Lodovik
Group: Members
Posts: 17
Joined: Jan. 2005 |
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Posted: Feb. 10 2005,04:55 |
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Like I said in another post, I work as a computer tech. I repair computer, install systems, etc... The real plague now about Windows XP is the flood of spywares / viruses I have to fight everyday. I always kept an eye on Linux and the progress it made over the last few years.
As any tech, I have my own personal toolbox of softwares on CD. On one of these CDs, I keep the most precious of my findings, nicely arranged on a multiboot menu for DOS and also on an autorun menu for Windows apps. With this CD, I can scan for virus in DOS, copy partitions, check the memory, board, hard disks and so on... In Windows, I have all the latest (free) in anti-spyware weapons: Ad-Aware, Spybot, etc... and many more essentials utilities and programs.
A couple of months ago, I had about 100MB of free space left on my CD and was wondering if I could also put a Linux bootable system. I tried a lot of compact Linux distros but, by far, the most impressive was DSL. It really packs the most punch for the byte! I was interested in something that could help me copy / rescue some files when a system couldn't boot and DSL seemed a good choice.
I tought that for 50MB, I would only get a GUI, console and a file manager but I got a lot more! Contrary to most other compact distros, sound is very well supported, and a multimedia player is installed and ready to be used. LAN cards (even my USB-LAN adapter) are almost always detected and configured. The only exception I could find to date are systems based on i915 chipset. On those, neither onboard LAN or audio are detected. I suppose that drivers for i9xx chipsets will some day be included in DSL.
And, with DSL extensions, I added Gcombust (to burn some rescued files on dead systems) and Samba (so I could explore network ressources without altering Windows configuration). I'm also starting to use DSL to test hardware on dead systems. I only need to boot DSL to test a sound card, video board, LAN adapter, etc. Very useful when the hard disk is dead!
DSL also prompted me to buy an external Iogear 40G USB 2.0 hard disk to complement my Apacer 256MB (UBS 2.0 also)Flash key. With that, I could do massive transfers of data when a PC won't start due to a corrupted Windows system. A lot easier than putting the hard disk on another Windows system to save the files. I'm still having difficulties seeing my Iogear HD, tough. Sometimes, it needs to be plugged before booting to work. Some other times, I had to boot to DSL, unplug it and replug and do some fiddling in command-line to access the device. I wonder if the device is always used to its full speed on systems that can support USB 2.0. But, being a Linux newbie, I may not have all the knowledge to fine tweak it.
I still have much to learn about Linux but DSL makes it a quite pleasant experience. Anywhere I go, I have this little 50MB gem with me and can boot it up in an instant. I also have with me a backup of my settings / favorites / email accounts using the very useful and powerful DSL backup and restore option.
Congratulations on the DSL team for putting together this great little system! Keep up the good work!
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