Got all things running and this is really a slick way to carry a bare bones office with you that will fit in a pocket ...
Hardware: a Seagate 5gb pocket hard drive ... they are all over ebay now and come in 2.5, 5 and 6 gig configurations (I am trying to get a second unit as we speak ... ) - depending on your needs and which software you choose to load, the new larger flash drives will also allow you to carry a large amount of data with you on a key drive
Software: the Mozilla open source email and browser (Firefox and Thunderbird) tweaked to boot off the pocket drive ... add the OpenOffice office suite from the same location to have all your office tools and finally, Microsoft's free SyncToy application
How it all works: the portable apps are all just like the standalone units on your regular desktop. The portable apps will show in their respective folder (a further app is a launcher available at the same site ...) and you just click to launch ... the great thing is that they are running on the flash drive so you can take your settings and bookmarks and ??? as if you were still on your own computer AND it will not leave any traces on the host machine - especially critical when using machines in public places and in strange locales. I use the sync toy by creating a data folder on my pc and just stuffing any and all docs, pdf, spreadsheets, power points, etc that may be needed on a portable basis (actually have my paperport directory and current working folder in this main folder. By using the sync toy on this folder before I go out the door, as I leave I will have everything up to date and current ... as you change docs or even put new ones in on the road, all you have to do is sync again when you return and your data is current again on both the drive and you main machine ... this is a simple and very effective way to carry a minimal but workable "computer" with you ....
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