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Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Linux, Microsoft, Freeware

Tiny XP Rev 09: Windows XP with cuise control

Installing or reinstalling Windows can be a real hassle. Although Windows XP comes with a basic set of drivers, there's a good chance you'll have to dig out the driver disc for some of your hardware, or scour the Internet for the appropriate files. And many power users apply hundreds of tweaks to Windows for increased performance and stability. Indeed, a simple reinstall can become a full fledged weekend project.

With Tiny XP, cumbersome installs are a thing of the past. This powerful custom install disk contains hundreds of the drivers, both new and obscure, meaning no more hunting. The supercharged version of the Windows installer properly configured devices on our test machine, a Latitude 640, that even Dell didn't mention, such as an infrared port. In addition, Tiny XP installs thousands of registry hacks, that improve the system so much you'll never want to go back to the standard version. As if that's not enough, it even includes a bunch of cool options at boot time for trouble shooting, and even a fully functional copy of the Damn Small Linux live CD!

Downloading TinyXP is very illegal since it's basically pirated version of Windows. The argument between fair use and IP law isn't going to end any time soon, so use at your own risk. Don't worry though, although it might not be as easy, there are legal ways to get similar results.

Filed under: Weekend Review

Download Squad Week in Review

Download Squad logoWhether you're looking for a beta invitation code to a hot new service, tips on making the most of your email service, or a Valentine's day present for that special someone in your life, we've got you covered. Here are some of our favorite Download Squad articles from the week that was.

Invites for Digsby and SugarSync

This week we looked at two new services in private beta. Digsby is desktop application that lets you manage multiple email, IM, and social networking accounts. It's sort of like Pidgin plus an email notifier and a desktop client for Facebook and MySpace. And we've got 5,000 invites to give away.

We also have about 500 invites for SugarSync, another new desktop/web service. SugarSync lets users synchronize files between their computer, mobile device, and a web server. Just add contact/calendar sync and we'd be in heaven.

Email user interface advancement - Emailers Anonymous

Google made a lot of waves when it launched an email service a few years ago. The idea of a web mail account that measured storage in gigabytes rather than megabytes was pretty revolutionary at the time. But vast amounts of storage aren't the only thing that set Gmail apart. In this week's edition of Emailers Anonymous we take a look at threaded messaging and how it changes the way we think of email.

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Filed under: Features, Linux, Open Source

Flipping the Linux switch: Damn Small Linux - Not

Last week we took a look at Puppy Linux, a small Linux distro optimized for installation on a flash drive. There are (many) others, of course. One of the most well known, Damn Small Linux, has been around for quite some time. Over the years, the developers of Damn Small Linux (DSL), have masterfully kept that little distribution under 50 MB. This means several things: it is lightweight, and can run on many machines nothing else can run on. It also means it has bypassed some of the programs you might want on your "desktop on a stick."

Enter Damn Small Linux - Not. (Yes, Damn Small Linux Not is most definitely not Damn Small Linux.) DSL-N is a bigger, more modern variant of DSL, but with a similar philosophy: DSL-N hates bloat.

This is a double-edged sword for DSL-N. On the one hand, it's a bigger, more functional distribution. You're more likely to use it on a regular basis. On the other hand, it's still fairly limited in areas one would expect more support.

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Filed under: Internet

Verizon tees up 20 mbit residential fiber

Uverse speed test
If you want more Internet access speed, your options are getting more and more. Thanks to services like AT&T's UVERSE Elite offering, next-generation broadband over copper cables is beginning to show up as a legit service (as opposed to the do-it-yourself approach), giving its users effective speeds of up to 6 mbits/second downloading and 1 mbit uploading, or about double what most users can expect out of a standard residential DSL service.

But for the true bandwidth junky, there's nothing (yet) that can come close to Verizon's symmetrical FiOS service, which doesn't place a speed limit on uploading. This is a big shift of attitude for a telco-based ISP like Verizon. Even better, FiOS users will enjoy 20 mbits/sec of unadulterated speed delivered using fiber, not copper. The only catch is that Verizon's FiOS network footprint is still tiny. Only pockets of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are able to jump on board at this point.

In the meantime, those of us in flyover country will just keep shleppin' it with our 1.5 mbit DSL.

Filed under: OS Updates, Linux, Open Source

Damn Small Linux 4.0 released

Damn Smal Linux 4.0
Sure, you can carry around a CD or flash drive with Ubuntu or Knoppix in case you need to do boot any PC you run across into Linux quickly. But Damn Small Linux has long been the king of tiny Linux distributions. Weighing in at under 50MB, you can keep this complete operating system on your flash drive or MP3 player and have plenty of room left over for music.

DSL version 4.0 is out this week. The kernel has been upgraded from 2.4.26 to 2.4.31. And there've been a boatload of updates to the GUI, libraries, options, and programs.

Oh, and if you just want to try DSL out, since it's so tiny it runs great in Virtual PC, VirtualBox, or other free virtualization applications.

Filed under: OS Updates, Linux, Novell, Red Hat

The best Linux distro ever: the results

UbuntuWow, I am pretty blown away. Almost unanimously everyone said that Ubuntu is the best Linux distro for almost everything you would want to do. I am already a Ubuntu fan, and I thought there would be a huge list of distros because there are so many out there. Ubuntu is the distro I used at work to recover old PC data, and fix PCs when even windows was trashed. It is definitely a killer build and deserves all the recognition it gets. If anyone out there is wondering which Linux distro is good for your uses, this should be proof enough. Other distros that made the list, but were all soundly spanked by Ubuntu are:
Thanks to everyone for your comments and thoughts on your favorite Linux flavor. I will be awarding stars as soon as I can, but I believe that feature is down at the moment.

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Linux, Microsoft, Open Source

Linux as a Windows system recovery option

ubuntu - humanity for othersI have had the problem a thousand times, where one of the sales reps I support comes to me and says that that they can't access Windows or that they get the blue screen repeatedly, or their computer implodes in some other such fashion. They are usually quite distraught until I introduce them to their new best friend. I hold up a live CD containing none other than a Linux distribution. Ubuntu is my favorite, but I also enjoy working with Knoppix, DSL (Damn Small Linux), or PClinuxOS. Any of these Linux distros can be a great recovery tool for Windows users. Each has it's strengths over the others, so you'll have to decide which is your favorite. You boot from the Live CD, then you can run anything from the CD (coupled with a RAMdrive) and copy Windows files to a USB hard disk or burn them to CD. I have found that doing this is often faster and easier than trying to tell what went horribly wrong in Windows and using the recovery console. In the corporate world I can save files, then simply wipe out the hard disk and start over. Talk about making my life easier, not to mention my user gets to retain their vast library of email and presentations for future use. It is a quick and dirty way to recover from a Windows installation gone bad.

Filed under: Hardware, Linux, Open Source

How to run Linux from a USB flash drive

Linux on a USB driveEver wanted to take a bootable OS with you in your pocket? AltHack.com has a cool guide on getting Linux running on a USB flash drive, and it looks remarkably simple. It uses the 50MB distribution Damn Small Linux and in about 10 steps you should be up and running.

[Via Lifehacker]

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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