Posted by Vince on 9/5/2009, 3:22 pm, in reply to "Re: Windows XP"
68.144.14.16
There is no such thing as .......... or CAN BE such a thing as ......... a universally portable operating system for PC's. The reason for that is that PC's contain hundreds to thousands of different hardware combinations for which an OS must configure itself, (choosing correct drivers and installing them).
So a universal OS on a CD must INSTALL itself before it can work. This may be a relatively fast process but it's definitely not the same or as fast as ...booting an already installed OS.
By "install" I don't mean writing to any internal hard drive; the installation is to a compartment in memory only.
So like, with XP for example, a normal installation to a hard drive generally takes about 30 to 45 minutes. A stripped-down installation of BartPE (also XP) will take about 4 minutes. That's a LOT faster than installing a full OS but it's also MUCH SLOWER than booting up an existing XP installation on an internal hard drive.
The more complex the system, the longer it takes to assemble itself onto memory. Even a fully installed OS runs entirely in memory when it runs.
My guess is that Linux distros running "live" from CD aren't very developed or comprehensive in any sense of the word. You can do essentials but not anything complex. Otherwise people wouldn't even bother installing them to their hard drives.
-Vince
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