Knoppix 3.9 Released

GuyRiley writes "The Debian-based live-cd Linux distribution Knoppix has been updated to version 3.9. Among the most notable changes are the update to kernel 2.6.11 and the inclusion of OpenOffice 2.0 BETA and KDE 3.4. This is likely the last single-CD version of Knoppix before the split into 'Light' and 'Maxi' versions. Torrent links here."

Install ease?

[spungo]

Hope they've made it easier to install onto hd.

Re:Install ease?

[croddy]

have you tried the debian installer [debian.org]?

I mean, have you tried it in the past 18 months?

Re:Install ease?

[tbuckner]

Since Knoppix already auto-detects many system attributes, that shouldn't really be so hard to do. Why not copy it into a partition and then set that as the boot?

Re:Install ease?

[croddy]

since knoppix uses a very cleverly hacked filesystem layout involving ramdisks and compressed loopback images, that probably wouldn't be the brightest idea, even if you were diligent enough to get it to work.

if you really must install knoppix, it comes with a utility to do so.

but believe me when I say the Debian Sarge installer is going to produce a cleaner, leaner installation, with about the same amount of finger-lifting.

Re:Install ease?

[Arkaein]

I've never done it, but Knoppix offers what is called a poor man's install" which I believe is pretty much a direct copy of the ISO to a hard drive (which I believe is optional, and I may be wrong about this being part of the process), and storage of user files and prefs alone separately on the hard drive or a USB drive.

This allows for the installation to be easily upgraded (just get the new version of Knoppix), while using your computer mostly like normal because you can save and modify files normally.

See details on Poor Man's Installs here [knoppix.net].

Re:Install ease?

[m50d]

Why? A live CD is a live cd, to be run from the cd. A normal distro is a normal distro to be installed on a hard drive, AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET. Why would you want to install it onto a hard disk when there are so many perfectly good distributions designed for doing just that?

Re:Install ease?

[Taladar]

A good reason might be an installation on a mobile hard drive to be used on different computers where the live-cd hardware autodetection might come in handy.

Re:Install ease?

[bfree]

Twain meet Kanotix [kanotix.com]. Why would you want to do it? Well how about if you actually want to know if your hardware will work with a distro without having to install it!

Re:Install ease?

[m50d]

Usually the install program shows you what it's detected as part of the install process. Anyway, the existence of distros like that and mepis seem to me to be more of an argument against trying to install knoppix to hd - you can use distros which were designed to do that.

Re:Install ease?

[themightythor]

AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET

Isn't open source about choice? Who the crap are you to tell me that I can't boot a live cd, say "I love the way this looks, I want to use it as my daily desktop"? I did, in fact, install knoppix to my hard drive. I'm posting from it right now.

Re:Install ease?

[m50d]

Sure, you can choose to do that, just like you can choose to open your mp3s in vi to try and see the sound instead of using a program designed to play them. You're just an idiot.

Re:Install ease?

[themightythor]

So basically, you're telling me that if I like the way that a particular LiveCD is set up, you'd rather install the distro upon which it was based and sit and redo all of the configuration work that the LiveCD author has already done? An interesting choice, that eliteists and the unemployed would make. Nice flamebait, though.

Re:Install ease?

[m50d]

No, a choice that people who bother to think further than today would make. Having a system that's not meant to be upgraded, that's not meant to run the way it is doing, will cost you more time in the long run.

Re:Install ease?

[m50d]

It includes things that aren't in the repositories, and versions are generally not "matching" across apps (stable versions are used for some apps, not for others, so you're not in sync with any particular source. Someone could set up a knoppix repository I suppose, but there doesn't seem to be one at the moment). It looks like a recipe for horrible problems from stale apps in the future. Maybe I'm being overly cautious.

Re:Install ease?

[m50d]

But wouldn't you be far better getting a small distro that's meant for using from hard disk? (And I find austrumi to be a far better replacement for DSL)

Re:I can give an example

[m50d]

The autodetection in knoppix is (IIRC of course) just lifted straight from fedora, so if knoppix detects the hardware the fedora installer would too.

Re:Install ease?

[Hognoxious]

the equations for gravity and relativity to be simulated (physicists, please correct me if quantum mech is also required). Either way, those are non-chaotic systems.

