I don't think I could possibly count how many times this semester I've been frustrated by the browsers provided on campus workstations. I've gotten so accustomed to using Firefox on my home machine, that even the older versions of Netscape and Mozilla provided on our classroom computers just aren't up to the task.
However, no longer. Slashdot reports that there are now USB drive versions of Firefox and Thunderbird. The applications are installed and run off removable media such as jump drives, cdrw's with packet writing, external hard drives, and zip drives. Can't wait to try out Firefox off my jump drive during class on Monday :)
Firefox and Thunderbird to go
Charlie Lowe reports of thumb drive versions of the popular browser (Firefox) and mail client (Thunderbird).
Great news
This is great news, Charlie. I'd heard someone had actually installed an entire GNU/Linux OS on a USB keychain...I wonder if that might even be better than this? Cool stuff, regardless.
I got it working in our computer labs
Posting from my classroom via running Firefox off keychain drive right now :)
Somethings to note:
1)I notice some significant lag when starting the Firefox and when accessing certain features, such as bookmarks. But these machines use USB 1.x. I suspect that a USB 2.0 PC and jump drive would run normal speed.
2) Page rendering is the same. In other words, once the browser is open, Firefox seems to surf the web at the speed that it should.
3) I was able to add in a personal toolbar link. I'll see if it translates to another drive.
4) Be sure to follow the directions in the link above. You need to run the "portable firefox" app, not firefox.exe to run the browser.
cel2600
Cool, Charlie. Does this mean that you're a hacker now?? :-)
imagine using microdrives
just thinking about the possibilities of using microdrives. imagine instead if public workstations ran off of microdrive installations of the os. would make life much easier.
and okay. i'll bite. what's the "cel2600"?
2600
It's a reference to the old 2600 hz Cap'n Crunch Whistle.
Firefox, IE, Penn State
This may be slightly tangential to your posting but you may find it interesting none the less.
The piece appeared on CNET the other day.
"Citing security risks, a state university is urging students to drop Internet Explorer in favor of alternative Web browsers such as Firefox and Safari."
"In a notice sent to students on Wednesday, Pennsylvania State University's Information Technology Services department recommended that students download other browsers to reduce attacks through vulnerabilities in the Microsoft software."
Here's the link:
http://news.com.com/Schools%20out%20to%20shun%20IE/2100-1002_3-5485834.h...