I'm no SuSE expert, but I'm pretty sure the latest release (10.1) has a live install here:

http://en.opensuse.org/Released_Version#Internet_Installation

Yours,

Bob

Howdy.

I very briefly looked at both Ubuntu and Suse recently, because I was looking for a good desktop-oriented Linux I could install on OPC (other people's computers). They were both nice, but I decided to go with a lesser known variant that blew across my path, called PCLinuxOS.

I've installed it twice for others, and I'm installing it on an extra computer now for myself. I almost hate to admit I like it. One advantage it has over Ubuntu and Suse is that it is one LiveCD, rather than 5 or 6 install cds. Since it's live, you can try it without commiting your system to it.

PCLinuxOS is based on Mandrake (now Mandriva). If I have the story right, it began as a set of custom packages created by a talented Mandrake developer.

Anyway, sorry for the mini rant, but I couldn't resist... :-) Ubuntu and Suse are fine choices.

hey Bob,

The page you linked to seems to describe an internet install. I edited my first comment, and made "LiveCD" a link to a wikipedia article. You can use a livecd without installing it--you boot straight into a working desktop system. PCLinuxOS, and others, provide a way to install a copy of the working desktop system to your hard drive, but you don't have to install anything to experiment.

I fixed the link.

-----
Charlie | cyberdash

SUSE Live CD

-----
Charlie | cyberdash

Almost all the distributions have single Live CDs now. In fact, I think last month's issue of Linux User or Linux magazine had a cover DVD with many distros included. I know it had Ubuntu, Knoppix, DSL, and a SUSE version (not sure what version). I can check later and post if anyone's interested.

I have had Ubuntu on my machine at home for quite a while--and it updatesd automatically from 5.10 to 6.06. I haven't tried it against any other systems in a long while--that is, I compared around prior to opting for Ubuntu last year and thought it was the easiest to install and find updates/additional applications for at the time...and as a Linux novice. Anyway...I really like Ubuntu both with a GUI--which is my home system--and without GUI, as a server install which I'm using for a few projects at school.

jeffwhite

Sorry guys,

I thought livecds were old hat by now--sure enough, you know about them. One nitpick, though: the fixed link is for the Suse live DVD, not CD. I'd love to try it, but I'll have to wait until I get some newer hardware.

just a follow-up to indicate that the magazine is Linux Format which contains a DVD of live CD versions for KnoppixGames, Morphix, Ubuntu, LookingGlass, SUSE, and Damn Small Linux.

Also, to address the reply from Scrawler, yeah...Live CDs are definitely old had and fun to dink around with. Only a few seem useful for any real uses that I can see beyond testing distros. Puppy linux has a multisession version which writes to the empty spaces on a CD-R or Flash drive for true system portability. Others offer options for storing updateable info on a separate media...ie, CD for the distro and USB Flash for the profile data.

While fun to play with, I'm wondering if anyone uses this level of technology for writing classes...or, maybe, HOW people see this moving away from desktop instances to portable instances of workspaces as relevant to comp/rhet teaching...if it is...

jeff

I recently tried Fedora Core 5 and Ubuntu 6.06, and I have to say I like Ubuntu a lot more. The installer "saw" my wireless card immediately, and even my Winmodem was usable. Synaptic makes the .deb system really manageable.

Ok, I get it -- I was confusing an internet install with Live CD (which is like a knoppix CD, right?).

Hearing all these raves for Ubuntu makes me think that I need to try it out . . .

I tend to think that the live CD's are

(1) great for experimenting with a Linux distribution before making a choice about which one to install.

(2) very useful for troubleshooting and system maintenance (I've used Knoppix for this a few times) on a Windows machine gone bad. (BTW: Check out the GParted LiveCD if you'd like to repartition your hard drive(s))

Otherwise, I'm not sure there is much advantage to using either these or the USB key Linux versions in the writing classroom. Pratically speaking, I've never heard of a writing classroom with computers without an OS, so what's the advantage in using Linux? And if there are machines without an OS, I'd think that getting Linux installed and maintained on all of them would be much simpler than supporting students and teachers in using LiveCD's and USB keys.

On the other hand, portable apps could be nice for when the computers lack the necessary applications :)

-----
Charlie | cyberdash

I couldn't live without portable apps at this point. I use NVU & GIMP portables weekly--in classes; and when I find myself using Firefox on a machine without having put my USB portable FF in, I'm almost lost. The extensions, bookmarks, and other tools set up in it have become "natural" view of the web.

