FAQ #1 : What is Porteus?

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Ahau
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FAQ #1 : What is Porteus?

Post#1 by Ahau » 11 Oct 2011, 16:02

Hi guys,

I'm working on updating our FAQ for the upcoming 1.1 release. I've never been fully satisfied with FAQ #1. The FAQ page is the most viewed article on our site after the main page and download pages, so it represents a real first impression for many would-be users, and I want to make this paragraph capture what Porteus is about and what we're trying to do. To save you the trouble of clicking a link, here's how this FAQ currently reads:

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Porteus is a portable linux operating system which can be installed on a portable USB device, CDROM, SD card or Hard Drive. Porteus is based on the Linux Live Scripts which have been heavily modified by Fanthom, our chief maintainer, for a much faster booting and shutdown time. In essence, Porteus is a portable Slackware OS which started out as Fanthom keeping the Slax OS up to date as a community remix project. Unlike a standard linux install, Porteus exists in a compressed state on a postable drive. It has no /root /bin /etc file structure on the portable device itself.  The directory structure is created on the fly during the boot process, which only takes around 20-30 seconds on a relatively new computer. It is modular in design which means extra software comes in the form of  'modules' which can be activated and injected into the live file system. Software does not need to be installed and uninstalled as you may expect with other operating systems which take numerous amounts of clicks and agreements. You simply double click on a module and it is activated in a second or two and ready for use. To remove it just double click again and the module is deactivated. It's that simple!
Here's what I have for a revised version. Please let me know if you like this better, and please make suggestions to improve it.

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"What is Porteus"

Porteus is a light and fast Linux operating system that can be installed on a USB device, CDROM, SD card or Hard Drive.  Once installed, it can be run on almost any PC, giving you the power and freedom of Linux anywhere you go.  In essence, Porteus is a lightweight and portable implementation of the Slackware Linux Operating System that boots from the storage media of your choice.  To accomplish this, it makes use of the Linux Live Scripts, which have been heavily modified by our chief maintainer, Fanthom, for much faster boot-up and shutdown times and better autodetection of hardware.  Unlike a standard Linux installation, Porteus exists in a compressed state on your storage media, with no /root, /bin, /usr, etc. file structure on the media itself.  The familiar Linux directory structure is created on the fly (i.e., 'live') in your computer's RAM during the boot process, which only takes about 20-30 seconds to get from pressing the power button to full productivity on a relatively new computer.  Porteus is modular in design, which means that extra software comes in the form of 'modules' which can be activated and injected into this live file system.  Software does not need to be installed and uninstalled as you may expect with other operating systems which take numerous amounts of clicks and agreements; you simply double click on a module and it is activated in a second or two and ready for use.  To remove it just double click again and the module is deactivated.  It's that simple! 

Porteus started out as a community remix project headed by Fanthom to keep the Slax OS up to date.  It has now come into its' own and grown into a fully-fledged Linux distribution.  We hope you enjoy using Porteus as much as we have enjoyed creating it!
Please take a look at our online documentation, here. Suggestions are welcome!

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Hamza
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Re: FAQ #1 : What is Porteus?

Post#2 by Hamza » 11 Oct 2011, 16:30

I like the next one :)
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Re: FAQ #1 : What is Porteus?

Post#3 by brokenman » 12 Oct 2011, 02:40

Just one small typo - [its'] should be [its] without the apostrophe. This is only used in plural possessive statements.

I much prefer the second one, with perhaps some more exciting adjectives and adverbs for the opening line. Lightning fast and super light weight ... that sort of stuff. Maybe something on the end like ... all the chicks will dig you. :twisted:

I guess you don't need to mention that it is also super good for old computers and comes in 32 and 64bit ... if space is an issue.
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Ahau
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Re: FAQ #1 : What is Porteus?

Post#4 by Ahau » 12 Oct 2011, 16:20

Thanks, brokenman! I've always struggled with apostrophes and possessive statements -- I've fixed that on my end :)

I'll add in some more excitement, too -- I was trying to keep it from sounding like an ad, but really, that's sort of what it ought to be -- an advertisement for the operating system.

Posted after 39 minutes 50 seconds:
Updated text:

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"What is Porteus"

Porteus is a lightning fast and small but powerful Linux operating system that can be installed on a USB flash device, CDROM, SD card or Hard Drive.  Once installed on the storage media of your choice, it can be run on almost any PC, giving you the power and freedom of Linux anywhere you go.  In essence, Porteus is a lightweight and portable implementation of the Slackware Linux Operating System that boots directly from your storage media without needing to modify or utilize your existing operating system (your computer doesn't even need a hard drive!).  To accomplish this, it makes use of the Linux Live Scripts, which have been heavily modified by our chief maintainer, Fanthom, for much faster boot-up and shutdown times and far better autodetection of hardware.  Unlike a standard Linux installation, Porteus exists in a compressed state on your storage media, with no /root, /bin, /usr, etc. directory structure on the media itself.  The familiar Linux file structure is created on the fly (i.e., 'live') in your computer's RAM during the boot process, which only takes about 20-30 seconds to get from pressing the power button to full productivity on a relatively new computer.  Porteus is modular in design, which means that extra software comes in the form of 'modules' which can be activated and injected into this live file system.  Software does not need to be installed and uninstalled as you may expect with other operating systems which take numerous amounts of clicks and agreements; you simply double click on a module and it is activated and ready for use in a second or two.  To remove this software, just double click again and it will be deactivated.  It's that simple! 

Porteus started out as a community remix project headed by Fanthom to keep the Slax OS up to date.  It has now come into its own as a fully-fledged Linux distribution.  It is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions, making it the perfect "on the go" solution whether you're running a netbook, an old pentium or a brand-new power system.  We hope you enjoy using Porteus as much as we have enjoyed creating it!
Please take a look at our online documentation, here. Suggestions are welcome!

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