xtra pc

[jensen]

https://www.xtra-pc.com/how-it-works-1/

How does this work? Just bootable linux?

Can we just get a thumbdrive and put a persistent linux OS and get it to work like the above?

Claims to work even with a computer that is missing hard drive

 

[essellar]

That's pretty much it. It looks like the key comes with a barebones OS that can run on just about anything, which then grabs an appropriate distro for the machine it's plugged into. If you know whether you want X64, X86 or what have you, it's nearly as easy and probably cheaper to just grab a good Linux and put it on a bootable USB. Ubuntu's got a decent setup you can create using Rufus to install the OS to flash.

 

[jensen]

Tried LiLi with persistence on 8GB USB with lubuntu. It takes so long to load.
Good suggestion. Maybe will use Rufus instead.

Had assumed that lubuntu was the lightest variation of the ubuntu gang. Was playing with peppermint OS but then there was CloudOS. So was trying to guess what OS they were using for xtra-pc. Most likely their own OS eh?

 

[essellar]

There's probably a 32-bit Linux kernel with a small GUI and basic drivers on the stick to begin with, and then their own skin of a standard distro is installed/configured on the stick once it figures out the hardware environment. Despite what they say, it's going to be slow. Not 486-25 slow, but USB slow to load anything (and nearly 486-25 slow if you actually do try to run anything other than, say, ed on a diskless 10-year-old machine - a Raspberry Pi would probably be faster once RAM needs to be paged out).

 

[jensen]

Am replying from an Acer Aspire M5711 manufactured in 2009. But running on a Linux Mint (17.03) on a 8GB USB stick with USB 2.0. It's slow but fast. When running stuff like terminal it's fast but loading up this webpage was slow. Now going to test out running youtube video. Am on 30 Mbps line. This machine's hard disk was unplugged as it won't even boot with the hard disk connected. So in a way it has given new life to an old machine.

Am trying to load a linux and then use it to run hugo and git and then host on firebase. Am having an enjoyable time reading manuals thanks to essellar who started me on this journey talking about hugo Really growing (if you get what i mean)

EDIT: update. Am getting lost in the world of linux. So much knowledge. So many ideas that results in so many distros. AntiX M-15 has such responsiveness compared to lubuntu but the question is, will there be a future with the linux group?

There's android phones and tablets, but will there be a future for linux desktops or laptops? With eveyone building their own flavour of linux/GNU, I don't see a strong competitor emerging to challenge Windows or Apple's position in the desktop/laptop world. There's Canonical's Ubuntu, Fedora, RedHat seemed to have focused on servers, Centos, etc...

And all this because i wanted a USB thumbdrive version of a linux to play with Hugo. As you can see it's a whole adventure by itself. Hope I get out of this soon