Kind of Magic: Parted Magic 4.4 Halves RAM Usage, Dial-Up Available
The Parted Magic LiveCD provides numerous tools for partitioning and data backup and recovery. The newest version 4.4 runs on systems with just 256-MByte RAM and now supports dial-up networking.
The close-to-midnight August 12 release of version 4.4 of the partitioning and data rescue distro Parted Magic not only fixes countless bugs and updates many core components, but comes with a few useful feature enhancements.
Its RAM usage being cut in half to 256 MBytes, Parted Magic can run completely from RAM and thereby free up the CD-ROM drive and USB stick. Network support now also includes dial-up service and Parted Magic starts the SSH daemon on bootup while generating public keys to spare users the configuration.
Among the less obvious enhancements are the integration of ALSA sound drivers and core programs to keep you media-entertained during longer file formatting periods. The project recommends Slackware 12 packages for media playing.
Parted Magic 4.4 requires an i586 class processor and at least 128 MBytes RAM for Live mode. It supports the ext2, ext3, fat16, fat32, hfs, jfs, ntfs, reiserfs, reiser4 and xfs filesystems. Tools provided include GParted, Clonezilla, Ddrescue, Testdisk and Super Grub Disk. The 96-MByte ISO is available for download as a zip archive on the project page.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.