Done

Well, I'm back.

The experiment worked, mostly. I had access to the net. I could access
mail and things such as I needed to. And I took no data with me save a USB drive.

Booting is a bit clunky. Things run a bit slow, but it works.

Now, would I recommend it to my 75 year old Uncle. Maybe.

Will I do it again, probably.

Does it present options for existing in a world where corporations
insist on "supporting" you by installing spyware, anti virus and other
software that slows down an already buggy, bloated OS ("I could get worse,
but it will take time") ? Yes. As long as they don't lock BIOS to prevent
CD or USB booting.

OK. Enough for how. Complete postmortem writeup coming.

Backtrack works better

I've been having trouble with Konqueror (web browser for Kubunu)
not connecting to web sites even though ping works and DNS resolution
works for other applications.

Backtrack (www.remote-exploit.org) works better. It has Firefox as it's browser.
It works. It tries automatically to pull an IP address from all configured
interfaces (including wireless), and that seems to work. Downsides (maybe)
it does not contain openoffice.org (but then that's not what the distro is for)
and it's RPM based, e.g. no easy debianesque "apt-get install foo".

power adapter problem solved

290 Kc (= approx $14 USD) solved the problem at a
local electronics store.

Well, I'm here in Prague. I have 3 hours of battery life.
My universal travel adapter works fine with the weird Czech plugs.
My PC has a grounded 3 prong plug. The adapter only has sockets for
an ungrounded (2 prong) plug. Ooops.

Moral: check things out/learn by DOING before you leave.

Time to call the hotel concearge/plug in at the IETF terminal room.

Also, Konqueror blocks popups by default. blogger.com wants to use them.
Enable in settings->configure conqueror->java and javascript->javascript->open new windows->ASK.

Progress so far

So I yanked the hard drive.

I have two linux live CDs. The latest Kubunutu (Fiesty Fawn Hurd 5) and Backtrack 2, latest beta.

Both boot fine. I had some issues with Konqueror not resolving names, but I think this might
have been a problem with the local network configuration. There are also issues with some
websites being browswer-snobbish; I might need firefox.

I have a 1 GB USB memory stick; Right now, I have the .deb files to install firefox on it,
along with a few files that I intend to work on (IETF drafts), and configuration scripts
(one liners) for connecting to home and office wireless. I may add a few more .deb files
(emacs, tcsh).

Running top(1) I was getting worried about space, so I created a swap file
(dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/usbdrive/swapfile bs=1024000 count=256; mkswap /mnt/usbdrive/swapfile;
swapon /mnt/usbdrive/swapfile). I'll have to watch and see if I actually use that.

I tried two different laptops. Both have extra batteries. Both can not be used when running
diskless. The laptop I am taking gives you a choice of the CD/DVD drive or swapping it out
and putting a battery in the same bay (Dell Lattitude D810). The other (IBM x31) gives you
the choice of attaching the extra battery to the bottom, or a docking station like thing
that CD drive, external adapters, etc. Oh, well. Looks like PC manufactures are not
designing PCs to run diskless. Yet.

An omen

My mother just called; Dad's hard drive crashed. She was asking me about
the possibility of recovering data from lost hard drives (let's see, put it
on a Linux system, see if it mounts, buy an identical hard drive, swap the
electronics...).

An interesting omen as I head out into the brave new diskless world by choice.

Benefits of ditching the hard drive

- Less weight to carry

- No data to loose

- No IT department crud on the computer (backup software...no
data no backups...no remote control/update software to provide
a juicy target and attack vector for hackers).

- No need to worry about spending time twiddling the OS/apps.
Just live with what the Linux distro provides. There are
plenty to choose from.

- No Microsoft OSs, Applications, Updates, FUD, update $$$.

- No Antivirus $$$/FUD/worries (I know, Linux is not immune,
but look at where the bulk of the actual attacks/viri are)

- No time wasted dealing with clueless corporate IT "support"
people (they won't talk to you if you're not running their
bloated, buggy, virus-infested software load...and that
is a *good* thing).