COMP 3000 2011 Report: TinyMe

Part I

Background

TinyMe is an extremely lightweight Linux distribution based on Unity and Mandriva. Note that it is "TinyMe" and not "TinyME" as that would cause unwanted reminiscence of WinME. It was developed by KDulcimer and Gettinther with help from the Unity Linux development team to be as bloat and lag-free as possible. It exists to ease the installation of Unity Linux on older computers and provide a minimal environment for people who like fast/light systems. Unlike other Linux distributions, TinyMe is a rolling release, so once installed only rare circumstances would force a re-installation. There is currently no stable release version of the 250MB distribution, however there is a non-stable release on their website and a LiveCD with an older version can be purchased from On-Disk.com. TinyMe has two planned versions, the Acorn release has programs included which are fitted for a minimalist distribution and is the only version currently available while the proposed Droplet release would allow you to choose your programs. As of 06-04-2011 TinyMe is in hibernation due to the lead developer KDulcimer taking some personal time off. However, this is talk of revival and basing it on Linux Mint.