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New York, 7:14 PM
Fri Dec 4
85 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #portableapps more →

    Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool

    Firefox 3.0 USB Lets You Take Your Browser Everywhere
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Glare Glare
    12/06/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    How do I do the emulators thing?


    I mean do I just download them onto the thumb drive? Then what? Let's say I have a ROM.. how do I play it?


    Oh I'm so confoozed!

     Reply
    Glare was starred Glare was unstarred
    Image of AmishJohn AmishJohn
    12/07/08

    @Glare: The emulator is the 'Shell Program'; Install it on the pendrive, add a folder with your ROMS in it, start emulator program, point it to the ROM folder.
     Reply
    AmishJohn was starred AmishJohn was unstarred
    Image of jaySoni jaySoni
    12/06/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    Is there a way to combine the capacities of all USBs making it work like a single drive?
     Reply
    jaySoni was starred jaySoni was unstarred
    Image of John Herrman John Herrman
    12/06/08

    @jaySoni: I looked into that actually, and as far as I know there really isn't a good way to do it, at least with RAID or anything like it.
     Reply
    John Herrman was starred John Herrman was unstarred
    Image of slaughter33 slaughter33
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    Lifehacker recommended Puppy Linux, not Unetbootin.
     Reply
    slaughter33 was starred slaughter33 was unstarred
    Image of AmishJohn AmishJohn
    12/06/08

    @slaughter33: unetbootin is the program to make the pen drive bootable, and installs your choice of ISOs on as well.
     Reply
    AmishJohn was starred AmishJohn was unstarred
    Image of jarhead jarhead
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    There's also XAMPP that runs great on a stick.
     Reply
    jarhead was starred jarhead was unstarred
    Image of engstewart engstewart
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    I don't know the tech term for this, but in Vista you can also plug in a USB drive to serve as a secondary RAM source (Speed Boost or something similar...).


    (Too lazy to look it up- use Google)

     Reply
    engstewart was starred engstewart was unstarred
    Image of John Herrman John Herrman
    12/05/08

    @engstewart: Yep, it's called Readyboost. It's not very helpful, especially with older sticks.
     Reply
    John Herrman was starred John Herrman was unstarred
    Image of jarhead jarhead
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    How about webserver on a stick? I use a couple of the old ones and run separate websites on each one so I can just plug it in, work on the layout of my Wordpress theme, plugins, etc. When finished, I can unplug it, plug in another one and have a totally different site running on it. I currently have two... one running Wordpress and one running Drupal.
     Reply
    jarhead was starred jarhead was unstarred
    Image of AmishJohn AmishJohn
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    * Install keyloggers and 'drop' them at work, school, etc.


    * As above; but add pr0n, and drop at a church.

     Reply
    AmishJohn was starred AmishJohn was unstarred
    Image of ioos ioos
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    Good timing. I actually spent most of last night installing Ubuntu and Xubuntu 8.10 on my 2GB cruzer. I thought Xubuntu would be the better choice on a USB drive, but I kept running into problems I've never had with Ubuntu, so it's back to that. Anyone have any tips on what can be removed from the OS to slim down it's size? How about speeding it up?
     Reply
    ioos was starred ioos was unstarred
    Image of AnAphexTwin AnAphexTwin
    12/05/08

    @2-7offsuit will blatantly pander to you with a ridiculously...:


    Couldn't agree more (on the timing).


    Last week both were utter fail for me, despite previous success stories on the model of lappy I was using. After downloading Kubuntu and Ubuntu 8.10 and spending hours trying to get the damn things installing past my wireless card, I just went ahead and downloaded Damn Small Linux.


    Needless to say I was up and running within 45 minutes of visiting the website (off an old 1GB pen, to boot!).

     Reply
    AnAphexTwin was starred AnAphexTwin was unstarred
    Image of AmishJohn AmishJohn
    12/07/08

    @AnAphexTwin: If you're using Ubuntu, install the backports package while connected via Ethernet:


    sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-intrepid


    deactivate the default HW, reboot, & you're set.

