Techno

SanDisk’s New 32-GB Flash Drive – Liberation for the Blogger?

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I recently blogged about virtualization on a USB flash drive. Little did I realize that a portable flash drive of such dimensions as SanDisk’s new Flash Drive Hard Drive replacement would become available so soon and at a price that is almost affordable.

While the dimensions aren’t huge by hard disk standards, running an OS in such a space is certainly very feasible. I’m sitting here thinking of a Damn Small Linux running on a laptop without a CD. Now on that environment, you’ve cut out two large sources of power drain. I wonder how long you could get out of the batteries, then. Not to mention, the weight and physical size of the laptop could be much thinner, I think. Or perhaps an extra battery could replace the CD-Rom/DVD burner!

I know that there are people designing such systems even as we speak, but I think for the most part, they’d have to be homegrown efforts for the time being. Still, it would be awesome, if you could get your hands on such a machine or design one yourself. Could it be the perfect blogger’s tool?!

DI-524: The Worst Router in the World?

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D-Link systems are the proud manufacturers of perhaps one of the worst performing wireless routers… yes, the DI-524 model. You see, I bought their DI-624 and was quite happy with its performance, simplicity and stability. Of course, it was the first one I bought, so I thought all D-Link systems were good. But then I bought the DI-524. In general, it’s stable in some ways, but … BUT… B U T every so often the system connection just times out. I had thought it was my ISP, but when I connected to the DSL directly, I didn’t have any such problem. It seems both wireless and LAN connections just go on a slowdown for no apparent reason. It needs a box reboot to get things going again. Sometimes a new connection will patch things over for a while, but then you’re going to have to reboot at some time.

Mmm. Do a search for other posters writing about the D-Link DI-524 box and you’ll see what I mean. In the meantime I’m shopping for a new router.

Virtualization: Coming to a PC or USB near you!

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I just noted the story about running a virtual PC on your USB. After I read about that guy who had a huge PC system and how he ran virtualized servers, I became intrigued even more. I have been following virtual computing for a while. I have experimented with it on several occasions, too, on a PC running DSL Linux, ReactOS, etc., out of curiousity.

Running a PC on a stick would be highly convenient for most people, though I still think it doesn’t beat owning a laptop! You would be able to take not only your data with you but also your operating systems. Then plug into any base system, boot up and voila! your own system alive and well.

If you chose to use a Linux based OS on your stick, you can reduce your exposure to all the viruses and spyware out there. Intriguing!