Hi All,

I need some help with a persistent install. Specifically, I'm just starting out and would greatly appreciate any suggestions on the following:

1. Which distro to use Slitaz/DSL/Puppy? (I'm basically looking for a good mix of speedy boot and functionally rich distro)

2. How do I go about an actual persistent install? Right now I just have a WinXP box (and the CD drive is broken, so can't use a live CD)

3. Need some pointers regarding development tools (gcc/gdb) and multimedia support (vlc/xmms/audacious) support on these distros.

I've a 512MB stick to spare and a pretty old WinXP machine at my disposal.

Thanks in advance.

ok
hey kbb

well, my opinion;
DSL is deprecated, and maybe is dead, so your software/apps would be out-of-date

Slitaz is cool, but like Slax/KDE; slitaz has alot of gnome stuff and so maybe not so fast and liteweight as they claim?

that leaves Puppy, of which many are available

as far as dev stuff and what not
unsure about slitaz, dsl is limited, and there is a puplet called
DevPup, but I haven't tried it
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=45907

Perhaps the fastest/litest puplet may be browserlinux-353
http://www.browserlinux.com/

as for getting it from iso to usb/hd ala frugal persistent
thats easy

now, is your usb formatted fat32?
do you already have any distros running on usb?

ahm DSL is outdated but can be updated just as easy as any distro
apt-get install xxx

thats not true really
if you try to update/upgrade anything having to do with the X window, desktop
it will break and you will have an unusable system.

you can install MyDSL apps in frugal mode, but they are now rather old, and there has been no dev since last year.

EDIT:
you can use Unetbootin to put most distro's onto usb
and it is for windows or linux
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

this app will install puppy to usb frugal from the iso
make sure its pointed at usb not hard drive

if you use it, and you get a grayish-white screen at boot
its because its using a old syslinux version
I can walk you thru instaling new syslinux to usb to alleviate this

Hey All,

Thnx for the suggestions.

@linus72 : thanx for the heads up on DSL n SliTaz. And your suggested distro BrowserLinux has almost all the stuff I need. Hopefully, I should be able to add dev packages on it (if it doesn't have it already). Anyways, I've a clear formatted 512MB USB key ready to go. Plz give me a few pointers on how to go about the persistent install.

@smeezekitty : thanx for illuminating the alternatives for making DSL better, in case I go with that. Anyways, I just want a day-to-day usable system nothin critical running on it, so DSL + updates crash a few time, it shouldn't be much of an issue

Installing slitaz using http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

@cola : I tried unetbootin and manual syslinux method. Both methods result in a "live" USB (just like a Live-CD but on a USB stick). Basically, this means that any changes that I make are lost when I reboot. I'm looking for a persistent install from within Windows (if that's possible).

bump!
Planning to furgal install puppy on a USB stick (heard it works great... ) looking for specific pointers on howto get it done frm win-xp... if it is possible in the first place. Tried live-linux but both dont offer frugal/persistant modes.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thnx in advance.

Go thru here and pick any you like
this site is popular for windows users
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-mu...multiboot-usb/

about the persistence features
tell me which ones your gonna be booting and I'll put you down
with all their tricks

@linus72: Thnx again for pointing me to a useful article. And with respect to persistence, I just want to do a simple frugal install of puppy on an USB stick (which has some data on it.... can be formatted, but I heard frugal install can be done without reformatting). Would really appreciate your help in this regard.
Thanks in advance.