# Handy OS's (and why)



## ToeClaws (Feb 4, 2009)

So, for those of us into using a multitude of operating systems, there's sometimes certain ones that are just really handy to have around or use for a variety of reasons, be it small, fast, utility packed, etc.  So what are some handy OS's you know of and why you like/use them?

For me:

*Puppy Linux:* One of my favourite OS's, this little version of Linux is nothing short of incredible.  What it can do at less than 100M in size on a live CD boggles the mind.  It's handy for a _lot_ of reasons.



It can be run from a live CD, even save sessions to a CD (one time for a normal CDR, or multiple for a CD Re-recordable).  Can also be run from USB drive (as with most live distros)
it's hardware recognition is excellent, so you can use it to boot a modern system or server just as easily as an older one.
Can run on something as ancient as an old Pentium with 64M of RAM
Runs so well on old machines that it can be new lease on life for old hardware
FAR more secure than running a small and obsolete Windows version like 98
Extremely easy to use, update, and install applications on

*Helix3:* Forensics oriented Linux based on Ubuntu/Debian.  Comes as a LiveCD:



Packed full of very cool tools to turn a PC into a useful sniffing/troubleshooting station
Also packed with tools for forensics investigations of a system
Designed specifically NOT to touch the system in any way to prevent contamination of evidence

*BackTrack:* Live CD, DVD or USB drive Linux Disto focused on Penetration testing and monitoring.



Turn a PC into a highly equipped network monitoring/troubleshooting  or snooping station
Use any system to do penetration testing on a network device or system
Great support for a multitude of NICs and wireless cards

*G-Parted LiveCD:* Tiny Linux distro that's basically just enough to boot up and run G-Parted - a hard drive partition manager.  If you're prepping a machine for a new OS, this is a great tool to have around.  Or, if you need to resize an existing partition, this can also help you out.



Recognizes IDE/PATA, SATA and SCSI/SAS drive systems
Works with just about all known File Systems
Allows you to easily resize a file system (incredibly handy)
Allows flag management on partitions and volumes

*BSD Anywhere:* LiveCD version of OpenBSD Unix



MEGA secure
Super stable and efficient (as is the norm with BSD)
Excellent way to turn a system into a secure workstation
Works well on a pretty wide range of hardware from old to new


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## net-cat (Feb 4, 2009)

SystemRescueCD: Why do you need a full Ubuntu or Knoppix disc when all you need is Gparted or dd or something?


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## ToeClaws (Feb 4, 2009)

net-cat said:


> SystemRescueCD: Why do you need a full Ubuntu or Knoppix disc when all you need is Gparted or dd or something?



Ooo, yes another good one.  Keep'em coming!


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## humbird0 (Feb 10, 2009)

I've always been kind of partial to the old *Mac OS*.
Such as versions 8 and 9.
It's very simple... (the entire OS is inside a single folder. You can easily install it just by copying the folder to a new drive)
Intuitive to use... (navigate folders at lightning speed using only keyboard shortcuts)
Very fast...
It could run off a floppy disk... (some versions are very tiny)
And it runs impressively well on the BasiliskII emulator... even on my PSP!


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## WarMocK (Feb 10, 2009)

net-cat said:


> SystemRescueCD: Why do you need a full Ubuntu or Knoppix disc when all you need is Gparted or dd or something?


http://partedmagic.com/
Neat and tidy - if you got some quick partitioning to do. ;-)

GoblinX - pretty good, with a few things that need a little touch-up (still missing gksu).


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## lilEmber (Feb 10, 2009)

Windows XP-SP3 or Vista-SP1 for gaming.... *crickets*

I like Ubuntu Linux a lot, though. Just because it's great for beginners with Linux (me).


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## ToeClaws (Feb 10, 2009)

NewfDraggie said:


> Windows XP-SP3 or Vista-SP1 for gaming.... *crickets*



Booooo.  That's amusing only because of how opposite of the truth it really is.   But I figu.... *gets distracted by your avatar as usual* GRAH.  Evil.



NewfDraggie said:


> I like Ubuntu Linux a lot, though. Just because it's great for beginners with Linux (me).