Gravity not chaotic? I think Henri Poincaré [wikipedia.org] might disagree with you.

Re:Install ease?

[m50d]

Yeah, but not by as much as a real distro would be faster than the live CD one.

Re:Install ease?

[DavidLeeRoth]

Helpful tip: knx2hd to install user qtparted for partitioning

WARNING! Knoppix 3.9 bugs!

[UnderScan]

Use Kanotix as it is designed for installing to HD. Knopix is not designed to install to HD as it pulls from Debian stable, testing, unstable and updating a a HD-installed Knoppix is a pain.

There are issues with the installer script, see this post on the Knoppix.net forums [knoppix.net]. There is also a bug in Knoppix 3.9 that prevents that breaks the Debian package system. See Knoppix.net wiki about bugs. [knoppix.net]

Re:Install ease? Follow this challenging steps

[imperious_rex]

(as done in Knoppix 3.7, don't know about 3.9)
Boot from the Knoppix CD
Open Konsole
type su
type knoppix-installer
answer the prompts
reboot
Done.

Debian Activity

[Seumas]

So far, 2005 really seems to be a major year for Debian. I've been using Debian for the last four or five years and it's great to see all of these successful debian-based distros - not to mention, a new stable version of Debian (finally!).

I've known people in the last year who have talked about switching to another distro, because they had the FreeBSD fright (it's dying!) and I'm hoping this turns their attitudes around.

yes but

[jeanjean83]

Does it run linux?

Re:yes but

[tbuckner]

Oh, a wise guy! (pokes his eyes out)

Re:yes but

[Stickerboy]

Does it run linux?

Duh! The answer is obviously No. It runs GNU/Linux...

splitting?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody said anything of swapping CDs. The Mini version will be the usual LiveCD, while the Maxi version will be a LiveDVD, so, where the heck is the CD changing? Works like normal. And today, most of us should have a DVD drive anyway, dont we?

Re:splitting?

[trewornan]

Lots of distros offer a liveDVD version. Knoppix's unique "selling point" was the single CD aspect and I very much hope they won't abandon this and move entirely over to the DVD fork in the future. It would be a great shame.

Re:splitting?

[agraupe]

I think the question is: do all of us have a DVD *burner*? I don't yet, despite both my computers having DVD drives.

Re:splitting?

[Taladar]

At least here in Germany you can get a DVD burner for around 75 Euro. I doubt the price will drop much lower before the introduction of the next-generation media burner and that one will probably take a few years after the introduction of that media which is not even introduced yet.

go for it

[Heisenbug]

Totally off-topic, but I just got my first DVD burner, and I'm loving it. You should check out how cheap they've gotten -- I was surprised.

http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Category.asp?Cat egory=10 [newegg.com]

The burn-any-format drives are less than $50, and media is $35/100. That's definitely getting down in the why-the-hell-not range, for me ...

Re:splitting?

[agraupe]

I bought my last game in February, and I don't even remember when I got my last ($200) video card, although I'm guessing it was about 8 months ago. Now that I have my driver's license, I would much prefer getting a car than getting new computer equipment. Did you ever stop to think that maybe not all of us have the disposable income to just spend money on whatever we want on that particular day?

Dammit...

[AvantLegion]

How bloody typical. I just downloaded and burned 3.8.2 yesterday.

Why can't they be like Debian? Those CDs, you can pass on to your children and they're still current.

what's the joke ?.

[Gopal.V]

> Why can't they be like Debian? Those CDs, you can pass on to your children and they're still current.

This is either a joke about debian's release cycle or your reproductory cycle ... I'm trying to figure out which.

Also I think you could say the same about Gentoo - but that's a totally different joke I suppose. ("at least your children will get a current install")

Re:Google is the memory of the global village

[sosume]

Well hello, Markov chain.

Re:Sorry if you miss the OT joke:

[sosume]

i guess you know by now what a markov chain is

Re:Google is the memory of the global village

[drwho]

Um, I grew up in a small town that tourists have overrun and it's changed quite a bit. It's still recognizable, but in a century I am sure it's going to look just like another New York suburb.

