MultiBoot Desktops USB Flash Drive: Multiple OS 8GB

Discussion in 'GNU/Linux' started by Brokor, May 19, 2011.


  1. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    html with screenshots:
    MultiBoot Desktops USB Flash Drive, On-Disk.com

    The MultiBoot Desktops USB Flash Drive is an 8GB USB Flash drive containing several Linux Operating Systems featuring different Desktop Environments. Just select the one you wish to use from the boot prompt. Also included is a boot CD to allow using the USB Flash Drive on computers that can not boot from USB directly.

    For more information or to order see:
    MultiBoot Desktops USB Flash Drive, On-Disk.com

    This MultiBoot Desktop Flash Drive is designed to give a good cross section of currently available desktops running on various Linux Distributions, and supporting a variety of hardware. All the included Operating Systems are 32 bit and can be used on both 32-bit and 64-bit Intel compatible computers. The operating systems included are: Fedora, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Debian, SimplyMepis, Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS, Zenwalk, Knoppix, Puppy Linux, and DSL (Damn Small Linux).


    The Desktops included on this drive are:

    Gnome 3 Desktop Shell: Gnome 3 is all the rage at the moment! It's been a long time coming, but the clunky 1980s desktop layouts are being replaced by a format we're already familiar with, our smart phones. In testing we hated Gnome 3 for about 5 minutes then loved it for it's simplistic smart phone approach. Fedora 15 highlights this new, highly anticipated, version of Gnome. Like it or hate it, it's the new generation of the Gnome Desktop which was quite impressive on the new Fedora Project release. In testing 512MB of memory was sufficient, only actually requiring 306MB to boot from the Live CD and complete the hard drive installation.

    Unity: Unity is a Gnomish design with a left side app-panel, like Gnome 3. It has several similarities to the Gnome 3 offering, and it's not by accident. The folks at Canonical, the corporate entity behind Ubuntu, disagreed with some of the things the Gnome Project wanted to implement. Canonical, being unable to sway the Gnome Project, created their own new desktop and dubbed it "Unity". Unity is the default desktop in the the included Ubuntu 11.04 release although Gnome is also installed. Future releases are scheduled to only include Unity. Of course Gnome can be installed after hard drive installation. Ubuntu with unity is going to require at least 512MB of memory, with 1GB being a more realistic operating range.

    KDE4: As KDE moved to the 4.x series, the developers it took a lot of flack from those who liked the Windows 2000ish look and feel of previous versions. The hit on KDE4 is that it requires more system memory and is more CPU intensive than other options. The newest implementations are much better, with both openSUSE 11.4 and SimplyMepis 11 being great examples. If you still find KDE a little heavy for your taste, there is an article here about speeding up KDE4. KDE requires more than 512MB of memory. In testing KDE4, it used 553MB to perform a hard drive installation.

    Gnome: Debian 6, aka "Squeeze", uses the longtime standard Gnome Desktop without modifications to the base layout.

    Modified Gnome: Linux Mint has changed the desktop layout and customized the menu. If you like the layout of Microsoft Windows, you'll probably like the Linux Mint Gnome desktop.

    Enlightenment .17: Usually just referred to as E17, it was the first to coin the phrase "Desktop Shell" some years ago. Without requiring graphical acceleration E17 is fast, can run on computers with as little as 256MB of memory, and is graphically attractive. E17 has been in development for several years now and the could have been what most of us are using today if it were taken as a foundation for a larger project such as Gnome or KDE. E17 was used for the XtraOrdinary OS for the One Laptop Per Child XO Laptop, and is well represented by with the PCLinuxOS E17 2010.12 release.

    XFCE4: XFCE was initially a down-and-dirty launcher and window manager without a lot of bells and whistles, except it was very fast and stable. Since the release of XFCE4 a few years ago, it's grown to include a good set of desktop tools to help manage the desktop, without adding bloat. In testing it showed it could be used on computers with only 256MB of RAM, however most would want to use at least 320MB. Zenwalk represents XFCE4 very well with their Zenlive 7.0 release.

    LXDE: Stands for Lightweight X Desktop Environment. If you liked the no-frills simplicity of the Windows 98-2000 desktop, LXDE might be for you. It's capable of being used on computers with as little as 256MB of memory. Knoppix was among the pioneers of the Live Desktop we have come to know and love, and Knoppix 6.4.4 shows off LXDE very well.

    IceWM: The ICE Window Manager is perhaps the oldest, and fastest, of any of the widely used windowing system today. It's generally used along with light weight supporting applications to create a desktop environment suitable for use on all but the oldest of PCs. Puppy Linux shows off IceWM and requires only 256MB of RAM. - Puppy 5.9

    JWM: Joe's Window Manager (JWM) is similar to IceWM. It doesn't look quite as nice, but creates a functional desktop environment after adding a few supporting applications. It's probably most notorious for being the window manager used Damn Small Linux (DSL). DSL can be used with as little as 64MB of memory so it can run on just about any Intel compatible computer built in the last 15 years. - DSL 4.4.10
     
  2. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Nice. I've been doing this for years in a round-about way but it would make a great introduction to linux for people who don't know there way around Vbox and other VMs. Great way to sample a bunch of different flavors.
     
  3. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

  4. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Brokor likes this.
  5. Redneck Rebel

    Redneck Rebel Monkey++

    I know this is an old thread but I'm gonna give this a try... well multiple tries as I know I won't be able to resist trying all the different flavors.

    Edit:

    Attempt 1: Kaspersky Rescue Disc - Bootmgr not found press ctrl + alt + del to restart

    Attempt 2: Reformatted to FAT32 - Kaspersky Rescue Disc - presto!

    Not 100% positive it was the formatting that corrected the issue but it works now.
     
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