This is what was keeping me busy for the last few days. It all started when I got a laptop from my office, and along with it all the restrictions like no admin rights, restrictions on websites (even youtube, gmail, ymail etc) I was really pissed off by this and wanted to break free out of this.
An year ago, I also wanted to break free out of Windows.. the constant virus attacks and re-installations had really frustrated me. I being an open source guy (Long live sun, and Java :) ) myself wanted something which is efficient, small and easily available. I thought about Linux but then all the hazels involved turned me off. One of my friend told me about Ubuntu. I although was reluctant, but then gave in to the tempation of learning something new.
Ubuntu is a Linux based operating system, with an excellent user interface. Its absolutely free and what's more there are millions of people already using it and supporting each other. It is an extremely stable operating system, with minimal virus attacks.
I requested a free Ubuntu CD (although I was skeptical about receiving it). It was shipped to my address within 4 weeks, I was really thrilled and keen to try it out. The instructions on the CD said that it was a LiveCD and I can run the OS, without installing it or making changes to my existing OS. That's something I never heard of, but seemed like a cool idea. I restarted my PC and booted from CD, I got an option to try Ubuntu without installing it, I went ahead and lo, I had a sleek desktop waiting for me. I could access internet instantaniously without further installs, I could play music, videos, pdfs, you name it. There was also an option to install it to the Harddrives (I was also able to access the windows partitions) The install was easy and needed a separate partition (which I got created using Partition Magic)
To get past my office laptop I used the same Ubuntu CD, I was able to browse internet and save data to USB drives. The only thing which I couldn't do was to save my settings, back to harddisks. Looking at the USB pendrive I wished I could install an OS on it. Searching on internet, I realised that this is absolutely possible and easily achievable. Infact Ubuntu could be installed on a PenDrive and PendriveLinux is an excellent golden source for reference and the necessary support for the same.
I used Ubuntu 8.10 LiveCD to first boot up the OS and then used the option to create a USB startup pendrive. The process required to format the USB and it took around 10 minutes to prepare the USB. After this short and simple step, you just need to restart your system and boot from the USB (you would need to check if your PC supports USB Boot up, usually the older ones don't). Once you go through this process you can carry your operating system with you !!
Different PCs have different hardware and there is a possibility that your pendrive OS won't be able to recognize some of the hardware. But be rest assured, all the commonly used hardware and their drivers are already loaded in your USB so there is a good chance that your Portable USB OS would work like magic on any system anywhere...
Also see www.kubuntu.com
Kubuntu is a different flavour of Linux with KDE as the UI, which is much easier to use for users accustomed to Windows. Ubuntu ships with a GNome based UI which is lighter than KDE. Whichever flavour you use, the underlying kernel is same and thus different UI provides exactly same stability and features.
