Reply to LiveCD for Media Artists (Controllerists/DJ/VJ)

I've seen in threads people talk about what to do when you have computer problems at a live show. Some even advocate taking two laptops, I believe that's a little excessive. In my experience, 90% of all computer problems is software. Personally, I have my hard disk partitioned and a duel-boot set. So in case one OS goes freaky, I have always have another.

Another option is to use a "Live CD." A live CD/DVD is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking a hard disk drive. Live USB flash drives are similar to live CDs, but often have the added functionality of automatically and transparently writing changes back to their bootable medium.

May I introduce pure:dyne, a Debian based Linux Live CD.
Notice it comes with Mixxx! Along with a host of other neat audio toys. I'm not suggesting this will replace your entire studio, but under fire at a show, this may be a great thing to have in your laptop bag. If you load it onto a USB stick, you can even alter files and add different apps. Plus, I just love the name of their builds, "miso", "leek and potato", and the upcoming "carrot and coriander." So don't be scared of Linux; give this a chance, load it up and you'll be impressed!

pure:dyne LINK
List of Bundled Applications