{NOTE: This article was written almost two years ago and, since then, puppy linux is still the OS (operating system) on our little netbook. When our bigger laptop developed some problems I booted the big laptop into puppy linux to salvage all our unsaved data from the hard drive. THIS IS A LIGHT, EXTREMELY PORTABLE, AND POWERFUL OS, AMIGO.
And one more prime attribute: internet banking (much as the whole global banking infrastructure is repulsive) is safer with puppy. All your breadcrumbs go up in smoke when the OS disappears from RAM.}
(Original Article):
No need to carry a laptop on your next foreign trip or even to your aunts house in Alabama. Just the handy flash stick shown above and a copy of the linux operating system variation “puppy linux”. That’s it.
A full operating system in a tough, aircraft grade aluminum tube and skip carrying your computer with you. Include a ton of your personal pix, maybe a few videos to show some friends or foreigners who are curious about where you live, a copy of skype for video calling, a web browser for surfing the internet, a word processor, maybe a movie player. Very easy to get all this and more by just installing puppy on a flash stick.
Plug the flash stick into a old, clapped out computer at a dodgy internet café, or your uncles ancient machine which is choked by malware, and boot from it into puppy linux. Puppy runs in RAM only so is lightning fast. Even really old machines come back to life since puppy runs only in RAM. You never touch the hard drive of the host machine so get none of its viruses, malware, or slow speed. Any files you download or create go right on the flashstick you carry puppy on. Since puppy only takes up about 120 MB of space even a 4 GB flashstick is plenty big for the typical web surfing fool.
Here’s a good run down on why it makes sense to carry a complete operating system in your pocket, including all your personal files you choose to travel with:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/
The Survivor case pictured above runs about 19 bucks on Amazon.com and is waterproof to 200 feet and extremely shock resistant. It has a handy dandy attachment point so you can carry it on a keyring. Pop into the library, boot up one of their machines into puppy (try not to freak out the librarian), and have all your favorite programs at your disposal, along with pix, files, etc..
Save all downloaded material to the flashstick, use a small antivirus program to weed out the remote possibility of virus infection (rare with any linux OS), and head out with only a small 3” long aluminum canister in your pocket or purse. This one is USB 3.0 ready so pretty darn fast data transfer wise.
Oh….. Puppy linux is FREE. Open source is the niftiest thing since true free love in the hippie days. And a huge library of free programs is available to flesh out the program for your individual needs. So, for about 20 bucks you have a full operating system you can use on the road via friends computers or internet café pooters. Or get a salvaged older machine once you get somewhere and use that for ultra cheap while you're there then donate it to a school.
Great travel method. Super for areas of high theft. Perfect for the nomad traveling fast, cheap, and light!! Or the sailor dingying in with no worries about soaking or damaging the laptop. Lovely.
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