Puppy Linux
Puppy Linux - is a small version of Linux that can be run from a CD or USB drive. It was designed to be small in size by its author to allow the OS to load entirely into memory. This allows for good performance on old hardware. Plus the boot CD can be removed from the PC after the OS has started. This allows you to use the CDROM drive.Any settings or new programs installed can be saved in a file on a Windows FAT or NTFS drive. So you don't have to create a Linux partition on the drive. This file is optional created when the OS is shutdown. I have read that it is challenging installing this OS on a hard drive. That's OK because it was designed from the ground up to be a Linux Live CD.
Another cool capability for this Linux is the option to run it under Windows using QEMU. I've tried it on Windows XP and it worked sluggishly as expected. The only problem I have is when creating the save settings file. The files created where corrupted and I had to fix them using the CHKDSK command. Do not save settings when running Puppy Linux through QEMU unless you can save the files on a separate drive.
Additional Resources:
- Puppy Linux Video Tutorials - videos on using Puppy Linux.
- An in-depth look at Puppy Linux by Howard Fosdick is a good article.
- Instructions for using Happy Puppy
