CDlinux 0.9.6.1
Full-featured desktop Linux distributions like PCLinuxOS and Linux Mint are quite useful, but there are times when a smaller and lighter distro can also be desirable. CDlinux is petite mini-distro that can be installed on a USB device or on a Windows C: partition.
I thought it might be a nice change of pace to take a look at it and see how useful it might be for the folks that need a more portable version of Linux.
There are three versions of CDlinux that you can download. The standard version is 65MB and contains a minimal desktop environment, the community version includes more software and is 225MB, and the mini version is console only and weighs in at an extremely petite 30MB. The standard version can also be used for rescues since it contains useful admin and rescue tools. The community edition comes with more software but is overkill if you simply want a portable rescue distro.
For the purposes of this review, I downloaded the 225MB community version.
What’s New In This Release
The current release is actually a bug release so there are no new features included in it.
Here’s a list of the bugs that were fixed and the packages that were upgraded:
Bug fixes:
X won’t start on the standard edition
“X -configure” can’t generate xorg.conf.new
Alt+Shift can’t toggle between keyboard layouts
Java Plug-in for Firefox doesn’t work
Upgraded packages:
alsa-lib-1.0.23
curl-7.20.1
goffice-0.8.2
jasper-1.900.1.15.fc13
jre-6u20
lvm2-2.02.63
CDlinux also includes:
linux-2.6.33.2
xorg-server-1.8.0
mesa-7.8.1
gtk+-2.18.9
qt-4.6.2
jre-6u19
firefox-3.6.3
gparted-0.5.2
bash-4.1.5
mc-4.7.0.4
CDlinux uses the lightweight xfce desktop environment.
(4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)
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Actually, Dragon, there are three different versions of CDlinux. GIMP is installed in the community version already. So they’d just need to add OO to it. The other two versions would still be tiny so the folks that didn’t want the software could use those.
Good point about flash block. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I understand where you’re coming from on the system rescue disk. But if all you had with you was CDlinux then why not use it? I think it’s a good idea to have that sort of flexibility.
hola.
yo estoy tratando de usar este cdlinux pero ninguna de sus versiones es capaz de arrancar en mi hp mini, en cambio en el portatil que tengo normal si que arranca sin problemas, no se mucho de linux, pero tampoco tienen un lugar donde te den un soporte o ayuda o alguien sabe donde puede ser?
a mi se me bloquea cuando sale el logotipo y de ahi no pasa.
un saludo
I have used CDLinux a few times in the past. I tend to use antiX, or possibly one of the PCLinuxOS family of CDs that I have on hand on the rare occasions that I need some sort of recovery. Nearly always that recovery involves modifying the boot manager in some way. What CDLinux does in a useful way for me is that it provides me a quick way to access Internet based functionality, mostly for reading news, forums, and Web based Email. Beyond that, I tend to use one of the many distributions I have installed, but CDLinux does work well for this specific purpose because it is quick and responsive.
@ dragonmouth:
Nope, you can easily install it into your HDD, by manually installing a bootloader, or simply adding new entry to the existing bootloader. And i would use CDlinux for the cause i have stated in my blog post
Hi, Jim.
Thanks for your comprehensive blog, which I just discovered. Very useful in that it allows me to get a general idea of the new distros and reduce my number of downloads!
As to CDLinux, you mention as a “con” that it “Can only be installed on a USB device or Windows C: partition.” Untrue! I boot CDLinux from an ext3 HD through grub. Simply open the iso and copy everything to its own folder at first level on your HD. To flesh it out, you may also dowload CDLinux’s devel and opt archives (which contain more useful packages, e.g. opera) to the “local” sub-directory of CDLinux.
Here is my grub listing, if it can be useful to someone:
title GNU/CDlinux
root (hd0,6)
kernel /CDlinux/bzImage quiet CDL_DEV=/dev/sda7 CDL_LANG=fr_CA.UTF-8
initrd /CDlinux/initrd
boot
Once booted this way, CDLinux will keep whatever you change to it in its setings directory and retrieve those changes at next boot.
I also like that CDLinux CE offers DOSBox, Wine and Java pre-installed. These nicely compensate for its relatively small size. If there’s a non-packaged, non-included or non-Linux program you need, you can launch and use it from, say, a usb stick or SD card, or even elsewhere on your HD.
Again, thanks for your blog, and have a great day!
CLÉ