Travelling with Linux - A Survival Kit

When travelling on a business trip or extended vacation, not many can survive with just an Android smartphone or iOS device like an iPad or iPod Touch. A Macbook, Macbook Air, or Windows 7 laptop is essential for productivity but not always enough. A Linux user, on the other hand, should have plenty of power on hand to keep a trip safe, productive, and ready for any emergencies.

The Survival Kit

1. Knoppix LiveUSB - Knoppix has excellent hardware support and applications that run perfectly even from a LiveUSB. Even an older Knoppix release includes VirtualBox for OS virtualization.Knoppix's small footprint on a USB allows plenty of available space for backing up files and transferring to other platforms, too.

2. Clonezilla LiveCD or LiveUSB - A resourceful Linux user always creates a clone of his dual-boot system or Linux setup on an external hard drive. Clonezilla, one of the best Linux distributions for backing up systems, is recommended for heavy duty backups for multiple systems. If a system fails, it's a snap to reimage a system via Clonezilla LiveCD or LiveUSB. 

3. External Hard drive - For a full reinstall on the go, an external hard drive with Linux ISOs or Clonezilla image is better than toting around DVD backups.

4. External DVDR drive - Although portable optical drives have gone out of fashion (even so far as being removed from laptops and popular machines like the Macbook Air and Mac Mini), it still has its use for the itinerant systems admin. Imaging, backing up, and fixing broken systems are easier with a LiveCD than on a LiveUSB. Moreover, the business road warrior still needs to burn the occasional DVDR for a client. 

K3B, KDE's DVDR burning software, works with any optical drive out there.

 

5. Netbook - Although the netbook has largely been replaced by tablets and ultrathin laptops such as the Macbook Air, there are many units still out there and manufacturers such as Samsung and Asus haven't given up on them. For the frugal but practical user, a Linux-powered netbook is indispensable for any task that requires writing or programming. A fast Linux distribution like ArchLinux, Puppy Linux, or Lubuntu on an Atom or AMD Vision equipped netbook can be a cheap multimedia companion.

Linux Distributions for the Itinerant Linux User

1. Linux Mint - Mint is loaded with a complete suite of Internet applications, office suite, and codecs ensuring a complete out-of-the-box mobile solution. Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu are great with a full update and restricted applications, but if any of the above, Windows, or Mac OSX fails, a user might need a quick boot using a LiveCD like Mint.  Unlike some of the more advanced distributions out there, little configuration is needed to get wireless and everything else working.

2. Knoppix - Lightweight, small, and fast. See above.

3. Clonezilla - Imaging and backup solution. See above.