     Reply
    AmishJohn was starred AmishJohn was unstarred
    Image of VideoVampire VideoVampire
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    All good Ideas except the donate to charity one...who is Charity and why cant she afford her own damn thumb drive?
     Reply
    VideoVampire was starred VideoVampire was unstarred
    Image of zenpoet zenpoet
    12/05/08

    @VideoVampire: I knew a Charity in college who was kicked off the track team for beating up her teammates.


    Thats what I love, a girl who can kick your ass, and catch you if you try to run away.


    If she wants your USB keys, she will just take them.


    Oh Charity, where are you now?

     Reply
    zenpoet was starred zenpoet was unstarred
    Image of DeeJayQueue DeeJayQueue
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    Oh, I thought you were going to tell us how to actually hack the guts into a multitool, like a Leatherman or a Gerber. I feel cheated.
     Reply
    DeeJayQueue was starred DeeJayQueue was unstarred
    Image of ConfuciusMax ConfuciusMax
    12/05/08

    @DeeJayQueue:

    I'm with you, I was hoping to make it into a swiss army knife or something based only on Giz's expert instruction, then I sadfaced :-(
     Reply
    ConfuciusMax was starred ConfuciusMax was unstarred
    Image of mfokp mfokp
    12/05/08

    First thing I thought of was the Multitool from Deus Ex that magically opens doors, magically bypasses security keypad locks, and magically rescues diabetic kittens from burning trees.


    /sigh. I guess magically remote-controlling my PC will have to do.

     Reply
    mfokp was starred mfokp was unstarred
    Image of HawaiianActor HawaiianActor
    12/05/08

    @mfokp: that was my first thought as well! (followed by "leeloo dallas multipass" for some reason)
     Reply
    HawaiianActor was starred HawaiianActor was unstarred
    Image of Purple Dave Purple Dave
    12/05/08

    @ConfuciusMax:
    You can already buy those. Genuine Swiss Army Knives with removable USB keys built in (that way they're post-9/11-proof, so you can take the USB key on the plane with you and leave the knife in your car).
     Reply
    Purple Dave was starred Purple Dave was unstarred
    Image of 12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich 12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    The VNC is a good idea...I may have to do that...
     Reply
    12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich was starred 12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    I donated an old hard drive to charity once. Then I realized all my porn was missing.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of Serolf Divad Serolf Divad
    12/05/08

    In reply to Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
    OK, but the only problem is that you can do all that with the 8 gig USB key you carry around with you every day and still have lots of room to spare.
     Reply
    Serolf Divad was starred Serolf Divad was unstarred
    Image of jonnypage jonnypage
    12/05/08

    @Serolf Divad: My thoughts exactly. Except maybe sending them the the third world.
     Reply
    jonnypage was starred jonnypage was unstarred
    Image of DontFeedTheTrolls DontFeedTheTrolls
    12/05/08

    @Serolf Divad <- fail troll is fail
     Reply
    DontFeedTheTrolls was starred DontFeedTheTrolls was unstarred
    Image of DontFeedTheTrolls DontFeedTheTrolls
    12/05/08

    @jonnypage: <- or maybe these people are serious?? RTFA people, it's for old and useless that are otherwise just collecting dust.
     Reply
    DontFeedTheTrolls was starred DontFeedTheTrolls was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday
    12/05/08

    @Serolf Divad: Actually, IIRC, UltimateBOOTCD doesn't like large flash drives, and is recommended for those one gig and under. At least it was when I used it to make some rescue drives earlier this summer.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday was starred GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday was unstarred
    Image of Purple Dave Purple Dave
    12/05/08

    @Serolf Divad:
    I think at this point I own a grand total of five, maybe six USB drives. One was a purple 128MB key that I got for free, which doesn't see much use any more (it's made of acrylic, so the cap was already splitting when I opened the package). One is a 1GB retractable Cruzer with my laptop (in case I need to be able to transfer files to someone else's computer). The last regular one I can think of offhand is the special 128MB Batman drive that I bought a second copy of Batman Begins to acquire (I was hoping it was a bit larger than that, since at the time there wasn't a rescue-disk file that would fit...but apparently now there is). And the two that see the most use are actually SD cards that I use with my camera. But even though both my laptop and desktop have built-in SD slots, I still fold my SD cards in half and jam them in the USB ports because the transfer speeds are _MUCH_ faster.
     Reply
    Purple Dave was starred Purple Dave was unstarred
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