As far as I am aware, this is a world first, a live-CD that saves back to the CD at the end of the session. So how does it work? “Boot the PC with the multi-session CD inserted in the CD-burner drive — thus, Puppy automatically knows which drive is the CD-burner, in case you have more than one CD/DVD drive. Then you use Puppy in the normal way. At shutdown, all the changed files in your home directory are saved back to CD. That’s it. Next time you boot, all the personal files are restored.”
that is impressive
standard stuff
but no-one else thought to do it
The PUPPY ISO is only 50 mb so it theoretically could be customized and expanded with additional apps.
Multi-session CDR’s have a 99 track limitation. It should allow for up to 98 saves.
question:
what is the multi-session track limitation of a DVD-R?
I think this would be a great tool for truly TRYING OUT linux on a laptop or other system. You could try it out for a few days and really play with it–assuming you have enough RAM.
Also, the CD allows saving to the harddrive in 1 file instead of writing to the CDR every time.
but no-one else thought to do it
They did, but it’s not exactly a hassle-free situation, so I guess no one wanted to try it.
I’d be interested in a way to upload your preferences etc to some webspace. Is there a sneaky way to mount your ftp?
As I understand the cramfs system in use with puppyLiveCD has file size limitations.
File size in cramfs is reported to be 16MB with the total of all cramfs files as limited to 256MB.
I may be wrong..things do change!
would it work on say a cd-rw or a dvd-rw so you would be able to use it endlessly?
the CD-RW spec has an official limitation of 1000 re-writes. Presuming that you can use a multi-session CD-RW, you should be able to re-write 999 times.
dunno what the official limitation is for DVD-RW
Hmm… this would be useful to allow users to easily customize their Knoppix (or other LiveCD) CD. I mean, you could burn the LiveCD on a CD-RW, then boot from it; then you customize it (settings, desktop env, locales, possibly network setups; maybe even install software, although that might be tricky), and then these settings are stored to the CD.
The advantage: Easily customized LiveCD.
This is possible today by, for instance, remastering Knoppix before burning it… but that’s not trivial. With the rewriting CD idea, a user could simply do the setup at the first startup (the CD has to be in a CD-RW drive), and can then use it as normal LiveCD, even in a CD-ROM drive (with all the advantages that come with read-only mounting the boot device).
For storing data a USB mass storage media is more conveniant (and also gets around the maximum rewrite barrier of CD-RW);
Something to keep in mind is that on a multisession CD-R, you lose about 23MB of space when the first session is closed, and about 14MB for each subsequent session, so you’ll probably run out of disc space before you hit the max theoretical number of tracks.
I’m maybe wrong, but I thought that one of the Morphix module was able to do that …..
i really enjoy this
I downloaded this Puppy 1.0.0a yesterday to explore this new trick. However I’m just as impressed with it as a regular live CD because this 55MB Puppy has a suprisingly large selection of general apps. It compares well with DSL on my old P200 box, but on my main PC, it compares well with the 200MB mini distros BeatrIX or SLAX that I also like.
Puppy uses the Fvwm95 desktop, the start menu is clean, with some 70 odd apps and 50 odd tools & wizards. The apps look consistent and overall it appears very neat.
Later I hope its possible to add/remove apps with Pup-get and re-master a new 55MB’sh image. It would be nice to add XMMS and say a small spreadsheet such as Siag.
It was a worthwhile download even on dial-up.
This goes to show that Open-Source, often maligned for trying to copy proprietary software and OSes, can innovate by coming out with completely new ideas and products, often using technologies that are already available and well-known. Kudos to the Puppy Linux team!
As to the people who mentioned using CD-RW or DVD+/-RW, the author had this to say in the project FAQ:
Why should I use a CD-R, why not a CD-RW or DVD disk?
I do not recommend a CD-RW simply because it isn’t necessary. A CD-R is “write-once”, but in multi-session mode, tracks can be written one after the other, up to 99 tracks or the CD becomes full.
You could use a DVD-R, however I would discourage you. Puppy has a mechanism for keeping track of deleted files, and this may become unwieldy if a very large number of deleted files have to be kept track of. This mechanism works on a per-CD or per-DVD basis, and is going to be more manageable with the smaller number of files on the CD.
Also, it could take years before you fill-up a DVD, and in the meantime, unless you leave it permanently in the drive, there is the increased risk of it being scratched.
Note however, this is tentative advice — it may turn out in practice that a DVD-R is a good way to go.
It should be noted that, when there isn’t enough space left on the CD-R when you log out, Puppy Linux will ask you to insert a new CD-R into the drive and will copy itself and all the current files on it. Really, a very clever idea!
There’s a GMail File System – using gmail as a file storage.
Now if Knoppix or Puppy Linux could use that, it would be cool.
Very slick… Another thing is that the base is only ~50MB so it makes it very easy to install on a ordinary flash drive, to cary with you and save your changes. (They have a verison made to be booted off of a flash drive)
this is genius. it’s a cost effective alternative to systems like mandrake move, which use a USB pen (jump drive) to save settings. when you start tacking on extra hardware, just to save some office files.. it seems kind of silly.
i’m way too impressed.
Puppy doesn’t use cramfs any more, now uses squashfs.
Puppy has the spreadsheet program Planmaker Free Edition. If is highly Excel compatible, but has a limitation on number of cells that can be edited.
Going to the Siag spreadsheet would probably be a big step down, but you could easily make up a package for Puppy Unleashed and build your own custom live-CD. Unleashed also has ABS, another spreadsheet app.