Aye, that's the surprising thing about it really - it's remarkably powerful, more so than any Windows, yet it can also be so easy and friendly for a general user.  Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu) is even more so.  

One more to add to the list, though be aware - this is a release candidate:

*Jibbed:*



NetBSD-based LiveCD with still ability
Super stable, very fast/efficient despite being a full install OS
Easy to use, quick way to boot up a machine on a fast/stable Unix platform (seems to me to be a bit better with hardware than BSDAnywhere, as well as easier to use)


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## WarMocK (Feb 10, 2009)

GeexBox

This one looks VERY promising if you believe the screenshots. 20 Megs for a complete multimedia center OS is remarkable.


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## ToeClaws (Feb 10, 2009)

WarMocK said:


> GeexBox
> 
> This one looks VERY promising if you believe the screenshots. 20 Megs for a complete multimedia center OS is remarkable.



Damn!  That's awesome (if true, heh).  Will have to give that one a shot.  Wonder what it's hardware support is like?  Finished downloading gOS, will need to give it a test drive when I get a chance as well.


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## WarMocK (Feb 10, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> Damn!  That's awesome (if true, heh).  Will have to give that one a shot.  Wonder what it's hardware support is like?  Finished downloading gOS, will need to give it a test drive when I get a chance as well.


Yep, that's pretty cool. The smallest linux OS I managed to make was about 60 Megs, including XFCE 4.2 and just enough tools to set up everything, go to the web, and download packages from every linux repository available and install it on your PC. :3

Which reminds me ... *looking for my G_pup Live-CD*

Btw: Please tell me if gOS is kinda useful, I have a 4 gig partition left in my testing system where I could install it and rip off the best tools. ;-)


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## ToeClaws (Feb 10, 2009)

WarMocK said:


> Yep, that's pretty cool. The smallest linux OS I managed to make was about 60 Megs, including XFCE 4.2 and just enough tools to set up everything, go to the web, and download packages from every linux repository available and install it on your PC. :3
> 
> Which reminds me ... *looking for my G_pup Live-CD*



Wow, you are more ambitious than I sir.   I have toyed with the idea of using Puppy Unleashed to build out a customized Puplet, but lack the time and energy to do so.



WarMocK said:


> Btw: Please tell me if gOS is kinda useful, I have a 4 gig partition left in my testing system where I could install it and rip off the best tools. ;-)



No problem!  Will let you in on what I can when can check it out (which may or may not be tonight depending on how things go, heh).  I'll PM ya about it if so.


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## WarMocK (Feb 10, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> Wow, you are more ambitious than I sir.   I have toyed with the idea of using Puppy Unleashed to build out a customized Puplet, but lack the time and energy to do so.


Thank you. Actually it's not THAT hard to customize Puppy if you know the right tools (undeb and unrpm are a must-have ;-)). And I still got the package I made for barebones somewhere (though it's totally outdated and most of the tools now are available in the dotpet repository). I'll try to update it a bit and install it over G_Pup, among with the new tcl/tk libs (afaik they're gonna go back to a gnocl-enhanced tcl/tk environment and stop using GtkDialog3, can't blame them. Gtkdialog sucks when it comes down to creating new GUIs ).


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## CyberFoxx (Feb 10, 2009)

g4u - Really good HD cloning disk. The fact you can clone a HD to/from a FTP is quite nice. (I've used it that way a couple times) Plus it can even be netbootable as well. Case of "Only does one thing, but does it really well."


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## ToeClaws (Feb 10, 2009)

Oooo... that sounds very handy CyberFoxx.  Doesn't matter if it's all that does - if that's what you need, then you want a quick and good tool to do it.   Does it support SFTP/SCP as well?


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## Irreverent (Feb 10, 2009)

*UNethBootin*: Not an OS per se, but a handly little utility to make bootable LIVE USB drives.  It even downloads the ISO file for you (all the majors anyway), or lets you build your own. In about 2 mouse clicks.

Puppy on a scrap 1gb usb key rocks!


