cgenman writes "What is the fastest booting operating system out there that is still sufficient for editing text? Quite frequently, I'll need to boot my laptop and edit a few lines of text, or jot down an idea or two. XP loads in roughly 4 minutes to usable, and Ubuntu loads in about 60 seconds. Both feel like an eternity if there isn't a pen and paper around. What is the best operating system that people have found which would load to useable in under 20 seconds, can edit text files in something a little more friendly than VI or EMACS, yet can still access fat32 formatted USB drives? GUI's aren't required, but commands which require arcane foreknowledge or a cheat sheet are out."
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Have you tried booting a minimalistic Linux (e.g., Damn Small Linux) without X [hence, without GNOME/KDE]? I've used a system like this and boot time was awfully snappy. This assumes you are comfortable using something like nano as your text editor.
Linux sans X (Score:2)
Dell's new instant on Latitude On (Score:1)
Dell has as hardware/software solution called Latitude ON that will do the job.
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/08/12/dell.latitude.on.feature/
http://apcmag.com/inside_dells_blacktop_laptop_linux_os.htm