How to Run Linux Without Installing Anything

Want to try Linux, but don't know how to start? What if you try it and don't like it? What if you try it and do like it, then can it be saved?

Here is a way to try out Linux essentially risk free (well, ANYTHING with computers has SOME risk, but this is extremely safe). Even more importantly, using this simple strategy, you can save this Linux system and boot your computer from it every time, if you want to. Yet this requires no installation of anything.

First of all, I'm going to assume that you are the standard Window's person, coming with a standard Window's install. This can be done on almost any system, but for the sake of the article, I'm going to assume that you are using a Windows computer with an NTFS files system (standard Windows XP/Vista). I'm going to also assume that you don't have any elaborate partitioning scheme (your hard drive isn't broken into parts in any elaborate way). Again, you can do this with really any partition format, but I'm going to go with a basic NTFS partition format.

Ok, here is what we need (I'm going to list out the basic items then further explain how to get those items/setup those requirements):

1. A Puppy Linux livecd.

2. A flash drive.

3. Your bios on your computer set to boot from a cd.

Item 1: Obtaining a Puppy Linux livecd.

This is a very simple process. Go to this website, download the Puppy Linux .iso file that you want (an iso file is a compact file that contains data, in this case an entire operating system. There are a few iso files to choose from, but the one I use in this article, and the one I prefer, is puppy-4.00-k2.6.21.7-seamonkey.iso, which is Puppy version 4.0 with the SeaMonkey web browser).

After you have the iso file saved somewhere, we need to burn it to a cd. There are a few different options for this. For example you could use Nero burning software (commercial). Or you could use CDBurnerXP (freeware).

It is your choice which burning software you use, but here is the most significant point when setting up a livecd: you are burning an ISO IMAGE file to a cd. So, you want to select options like (in Nero) "Burn Image to Disk." This is NOT a standard cd burn. In CDBurnXP you would choose File-> "Burn disc from ISO file." Whatever software you use, make certain you are burning an iso image and you'll be fine.

Other than that, the Puppy iso file is quite small, so it shouldn't take much time to get your livecd burned and ready to go.

Item2: A flash drive.

Go and buy a flash drive that will fit into the usb port on your computer. You want just a standard flash drive. 512MB should be fine, but 1Gig would be better. Of course, you can get a flash drive very cheap these days with a lot of memory on it. Oh, and it helps to have the flash drive formatted to a fat file system, which most are.

Item3: Bios set to boot from CD.

Any good computer person will warn you that messing with your BIOS can jack your computer permanently so, I would like to warn you that messing with your BIOS can jack your computer permanently, so be warned.

That being said, you are really only changing one thing and only if you need to. Most computers will boot from cd automatically, so you don't have to go into the bios at all. In other words, try this process and you may be blessed without having to mess with the BIOS.

If you DO have to change the bios at all, know that all you want to change is the boot process/sequence. Here is how to change that: when your computer is starting it will say something like "Hit DEL to enter setup," or something to that effect. Do that. Then you will see this very simple setup with many selections, accessible by using your tab button and arrow keys. Find the "Boot" tab and then look and see what boots first. If it says Hard Drive, then CD/DVD player, then you need to change that order so that the CD/DVD player boots first. Read every option, and take your time. Once you are satisfied with the changes you have made, then save your changes.

What that means is if there is something to boot from in the CD/DVD player then the system will try to boot from that first. If it can't, it will go to the hard drive/next boot option.

There are many sites on the web about changing the boot process of your bios. Search around and feel comfortable with what you are doing before you do it. What I've told you is actually very simple, but one should be cautious just to be safe.

Now, you've taken care of all three of these items and you are ready to proceed.

Plug in your flash drive, put your cd in your cd drive, and then reboot.

If you've done everything right, Puppy will boot up with a list of options. If you don't know what to pick, don't sweat it; the default is just fine. Either hit enter or just wait a little bit and Puppy will proceed on its own.

Puppy will ask a few things. First it will ask what type of keyboard you are using. I'm using a US keyboard, so I'd pick that option. Puppy will then ask if you want to use the Xorg video driver or Xvesa?

With this choice, you may have to pick and choose a little. With my current Sony flatscreen monitor Puppy found the setting with no effort in Xorg. Xvesa is fine if you need to pick it, but I prefer Xorg as I can get more specific with my options. But play around and pick an option that works for you and your monitor.

Then Puppy will be all set up and running. There are whole forums and sites on what to with Puppy, but the main thing is just have fun and do what you would normally do with a computer. Linux has many more options than Windows, in my experience, so figure out what you want to do, then try out different things.

Now, let us suppose that you have played around with Puppy, love it, and want to be able to at least try it again whenever you want. But you have changed some things, some settings that you want to save (like whether you picked Xorg or Xvesa, or what colors you've used, or what your background looks like, etc.) so you can start with these settings next time.

This is easy to do in Puppy. But I have to explain how Puppy works.

When you boot from the livecd, Puppy starts up then dumps all its operating system into your computer's RAM. "Ugh, that's bad, right?!" Well, no. RAM is cleared every time your computer restarts, so nothing is saved in RAM. This also allows Puppy to be very fast and very accessible to your computer.

How can we save anything, then? Well, as you shut down your computer after the first time you use Puppy, it asks you if you want to create a save file.

In this case, we are going to create a save file on your flash drive. So, pick save to file. Puppy will scan your system for choices of places to save things. It will find your usb drive (assuming you've left it plugged in) and ask if you want to save it there (usb drives are frequently designated as sda1, but your system may be different. You are looking for a fat filesystem that is the size of your flash drive, then save it there.) Tell Puppy to save the file on your flash drive. It will then ask you a few more questions; read the options and pick what you want.

If everything is as you want, then whenever you boot your computer with the livecd it will automatically check to find any save file you created (assuming you've left the usb flash drive plugged in). Whenever Puppy finds the save file, it will use that to run your system, picking up and using all the changes that you've made.

What if you don't want that save file anymore? Boot Puppy with the option to not use any saved files (puppy pfix=ram) and it will boot Puppy like the very first time without the save file. Delete the save file if you want, then start over.

What if you don't ever want to use Puppy again? Then don't boot with the livecd and Windows will boot as normal.

What if you want to use Puppy just some times? Any time you use the livecd and you have a save file on your computer it will find it and boot from it. Without the save file it will boot just fine, but it will be like the first time you ran Puppy.

Using this method you can boot from a livecd and use a saved file on your flash drive. Nothing is saved on your computer and your computer is the same as when you started. This is how you can use Linux without ever installing a thing.