MCNLive on a stick
It’s remarkable that you can store a computer operating system on a USB stick and boot from it. I’ve known this for a while, but only tried it for the first time today and I’m impressed.
The distro I’m using is MCNLive, codename Jordaan. It’s based on Mandriva and comes from The Netherlands. The download was 197MB, so it’s a comfortable size. There are many other options out there, and I’ll probably try Puppy from USB when the new version is released.
MCNLive has an easy USB install through the main menu. I had no problems with it on a 256MB device.
After changing my BIOS to boot first from USB-HDD I fired up from the stick and all went well. The boot was slower than from the CD, but once I got going the system seemed faster and was definitely less noisy.
I’ve got a broadband connection with unlimited downloads, so a USB boot is a good option for leaving the computer on overnight, without worrying about security.
MCNLive uses the Xfce desktop, which is smaller and faster than KDE and Gnome. There’s a useful selection of software including Abiword, Gimp, Opera, Beep and Gxine.
I had to enter the Mandriva control centre to get my ADSL connected. There was no sound when I tried a CD, but opening the Xfce sound mixer showed the volume was down and that was soon fixed.
You can install extra software if you want to, using the urpmi command or the Mandriva package tool. I switched to the Fluxbox window manager through personal preference, installed Rox for file browsing and Firefox. There’s no email client, but I can access all my accounts through webmail.
There is no tool that I can see to save the configuration, so extra software and personal settings are lost on reboot.
That’s not a big deal though. Bookmarks can be saved online and adding Firefox is easy enough with broadband.
I enjoyed having a look at the new Mandriva. Mandrake was the first distro I ever tried and I’m tempted to revist it for my second computer and the kids.
So why would anyone boot from USB? Portability, quiet and security are the main reasons I’ll do so occasionally.
These articles might be of interest:
