By Rick Grehan
QUOTE
November 11, 2008 (InfoWorld) Linux is, among other things, a customizable operating system. Clever developers can craft a Linux whose kernel and packages are configured for a specific purpose, to serve as a sort of vertical-market operating system. The benefit to users is somewhat akin to walking into a hardware store. On the shelves are tools, each suited to a specific task. And it's particularly nice that all the tools are free.
In this article, we examine three kinds of "Linux as tool" distributions that can help you in a pinch: small-footprint Linuxes, whose boot and runtime images fit in cramped spaces; Linuxes for old hardware, which are designed to execute on systems you might otherwise push to the back of a closet; and system-rescue Linuxes for recovering lost data from crashed systems.
[ View screen images of these specialty Linuxes in our slide show. Read about the very best open-source software products in InfoWorld's Best of Open Source Software Awards 2008. ]
From each category, we have selected a pair of representatives and probed their features. In a follow-up article, we'll look at several Linuxes designed to run as firewalls, security systems, and even storage servers for your local network. Some are full gateway servers, sporting proxy, e-mail, print services, VPN capability, and other essentials for the small business network.
Small-footprint Linux
Other than the technical satisfaction of cramming a lot of capability into a small space, what is the attraction of a Linux whose boot image can fit into less than 100MB? Obviously, one benefit is portability. Imagine walking into an Internet café, plugging in a pen drive, and booting into your own personal environment.
Also, small-footprint Linuxes place minimal burdens on memory and processor. Consequently, they run well in a LiveCD configuration. Just as it sounds, a LiveCD Linux boots and runs directly from a CD; you do not need to install it on your hard disk. Consequently, if you need to run Linux only occasionally, you can run a small-footprint system from LiveCD without having to devote any hard-disk space to it.
Low memory requirements make small-footprint Linuxes ideal for execution in a virtual machine (such as VMware Workstation or Sun xVM VirtualBox). In most cases, 256MB of RAM is more than enough. In comparison, running a full-blown Windows operating system in a virtual machine can consume upward of a gigabyte.
Finally, because small-footprint Linuxes place minimal burdens on memory and processor, they stand a good chance of working on older hardware.
Two excellent Linuxes in this category are Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux.
Puppy Linux, the brainchild of Barry Kauler, is supported by a community that has not only created a large library of Puppy-installable packages but has also produced many specialized Puppy Linux variants. The boot image is around 90MB, and Puppy Linux can boot from LiveCD, a pen drive, or a network. The recommended memory size for Puppy Linux is 256MB. However, I have run a 2.x version of Puppy Linux on a 196MB laptop for more than a year now, and most applications execute directly from RAM, the exception being the Xine media player.
In this article, we examine three kinds of "Linux as tool" distributions that can help you in a pinch: small-footprint Linuxes, whose boot and runtime images fit in cramped spaces; Linuxes for old hardware, which are designed to execute on systems you might otherwise push to the back of a closet; and system-rescue Linuxes for recovering lost data from crashed systems.
[ View screen images of these specialty Linuxes in our slide show. Read about the very best open-source software products in InfoWorld's Best of Open Source Software Awards 2008. ]
From each category, we have selected a pair of representatives and probed their features. In a follow-up article, we'll look at several Linuxes designed to run as firewalls, security systems, and even storage servers for your local network. Some are full gateway servers, sporting proxy, e-mail, print services, VPN capability, and other essentials for the small business network.
Small-footprint Linux
Other than the technical satisfaction of cramming a lot of capability into a small space, what is the attraction of a Linux whose boot image can fit into less than 100MB? Obviously, one benefit is portability. Imagine walking into an Internet café, plugging in a pen drive, and booting into your own personal environment.
Also, small-footprint Linuxes place minimal burdens on memory and processor. Consequently, they run well in a LiveCD configuration. Just as it sounds, a LiveCD Linux boots and runs directly from a CD; you do not need to install it on your hard disk. Consequently, if you need to run Linux only occasionally, you can run a small-footprint system from LiveCD without having to devote any hard-disk space to it.
Low memory requirements make small-footprint Linuxes ideal for execution in a virtual machine (such as VMware Workstation or Sun xVM VirtualBox). In most cases, 256MB of RAM is more than enough. In comparison, running a full-blown Windows operating system in a virtual machine can consume upward of a gigabyte.
Finally, because small-footprint Linuxes place minimal burdens on memory and processor, they stand a good chance of working on older hardware.
Two excellent Linuxes in this category are Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux.
Puppy Linux, the brainchild of Barry Kauler, is supported by a community that has not only created a large library of Puppy-installable packages but has also produced many specialized Puppy Linux variants. The boot image is around 90MB, and Puppy Linux can boot from LiveCD, a pen drive, or a network. The recommended memory size for Puppy Linux is 256MB. However, I have run a 2.x version of Puppy Linux on a 196MB laptop for more than a year now, and most applications execute directly from RAM, the exception being the Xine media player.
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