they are easy to use and each has a central base for development, namely Microsoft and Apple. Each supports the product and provides a central focus for everything regarding that OS. Canonical is doing this with Ubuntu, which is why that distro is having the success it has.

The Linux community is dooming itself to failure due to its own nature. Facing that fact and getting some of that tough love is the only way Linux has a chance of being on a desktop near you. And, dare I say, I think it will take a commercial company to pull that off. I don’t think the unorganized nature of the Linux community can pull it off. And, no, the world will never just get smart and embrace Linux for the desktop. It needs to be user centric, and today it is not.

Something that’s always bothered me - as will as many other *nix users - is the lack of multi-monitor support. It’s a pain to set up and even more of a pain to use if you want to use multi-monitor and Compiz (3D effects) at the same time.

I’ll put it to you this way: Let’s say you’ve got a fresh copy of Ubuntu or Linux Mint installed. You installed the Restricted Drivers set to support your nVidia video card. Then you attempt to set up a dual-monitor setup Xinerama style (so both monitors act as one). Chances are you’re not going to get very far by doing it strictly from the GUI. So then you have to manually edit the xorg.conf file but then find out you can’t use Compiz at all whereas before you could.

Is there anything you can do? Yes. You can use Envy. In many distros of Linux Envy is easy to find, download, install and use. If you run a debian-specific distro like Ubuntu or Linux Mint you can acquire it via apt-get, add/remove or software portal (the portal is Mint specific).

Envy adds in a GUI control manager that makes multi-monitor easy to set up that actually works - and gives you Xinerama style - and the ability to get all those cool 3D effects with Compiz too.

Is Envy perfect?

No, far from it. I have 2 major gripes with Envy.

1. It doesn’t tell you when you need to restart X save for one time. What happens is that you’ll modify a setting, exit the control manager and expect it to work. But it doesn’t - not until after a restart of X. I figured this out the hard way.
2. On some distros it will not ask for permission to write to the xorg.conf file. Fortunately you can copy/paste modifications in there, but still you have to know how to do that (i.e. sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, copy/paste/save, etc. etc.)

Even with these gripes, it’s still better than nothing. And even though I wasn’t completely able to escape the command line for the xorg.conf edit, it was darn close.

Soon enough I will be posting a video showing off what Envy can do now. It’s been a while since I used it last and it’s improved quite a bit (even with the gripes I have above).

So if you’re looking for a multi-monitor solution with Linux but can’t seem to get it to work, give Envy a try - it may work for you.

The author does a very good job in walking you through the process of recovering your Windows files by using a freely available Ubuntu Live CD. The author also makes good use of screenshots to illustrate all the major steps along the way.

This one is worthy of a bookmark in the event you ever do actually need to recover some of your data… of course make sure you put the bookmark somewhere you can get to it.

1. If your hard drive fails, you’ve still got a working computer.

Obviously none of us ever want this to happen, but in the event that it does, you can just boot to the stick until you get another hard drive. You will have full internet connectivity (including wireless), web browsing, instant messaging and a whole host of other useful stuff. It is a true-blue full operating system.

2. Useful for laptops that have a busted optical drive and no USB-based optical available.

In laptops the optical drive (better known as a CD/DVD drive) is usually the first “big” item to fail. And as anyone knows that’s tried to replace one of these slim drives, it’s prohibitively expensive. Even if you opt to get an external USB-based optical drive it’s still going to hit the wallet hard (for a decent one).

If you have a laptop that’s still good but can’t install an operating on it due to the busted drive and no external USB-based optical options, Linux on a stick will save the day.

3. Great way to try Linux using a writeable “drive” method.

When you boot from a LiveCD you can’t save anything anywhere (not easily anyway). With a USB stick you can. You can save your settings whenever you want, write files and so on. Very convenient. And cheap.

What You Need

1. A computer that can boot from a USB stick.

Many desktops and laptops have this ability even if your computer was manufactured a few years ago. And even if you have an OEM computer like a Dell or HP it may have the option.

