I recently left my PC off for a week. Came back home. Booted it up. Heard a horrible noise that sounded like the HD head just clicking away. Nothing on the screen.
Eventually got my PC running.
In between these two events I stressed my ass of as I did not recently back up my projects (for studies) and did not want to re-do assignments. This would have taken 4 days. Easily. I have backups of everything else. But do not frequently backup this.
I thus decided to see if I could find some OS that I can run off a flash drive and has a Microsoft Office or counterpart and web-browser in it. I could simply back up my studies to this flash drive every time after working. If worse then comes to worse I can plug it in anywhere and just continue working.
My experiences with other OS systems apart from Windows and up until this point had been seeing Damn Small Linux (more than 10 years ago) and working a bit with Ubuntu 10 (many years ago)
So I start off on Google..."best free OS" and "portable OS" and "best linux distro" etc. My first encounter after a many year hiatus is Fatdog64. I download it, install and give it a go. I was flat out amazed and dumbfounded as to the awesomeness that I just discovered for absolutely free and under 200mb - 10 year old DSL experience remember.
My mind blown...I spend the next two weekends downloading various Linux OS's, tinkering away like a school kid...Precise Puppy, Linux Mint, Lubuntu, Precise OS, Ubuntu, Porteus, Legacy OS...out of boyish curiosity and attempting to find something that will suit my purpose.
I find Porteus. Lovely one as it is extremely easy to install and essentially exactly what I need: An office clone to open my files and a browser. I do however sometimes need a good picture editor/creator. I also have a password manager (Blackbox Password Manager) that stores all my online passwords - also the ones used for my studies. So porteus good...but search continues.
I know of Gimp so I look for a distro that has something like that. Linux Mint for example comes with it pre-installed. Works wonderful. BUT you need to use a program within Windows to install it to be portable on a USB. If you install Linux Mint or Ubuntu using their installer they consume the entire flash drive with their file system (unless I missed something). This prevents me from accessing my study files on the folder to update them when the flash is plugged into windows. I needed something that was self contained and did not need Windows to work or set up - just in case. I am subsequently surprised and amazed when I find Puppy Linux's awesome USB installer with so many options. Even one that can do a ComboFormat for added support - something I need. AND Puppy linux leaves the flashdrive as FAT so I can easily access my files. Fantastic!
I then find Office and Gimp versions for Puppy Linux. Surprised that it could actually run these programs despite being such a small OS. So I then start learning how to install programs on Linux and Puppy Linux...Get both running. Fantastic!
My last challenge was, although kind of optionally, getting my Black Box Password Manager to work in Puppy. As this would just make my life so much easier. So I start messing around with Wine. Downloading, installing, testing...I get Black Box to run but there are problems accessing the files due to limitations on Wine. So a fail there.
Now...it is precisely here that my mind was completely blown...and I felt like an ass for incorrectly assuming that this 200mb of pure awesomeness could not impress me even more than it already has...Whilst downloading something (I can not recall what it was) I, for the first time, browse through the Puppy menus whilst waiting. It is then that I come across ...Personall->Figaro's Password Manager 2..."Mmm?"...I click on it...create a password..."Wait...what? This is exactly like Black Box Password Manager"...and exactly what I needed to begin with.
I have been extremely humbled by my experience with Puppy Linux. The OS, the community, its small size, the fact that it is free, its small file size...just amazing.
P.S. Forgot to add...posting this through Tahrpup 6.0.2, running of a flashdrive, Office and Gimp loaded, and my files backed up and safe
I've been running Puppy - in one shape or form - for well over ten years! And... it's still going strong! Enjoy!