[nylug-talk] Emergency Transfer project

[Chris Knadle]

On Monday 19 May 2008, JH Earthlink wrote:
> I'm an amateur inventor, and was struck by a cool idea for using Puppy
> Linux to recover data remotely from Windows computers that won't boot.

   I had a slightly different idea back in 2000 or 2001 to put a small Linux 
distro on the first partition of the disk on Windows machines for the sole 
purpose of rescuing Windows when it broke.  Asus is doing something even more 
interesting with some of their motherboards, whereby they put in a tiny 
usable Linux distro right on the motherboard itself.

   These days I think the fix is to deploy Linux for desktop use rather than 
try to fix Windows.  And after doing just this I'm much happier; Gnu/Linux 
isn't as fragile, and in the rare case if/when it breaks it's far easier to 
repair.

> The ET code would be closed-code, but work with, and through, the
> unmodified Puppy distro to maintain the legality and spirit of the GPL
> copyright.

   You've just stated an oxymoron; how can anything "closed code" be "in the 
spirit of the GPL copyright?" ?

> I'm not a programmer, just a computer tech with a knack for inventing. So
> I'd need the help of programmers and sysadmins from within the Linux
> community to create this project.

   Now it sounds like a bad Craigslist job post.  The kicker would be if you 
offered 10% of the proceeds to anyone that does the work in lieu of pay.

   Good luck with your project.
   -- Chris

-- 

Chris Knadle
Chris.Knadle at coredump.us