For example, I have an older Dell Inspiron 6000 built in 2005. In the BIOS there is the option to boot via USB.

Speaking of BIOS, that’s where you need to go to check if you have the ability to boot from USB or not. For most computers you can access this a few seconds after boot and before the operating system starts by pressing the Delete key or F2 (your computer will inform you which key to press to get into “Setup”).

Once inside the BIOS you will need to locate the Boot order. It is normally listed as Floppy (if present), CD/DVD Drive, Hard Disk in that order. You may be able to modify one of the settings to USB, USB-HDD or USB-FLOPPY. If the option is there, you want to set this as first in the boot order.

2. A USB stick.

I used a 512MB Sandisk Cruzer mini. You could go as low as a 128MB stick but I wouldn’t recommend it. Being that USB sticks are so cheap these days you can pick up a 512MB for under 10 bucks.

How You Do It

Compared to the way making a bootable USB stick was in the past, Puppy Linux makes it ridiculously simple.

Step 1. Download the Puppy Linux ISO.

Download Puppy Linux from here. I chose to download puppy-4.00-k2.6.21.7-seamonkey.iso which is the latest version at the time of this writing.

Step 2. Using an ISO-burning utility to burn it to CD-ROM.

If using Windows, grab ImgBurn for this. If you want something simpler use ISO Recorder. Both are freeware and easy to use.

Step 3. Boot into Puppy Linux on your computer.

Pop the burnt disc in and boot your box.

Step 4. Inside Puppy, click “Setup” the “Puppy Universal Installer”.

At this point you just follow the dots and instruct that you will be installing to a USB stick. The system will ask you to insert the stick into the PC (if not already there), detect it, format it and partition it properly to make it bootable.

It seriously doesn’t get any easier. You don’t have to do the old-school CFDISK method of manual partitioning. Puppy has made it so that it just takes a few clicks of a mouse, then transfers the information to the stick and it’s a done deal.

Afterwards you shut down Puppy, pop out the disc and boot to the stick.

I have successfully be able to do this. It takes 3 to 8 minutes to transfer the information to the stick so the install and fast and quick.

Using Puppy

What does Puppy Linux look like? A lot better than you think it does. It’s very Windows-XP like as far as the interface is concerned and that’s not a bad thing.

To those with laptops: Puppy was able to detect my widescreen 15-inch monitor on my Dell Inspiron 6000 with no problems. It also detected the sound and networking easily. Everything worked.

Reasons why this is important:

When a software product “graduates” from the internet to being an actual in-store item, this means that non-nerds see it and will probably buy it. Why? Because it’s only $19.99 - far below the price of the cheapest version of Windows Vista.

The fact Best Buy carries it means they now have a reason to carry “Ubuntu compatible” items for not only software but hardware as well. Vendors will be very interested in producing hardware and software specific to Ubuntu now that they know it’s actually on the shelf.

Linux purists will obviously see this as absolute heresy. Charge? For a Linux distribution! BAH! WRONG! BAD!

No, not bad. Good. You *nix guys want to see Microsoft go down the drain so bad you can almost taste it. If there’s a boxed item directly next to those shiny copies of Vista with a much lower price tag, this is a step in the correct direction. You’re going to have to deal with some corporate junk in order to put a dent in Microsoft’s stranglehold on PCs.

Want to know what’s even better? The sale comes with 60-day support. Yep, this means someone who buys Ubuntu actually has a real live phone number they can call to speak with a real live human for help. That’s just plain awesome.

This is a very strong move forward into making Linux more mainstream.

You can check it out here. It’s built on the Arch Linux distribution and there are 16 games available on it.

Compared to other distro releases, this is not about productivity (no tools present for that) or anything of that ilk. It’s just games.

The web site states it is a true “boot ‘n’ play”.

I plan on downloading it and checking it out. You should too.

If you want some nitty-gritty on what’s on the disc (other than the site) Linux.com will give you all the details on it.

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