FlashLinux 0.3.2 Review

After stumbling on the FlashLinux website a few nights ago I had been itching to give this USB based distribution a try due to its inherit potential for becoming a truly portable desktop environment. I have been using Live CDs for a while now mainly for system recovery. Whilst useful I have three issues with the CD distributions. Firstly you cannot save preferences/files (unless you use a USB key), secondly they are generally slow because CD-Roms are not fast and thirdly a CD-Rom is just too big to fit in your pocket.

USB key distributions interest me because I am reasonably mobile. I have a couple of offices plus clients dotted around the city. Also I have a lengthy trip planned in the future and the idea of taking a few USB key based desktops away with me really appeals.


Working Desktop (click to enlarge)

A Very Tidy USB-based Linux Distro

A few of us were talking recently about USB based Linux distributions.
Up until now I had only really seen 'lite' text distros or very cut down Knoppix hacks.
This distribution is aimed for 256meg USB key owners and provides such cool things as Gnome 2.8, Firefox and OpenOffice.

FlashLinux USB Distribution Homepage
 
For old school 128meg key owners like myself it's almost worth going and buying a new key just for the freedom it would provide.