Live CD of GnuCash

Eric kellybelly at gwi.net
Sun Nov 12 15:10:36 EST 2006


On Mon, 13 Nov 2006 09:39:14 +1100
Andrew Greig <algreig at bigpond.net.au> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I am about to send my tax data off to the accountant for his preparation
> of my income tax return.  This last year I have used GnuCash exclusively
> for my records.  I am getting the hang of it, pretty well.  My
> accountant, however, is unfamiliar with GnuCash, but would more than
> likely be better equipped to understand it than I was at first look.
> With that in mind, I have a suggestion to throw into the ring.
> 
> Is there someone smart enough AND willing enough to create a GnuCash
> live CD.? 
> 
> I have used a Mandriva One CD which loads KDE and a host of other
> software.  I can run Gnucash from my data file on a USB key, but CUPS is
> not loaded by default, and although I have 512Mb Ram, loading CUPS
> enables me to print reports, but the system grinds to a crawl.  If a
> GnuCash live CD could be produced which ran Gnucash, Gnome and CUPS, and
> would automount a USB Key, then I believe we would have an excellent
> resource for expanding the user base of GC.  Those of us on the list,
> for example, who  do not prepare our own returns could submit our data
> on a key, include the CD and some instructions for use, and let the
> accountant poke around to his/her heart's content.
> 
> Unfortunately, I do not have the skills for such a task, more or less
> dismantling Gnoppix, and building something highly specific, but lean
> 'n' mean.  Does this strike a chord with anyone?
> 
> 
> Andrew Greig
> Community Distributor
> OpenOffice.org 
> Melbourne, Australia  
> 
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You can use Slax, which is a live CD based on Slackware.  It has the ability to save sessions, including any added packages, onto a very small file on a USB drive.  When you reboot it, it can be restored.  There is a Slackware version of GnuCash available at linuxpackages.net, which can be added to Slax.

Alternatively, you could install a smaller operating system (such as NetBSD) onto a USB drive, which your accountant could then boot into.  NetBSD is ideal, since it allows you to install a very small footprint base system on top of which you could add only GnuCash (and maybe a nicer window manager than the default twm).  NetBSD also boots into console mode (text mode), from which you'd have to type startx.  The advantage of this is that you can boot on any computer, then change the X-server configuration to meet whatever machine you are running it on (so you don't blow out a monitor), then safely start X.  The FreeDOS project has a boot floppy that includes SmartBoot manager, a handy utility that lets you easily boot from a USB drive on computers without that BIOS option.




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