I've been to cities that are history - well what I mean is that they're remarkably preserved. And this isn't an America vs. Europe thing - Salem (Mass.) has a downtown with many buildings over 200 years old, some over three centuries old. Whereas, many cities in Europe were bombed flat during ww2 and rebuilt by people who wanted to obliterate the past, such as the Soviets (I haven't been there, but my understanding is that Dresden is like this).

Now, this is really tangential to the who knoppix release, and a tangent off of the long-term nature of debian. In my opinion, Debian doesn't hold old releases long enough. I think that there ought to be an ULTRA STABLE Debian that would be maintained for ten years or longer.

Re:Dammit...

[Timesprout]

You kids will put you in the cheapest, crapiest retirement home they can when they find out they are only getting your Debian CDs.

Re:Dammit...

[scheuri]

Why can't they be like Debian? Those CDs, you can pass on to your children and they're still current.

<BR><BR>
you mean like...CDs for Windows XP?

Re:Dammit...

[AvantLegion]

Yeah, like that, except without the "hating children" part that goes along with passing on XP.

Re:Dammit...

[Zaiff Urgulbunger]

The only real downside is that webdevs like me who use Win2k for IE testing are going to have to get XP now too. Teh suck. Gotta make sure it works in IE 7 too. Bleh.

Naaa, if your site works in any standards compliant browser then it'll be sure to work fine in IE7! Teh suck indeed!!

..

..

Ha ha ha... only joking. Yes you _will_ have to use XP for testing! :-D

Me too, but last weekend.

[antdude]

ARGH!

Re:Dammit...

[xtracto]

Easy answer... CD-RW

I stopped using CD-R a long time ago, CD-RW are not that expensive now and I use them to write Linux ISO's, applications I find useful etc.

That way, I wave one CD named KNOPPIX, and I always have it with the last release, also with Mandrake (well, I had to erease that and write Mandriva now...) and FreeBSD (those are the 3 distros I use).

And for the apps I used to burn CD's with the apps (Win) I liked but after I installed my PC those versions where outtadet and I had to search and download them again (of course with broadband that is easy). So I also burn an Apps CD-RW and when I find a new version is out (with REAL changes of course) I download it and burn it.

Re:Dammit...

[toddestan]

The downloads aren't that tough. Just start it before you go to bed, and by the time you wake up, you'll have the new Knoppix!

Re:Dammit...

[Chazmati]

That *is* odd, considering I downloaded the 3.9 iso on Wednesday night. Maybe your mirror hadn't updated yet. My local mirror (mirrors.tds.net) seemed stale

KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso 09-Dec-2004 06:31 699M

but ftp.knoppix.nl had the goods

KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-EN.iso 712592 KB 06/01/05 06:17:00

Lucky timing, I suppose. Good one about Debian, though. :)

Re:Dammit...

[Feztaa]

What the hell is a mirror? :P

I downloaded the torrent a few days ago, 3.9 was released on May 27th.

T2 @Live is a nice alternative

[Anonymous Coward]

Since aternatives keep up innovation, there is also a KDE 3.4 and such shiny new LiveCD http://www.t2-project.org/live/ [t2-project.org] from the T2 Project (http://www.t2-project.org/ [t2-project.org]).

It even comes with D-BUS / HAL integration for auto mounting and equally perfect hardware detection.

As usual with the System Development Environment (SDE) T2, you can automatically rebuild it, optimized for your CPU - or even other architectures.

Thanks for the info

[Cr3d3nd0]

Glad to know the new version is out I will now avoid this thread before all the tampon jokes

"I'd rather have a nice thin and light Mini distro rather than a bloody huge Maxi"

DAMN

Knoppix kicks ass!

[wfberg]

Right now, my NTFS filesystem is in a state such that XP can't boot from it (chkdsk/autochk says "Unrecoverable errors and it appears to have hit the HKLM registry hive). Running knoppix from a CD-R just fine. Browsing the web is much faster even! Detecting all my hardware is a lot faster than XP's install/recovery CD manages.
Loading programs from CD takes a while, but other than that, it's great.

Oh, and the maxi-version will of course not be multi-CD, but single-DVD...

Re:Knoppix kicks ass!

[CaptainZapp]

Loading programs from CD takes a while, but other than that, it's great.

