<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
justin wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:1232890873.2243.21.camel@asus-413046415.apathetic.discordia.org.uk"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Sun, 2009-01-25 at 10:23 +0000, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:plebs.col@virgin.net">plebs.col@virgin.net</a> wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Is there a precise meaning to FLOSS?
I suspect that a USB memory stick with a self starting Linux OS properly
presented could intrigue a lot of school children..
Such a stick could be self reproducing once made available.
Could update its own operating system whenever connected to the web?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
theres loads of linux LiveCD systems that also work on usb keys.
for example Fedora 10, the installation manual tells you how to download
the files and make a bootable usb key, from linux or from windows.
the usb key solution being better than just a livecd because it allows
for an overlay, where it can remeber all the modifications and personal
settings that you apply to it. so they are all there next time.
i have one that i use on my eee when i want to experiment with stuff or
use a better desktop (with compiz :) than the default, but the boot time
is slower so i dont use it as my main os (yet).
im sure that Ubuntu and many others also have the same features, but ive
not tried them.
</pre>
</blockquote>
Ive recently tried both Fedora and Ubuntu for a LiveUSB version.
Overall a good idea, but both had the same problem - apparently running
out of space.<br>
<br>
It was an 8GB flash drive, but Fedora's liveUSB installer would allow a
max persistent storage area of 2GB - I tried formatting the drive as
ext3 in case it was fat32's 2GB file size limit (as suggested
elsewhere), but that didnt solve it. It was the same fate with the
Ubuntu version. I did try installing software, but nothing rediculously
large like OpenOffice (a Flash plugin, and a few C developer tools).
Rather tham the OS actually realising there's, say, < 10MB or so
left so it can be handled safely, it would get completely to 0 bytes
left and not allow me to do anything which required using the storage.
It wouldnt even let me open a network share without complaining that it
was out of space.<br>
<br>
<br>
Regarding the schools idea - there are a number of primary schools
throughout Cardiff which are not even using Windows 2000. I'm willing
to bet that most arent connected to the internet, so teachers cant as
easily get software for use in the class. A Linux install would do some
serious favours given the amount of creative software, and even
software targeted at kids which would potentially cost the school for a
Windows equivalent. A lot of the software is even on the distro's
installation media, depending on the distro.<br>
</body>
</html>