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Topic: running DSL from USB on public school computers

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ryancw

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Joined: Jan. 2006

Posted: Jan. 10 2006,03:43

A while back I replaced Windows98 with Libranet linux at home. My kids have become quite enamored of linux and are disappointed that all the school computers run Win2000. I am just now learning about various distros that can run "live" on various media: Puppy, Knoppix, and now DSL. It would be neat if there was a way for the kids to run a linux system at school, without modifying, harming, or interfering with the native Win2000 operating system, hard drive, or network (all the school PCs are networked together--I don't know the details.) In other words, it would have to be totally isolated from whatever was on the computer already.

I think it's neat that DSL can be "booted up" right from Windows, without physically rebooting the machine.

Froom what I understand of Puppy, it runs as root--not a good thing in this context.

I don't know enough about Knoppix yet.

Would DSL run from a USB pen be "safe" in this context?

Thanks.

--Chris

roberts

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Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Jan. 10 2006,05:39

DSL embedded (Qemu version) runs self contained in a virtual machine. Therefore it would not touch/change the host Windows machine and would provide the safest environment. DSL's performance depends on the spec of the Windows machine, hopefully they will be powerful enough for acceptable performance. Large memory being more important than processor speed.

Edited by roberts on Jan. 10 2006,05:39

Breadman

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Posts: 22
Joined: Jan. 2006

Posted: Jan. 11 2006,22:33

A system like this works in my school...

We're running Celeron 300 processors, 64 Mb Ram at Win2000 Professional (that worth a laugh!). As you can imagine the performance is rather bad.

But it is enough to run an embedded DSL from USB when all other (windows)processes are not running.

So almost every system should provide enough ressources to run embedded DSL...and YES, its SAVE!

BUT: How about the access-rights on this machines? is the USB-port at free access. Normaly its rather blocked so that noone except the admins can use it.

Here the problem should not be DSL but Windows.

b.MAN!

==============================================
www.bread-n-linux.de.vu

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* Wenn die Sonne kommt, schein' ich mit! *
* www.bread-n-linux.de.vu *
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pr0f3550r

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Joined: Dec. 2005

Posted: Jan. 12 2006,01:02

A knowledgeable pupil could create an image file with, for example, qemu-img, and mount it from the qemu console, or a number of other things, primarily exiting from qemu and accessing the host OS directly.
The level of security given by DSL embedded is the one given by the host OS itself, plus something more.

However, I'd wonder how many would ever think to press CTRL-ALT-F and exit the full screen.
I did it at my friend's house and he accused me of wiping out the hard drive.... priceless!

--------------
THE QEMU FORUM: http://qemu.dad-answers.com/index.php

QEMU ON WINDOWS: http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/

How to use floppy, CD-ROM and hard disk - http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/HowToFloppyCdrom-en.html

How to use network - http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/HowToNetwork-en.html

cbagger01

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Posted: Jan. 12 2006,17:48

With a Celeron 300 and only 64MB of RAM, dsl-embedded will be almost unusable.

You would be better off with a DSL livecd and if needed, create a DSL boot floppy (assuming that you are not able to boot from the CDROM drivE).

12 replies since Jan. 10 2006,03:43

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