Daily Cup of Tech

LiveCD’s were a godsend because they allowed you to boot from the CD and then try out the Linux distribution that you were interested in. There was one big drawback, though. The darn… things…. are….. so…… s.l.o.w…!

And don’t think that the Linux guru’s didn’t notice (or Microsoft, for that matter). Really, if I, as a novice computer user interested in Linux, were to shut down my relatively quick installation of Windows and boot from a brutally slow LiveCD, even if it were to provide me with more than Windows, I’d never switch. The impression I would be left with would be that it might be good but it is too slow to be usable.

The Ubuntu team has come up with a solution to this problem. Simply turn the LiveCD into a Windows based installer! This is an absolutely brilliant concept as it allows the user to do a true comparison of the systems.

According to the website:

The installation of ubuntu is a major barrier to its spread and use. This project aims to solve this problem by allowing installation from within Windows using an install.exe file, and eliminating the need to partition the hard drive or burn a CD to install. It will allow a faster and more user-friendly installation for Windows users, the ability to install without the risk of data loss through repartitioning, and the ability to install on ultra-portable laptops without CD drives.

And the team has some lofty goals. This is a list taken from the forums of what they envision this distribution to eventually be:

• very simple to use
• provide a no-risk installation
• no repartitioning the hard disk
• no changing the Windows boot loader
• Easy uninstallation.
• Low risk
• Doesn’t use a virtual machine
• Doesn’t significantly reduce performance of the resulting installation
• Resulting installation supports everything a normal install does.
• Fast install

Here are a number of useful links for this project if you want to get involved:

• Launchpad entry: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/windows-installer
• Specification: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/install.exe
• Comments: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/install.exe/Comments
• Prototype: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/install.exe/Prototype

While this sounds very cool and I intend to jump on this in the near future, I would warn you against using this on a production box. By the sounds of it, this is still very beta and is bound to act that way. But, if you have a spare box at home that you don’t care if you inadvertently destroy and are interested in giving it a try, then by all means have at it!

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