Portable Ubuntu

[Jojoyee]

Portable Ubuntu Remix (Release 4) is an Ubuntu system running within the Windows OS.

I downloaded the Portable Ubuntu ("PU") and gave it a try in Win7. Impressive? Not quite. It gives you a Gnome panel to work with, on top of the Windows' desktop. You can't expect it to have an Ubuntu's desktop.

Windows-based Firefox is more responsive and faster than the PU-based Firefox in Windows. You can also play some games, run Gimp and other programs included in the PU, not an issue, but minus speed. While trying to install a software, I go to Synaptic Package Manager, keyin the default password 123456, the response is not smooth and too slow. Can you take a screenshot under the Accessories? Yes, but while selecting current (Gedit) window, it snapped the PU panel plus Gedit window plus the whole desktop background in black, not the active window image I tried to capture.

IMO, people that want to try Ubuntu, go to Ubuntu proper, not Portable Ubuntu. A dual-boot system is still a much better choice for me.

See also: Review: Portable Ubuntu.

I appreciate their effort, but it still needs a lot of work in order to become 10% of what I’d consider “usable”.

What's your experience in PU?

I totally agree and if I were going to do Linux, would be Mint. Portable Ububtu isn't even close to being a fair representation

[1002richards]

If one does not want to partition and dual boot - perhaps just trying out Ubuntu; I think Wubi is an excellent starting point

http://wubi-installer.org/

I've gone from dual booting Mint / Vista to Crunchbang / Vista.

Richard

[Jojoyee]

Originally Posted by 1002richards

If one does not want to partition and dual boot - perhaps just trying out Ubuntu; I think Wubi is an excellent starting point.

Agreed. I've tried that and it works. The ISO image I downloaded earlier contains Wubi. After mounting the ISO in Windows, I can install Ubuntu by running Wubi.exe from Windows.

It adds an option to boot into Ubuntu or Windows, still a dual-boot concept, but made as easy to install and uninstall Ubuntu as the way you do an application, in Windows.

One disadvantage which I can see is probably the file system, which is implemented as single file, compromising performance. Otherwise it works perfectly ok.