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## Archibald Ironfist (Feb 13, 2009)

MinuetteOS

A 100% ASSEMBLER coded, modern 64-bit OS with an HTTP server similar to Apache, SSH1&2, FTP, and more servers, browser, DVD player, Doom1&2, Super Mario Bros, and Quake.

And no harddrive or CD-ROM drive required:  Only a floppy.


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## Adelio Altomar (Feb 13, 2009)

Linux Mint

Mainly like the live CD version for its Java and .mp3 plug-ins. It gave me something to use with Eclipse while my computer was completely down, and the hard-drive was broken. Surprisingly, Ubuntu doesn't have this on the live CD. 

Oh, and I got my computer repaired with a better, and bigger hard drive, everyone! =D


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## Werevixen (Feb 13, 2009)

Windows 7 or XP x64. If you think different, fine, you have the right to be wrong just because you're trying to be cool by opposing 'the man'.

I'm onto you rebellious people! D:<


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## ToeClaws (Feb 13, 2009)

Archibald Ironfist said:


> MinuetteOS
> 
> A 100% ASSEMBLER coded, modern 64-bit OS with an HTTP server similar to Apache, SSH1&2, FTP, and more servers, browser, DVD player, Doom1&2, Super Mario Bros, and Quake.
> 
> And no harddrive or CD-ROM drive required:  Only a floppy.



Whoa... that was some brave soul who coded that (Assembler's not known for its ease of use, hehe).  Neat. ^_^



			
				Adelio Altomar said:
			
		

> Linux Mint
> 
> Mainly like the live CD version for its Java and .mp3 plug-ins. It gave me something to use with Eclipse while my computer was completely down, and the hard-drive was broken. Surprisingly, Ubuntu doesn't have this on the live CD.



Mint is a full Linux release but... you have a good point - since it natively contains all the restricted content, it can pretty much do everything right off the LiveCD.  The reason Ubuntu can't do that is that Ubuntu is written on the ideology of a 100% free OS, no license agreements, no restrictions, etc.  As such, they can't include things like Flash, Java or DVD decrypters off the LiveCD 'cause that would require the user to agree to a license agreement of some sort.



			
				Werevixen said:
			
		

> Windows 7 or XP x64. If you think different, fine, you have the right to be wrong just because you're trying to be cool by opposing 'the man'.
> 
> I'm onto you rebellious people! D:<



Haha... Windows != handy.  If I make a thread about painful or annoying OS's, that's a good place for Windows.  It's not handy primarily because there is no LiveCD version of Windows.  Admittedly, if there were, and if it were freely downloaded and distributable, that would be a handy way to do some things unique to the Windows OS, but I'm not sure Microsoft has any clue how to make it a LiveCD OS, nor would they want to do so for free.  I'm also not sure how they'd manage to get it small enough since Windows Vista and Windows 7 are both over 10 gigs in size. :shock:

It's also not rebellion, it's a professional appreciation of the open-source offerings.  For me, this is what I do - my degree and my career for the last decade has been as a Network admin and engineer.  Finding useful OS's and/or utilities that also happen to be free is extremely useful to folks in my position, and also appreciated by the various companies that employ us.


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## Raithah (Feb 13, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> ... I'm not sure Microsoft has any clue how to make it a LiveCD OS ... not sure how they'd manage to get it small enough since Windows Vista and Windows 7 are both over 10 gigs in size. ...



Well, you're absolutely right: Microsoft didn't make [VistaPE], some other guy did. There are a few fairly major limitations to what it can do, for instance; last I checked it doesn't have a writeable registry (no installed apps 4 ), but [PortableApps] seem to work just fine.


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## Irreverent (Feb 13, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> It's also not rebellion, it's a professional appreciation of the open-source offerings.  For me, this is what I do - my degree and my career for the last decade has been as a Network admin and engineer.



'Cause all us network engineers need a 64-bit mulithreading OS and eye-poping GUI to run what basically equates to Wyse terminal emulation in a background window....:twisted: and maybe an sftp session or two.   Besides, its fun to taunt the SysAdmins and the DBA's with all their bloatware and middleware baggage.