And in the Tech Writing course I teach on web, design, infoarch, images--I have found that the students who put NVU portable on their USBs have very little trouble with the old, "I worked on this at home, but it won't open here..." problem.

jcw

I think you are dead on about their usefulness. I've got Firefox and OO on my USB key ready to go.

But I think that the proprietary software vendors might be missing the boat with this market. How many people might want a reduced feature set Dreamweaver Lite or Photoshop Lite for their USB key?

This also makes me wonder if hardware mobility won't influence software design, creating a "mobile" software market. I've got a 14" widescreen laptop (an HP) and wouldn't trade it for a larger screen for any other machine It's such a light laptop, no amount of additional screen space is worth the extra weight.

Will we develop the same priority of mobility and lighness for software? How many software apps come with a full-cd install with hundreds of features where the average person only uses about 2% (and the same 2% among everyone). Maybe "lite apps" will be the in thing, and a USB key full of them may be more desirable to people than one machine with all of the heavier versions.

And maybe I'm being influenced by the Nintendo DS Lite that I just got my son. It already has WiFi, and rumour has it that Opera is coming for it soon (see the merchandise art).

-----
Charlie | cyberdash

I'm using Ubuntu as well, and just got the new version automatically updated on my system (took about 2 hours!) I haven't noticed much difference with the upgrade, though the login screen looks a bit snazzier.

Ubuntu runs a bit slow on my aged PC, but it seems to run clean and is infinitely more intuitive for a Windows user than the other distros I've tried. I did try SUSE for awhile, but got frustrated pretty quickly and gave up.

I had an "adventure" today trying to get an extra harddrive installed on my Ubuntu machine, but finally managed it with help from a few dozen websites. I also had some difficulty getting a C++ IDE up and running, but finally got one called Anjuta working after a lot of hassle. I was disappointed i couldn't get all this running with the package manager in Ubuntu. I got a better IDE up and running in Simply MEPIS much easier.

Check out Barton's other blogs at Armchair Arcade and Gameology.

I think you're exactly right, Charlie--the "lite" apps, like FoxIt Reader for pdfs, take up very little space and open quickly...and they tend to meet the needs most people have for most uses. I've found AbiWord to be similar in that it opens way more quickly than OO and uses just a tiny bit of the resources OO uses for simple text files.

Seems like what portable apps do is meet some sort of middle ground between full, personalized desktops and network-based thin clients. However, I'm not sure about that...the portability of a roaming profile/active-directory sort of thin-client network system gets stretched beyond a physical LAN. And the apps you want to run and the settings you want for each stay set on your USB...so maybe it works as a "middle ground." I know that on our campus, portable apps have allowed me to work on a number of different, locked down machines as if they were my own. Maybe that's not good security practice on the IT dept's part, but it is good for me in computer classroom with limited instructor's stations and in the library. It is nice to not need to take out, plug in, and start up a laptop each time I want to do some relatively minor thing in those settings.

jcw

Bob: Yes, that's exactly right. Knoppix sort of started the party.

Everybody: You probably know that custom live cds can be made. What kind of software would you include on one that addresses the needs of the tech-rhet-ped crowd? Vote number 1 from me is StarDict. StarDict is great. Highlight a word, and the word's definition pops up next to the highlight

Any others? Would a customized cd be used, or be truely useful?

I'm not sure that it would be used, but regardless of this, consider security. A liveCD is only good until it becomes outdated due to security exploits. Maintaining this project over time and different releases could be some work.

-----
Charlie | cyberdash

I don't know how useful a CD like this would be either...somewhere in this thread I was asking if anyone used them, and I can't come up with a good, viable use myself--especially given that for anything I, personally, teach, students would never need a whole linux distro running on a machine.

But, regarding Charlie's caution, at least one distro, PuppyLinux, has a multisession Live-DVD which might deal with the problem of updates. On the site, the Puppy people suggest these CDs as a way to manage an Internet Cafe on, essentially, thin-clients and live-CDs...I suppose a computer classroom could work the same way.

Anyway, it is interesting stuff to play around with--even if not, ultimately, a very useful concept within comp/rhet teaching spaces.

Yeah. I think better/more portable USB and web-based apps are where it is at. Anything that can be done there, is a plus :)

-----
Charlie | cyberdash

Matt, have you tried xubuntu? It's a lightweight version of Ubuntu. I had found a page which described how to "convert" Ubuntu to Xubuntu, but I can't put my hands on it now. I did find this low memory installation help on the Ubuntu wiki. I plan to try one or both of these.

Personally, I prefer Wolvix. It also runs on XFCE but is ridiculously easy to put on a usb drive or as a liveCD. it can be put on a hard drive but I haven't tried it. Either way, you can add more apps using modules.