> Finding useful OS's and/or utilities that also happen to be free is extremely useful to folks in my position, and also appreciated by the various companies that employ us.



Closer to the truth....

Really, I suspect half of the nerds in this thread are only here for the "Damn, that's cool!" factor.  I am.   I veiw software as an art, and the only guys pushing the envelope are the Opensource guys.  MSFC and the .NET adherents reminds me more of Dadelists or Pointalists....alot of paint on canvas, not much artistic merit.



> I'm not sure Microsoft has any clue how to make it a LiveCD OS, nor would they want to do so for free. I'm also not sure how they'd manage to get it small enough since Windows Vista and Windows 7 are both over 10 gigs in size.



WindowsCE might be "liveCD" is disguise.  But you're right MotherCorp aint gonna give it away for free.


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## net-cat (Feb 13, 2009)

Oh, Windows.

BartPE and its larger but somewhat more useful spinoff, UBCD4WIN.

Basically, it makes a Live Windows CD. (Although it requires a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 CD, as they can't distribute the Windows files themselves.) BartPE is the basic install that you can add your own stuff to. UBCD4WIN is a custom distribution of BartPE that's loaded up with diagnostic and backup utilities.


However, I'm inclined to agree that Windows by itself is neither handy nor useful within the context of this thread. The most you can do with them is start the Recovery Console, which is a bit of a joke. (Last I tried to use it, I discovered that the copy command doesn't even support wildcards in the recovery console.) And you'd better pray to ${diety} that your SATA controller has drivers on the Windows disc.


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## ToeClaws (Feb 13, 2009)

net-cat said:


> However, I'm inclined to agree that Windows by itself is neither handy nor useful within the context of this thread. The most you can do with them is start the Recovery Console, which is a bit of a joke. (Last I tried to use it, I discovered that the copy command doesn't even support wildcards in the recovery console.) And you'd better pray to ${diety} that your SATA controller has drivers on the Windows disc.



*laughs!* Yes... I remember discovering that a few years ago and thinking "What the HELL!?  DOS had a better copy utility nearly 20 years ago!"  I'm not sure what they were thinking (and still think) with such a crippled recovery system.  Not that it much matters - one's chances of recovering a severe Windows issue that way is quite slim anyway.  And drivers... oi, yes, more so with older builds like XP.

Interesting though - I wasn't aware that there were tools for a LiveCD of it.  The only thing I had seen in the past was a version of Norton Ghost that booted what could be called a Windows 2000 LiveCD, which was appallingly slow and basically had very little driver support.

Another one to add to the list (totally forgot about this one):

*Devil Linux:* LiveCD based OS that boots from the CD, and stores it's config changes on removable media or a hard drive.  Runs in command line only.



Very neat in that you can take just about any PC (old or new) and turn it into a server
Because the config is stored on a USB key or even a floppy disk, moving the system to another server means just popping out the CD and USB stick and putting it in another similar machine
Allows a quick and secure way of building file servers, proxies, DNS/DHCP boxes, web servers - just about anything


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## net-cat (Feb 13, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> *laughs!* Yes... I remember discovering that a few years ago and thinking "What the HELL!?  DOS had a better copy utility nearly 20 years ago!"  I'm not sure what they were thinking (and still think) with such a crippled recovery system.  Not that it much matters - one's chances of recovering a severe Windows issue that way is quite slim anyway.  And drivers... oi, yes, more so with older builds like XP.


Well, it's better with Vista and Server 2008. You can load them off a thumb drive. With older versions, your choices were "floppy disk" or "hack it into the INI files on the setup disk."



ToeClaws said:


> Interesting though - I wasn't aware that there were tools for a LiveCD of it.  The only thing I had seen in the past was a version of Norton Ghost that booted what could be called a Windows 2000 LiveCD, which was appallingly slow and basically had very little driver support.


Yeah. There have been since at least Windows XP. It's called Windows PE and is licensed to OEMs and corporate users. BartPE was originally a pirated version of that, which Microsoft kicked his ass for. So, he basically wrote his own from scratch, borrowing ideas from WinPE.


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