Provided that you have enough RAM, you can use the

knoppix toram

boot option.

It may take a minute longer to boot, but you won't hear back from your CD drive.

RIAA and MPAA SEE THIS!

[Anonymous Coward]

Torrent links?

Don't you guys know Bittorrent is evil and a tool that pirates use for theft?

Yeah...

[bheerssen]

So is a machete.

LVM Support?

[erroneus]

Does anyone know if they'll ever have LVM support in there?

Re:LVM Support?

[m50d]

I can't see a good reason not to have it, so I'd imagine it will at least be in the maxi version.

Re:LVM Support?

[erroneus]

Most or many people use Knoppix as a means to repair systems. I can easily use Knoppix for everything except those with LVM... and that's a pretty significant number of systems lately.

My reason

[coolsva]

Main reason I like Knoppix is it has all you need in one CD. Once it goes over 1 CD, I guess, Ill move to some other small distro which serves my purpose of emergency repair (like puppy http://goosee.com/puppy [goosee.com] which is what I use now-a-days)

Re:My reason

[coolsva]

I have also used DSL for long, but IMHO puppy is better (boots to GUI in under 20 seconds) and can save your data in a file in any OS

How Does Knoppix Work with Filesystems?

[Evil W1zard]

I have actually been a lazy bum and not burned a Knoppix disc yet so I am not sure how exactly it works. When you load up Knoppix do you have the capability of pulling files you stored via NTFS? I can't see it being really useful if it didn't. I think I can use Knoppix as a possible solution for some tools that won't run on Windows until I take the time to partition my drive and install VMWare (cuz I hate having to reboot between OS's!).

Re:How Does Knoppix Work with Filesystems?

[CastrTroy]

That's why I still stick to using FAT 32 for my windows partitions. It may not have file permissions or other good features, but its hard to find an OS that doesn't read it. I don't see why you would even need to install NTFS on most home user installations of windows. Using access restrictions similar to Linux would be a lot easier to figure out. I knew a guy a screwed up his NTFS partitions, and then he couldn't even read and delete some of his own files when he was administrator.

Re:How Does Knoppix Work with Filesystems?

[gclef]

yes, knoppix can read ntfs. I've used knoppix to recover from trashed WINNT directories before...works fine.

Very, very fine...

[CptnHarlock]

Not only does Knoppix support reading from NTFS partitions, you can also write to them. Think of it like this, Knoppix can do all the nifty stuff Linux can, and since Linux can read/write NTFS so can Knoppix. (It can read [and write] a whole bunch of other FSs too.. :) )

Linux has been able to read NTFS partitions for a long time, there has been experimental NTFS writing, which has been largely considered harmfull and AFAIK a rewrite is on its way. In the mean time something very cool is included in Knoppix: Captive NTFS [jankratochvil.net]. This is a technique where the original ntfs.sys driver from windows is borrowed, either from your windows partition or by downloading a service pack from windowsupdate.microsoft.com and pulling the drivers from there. I have used it and it has worked fine, EXCEPT on realy large files. Like avi files of 600Mb+. The thing is, even those failed operations (the computer slowed to a crawl) didn't damage my NTFS filesystems.

I haven't DL:ed the last versions of Knoppix but as late as in 3.7 Captive NTFS was included. It's higly improbable that is has been excluded. Anyway, even if it has been removed you can still read your NTFS partition.

Cheers...

Re:Very, very fine...

[bfree]

Well captive-ntfs is a dead project and is hard to use on a Windows XP SP2 ntfs drive (I think you can download about 100M from Microsoft to get the files you need, otherwise you need access to a pre SP2 XP to get the files). The end result is that yes captive-ntfs has been removed from Knoppix.

Now Knoppix-STD...?

[caluml]

Good news - now I'm waiting for Knoppix STD [knoppix-std.org] to release a new version with support for the Intel 2100 wireless stuff.

Re:Now Knoppix-STD...?

[bogie]

Have you heard of Whoppix and the Wireless Auditor CD?
Watch the video on the Whoppix site, 0 to cracking WEP in 10 minutes. Way cool video to watch.

Nothing but good stuff with Knoppix

[beforewisdom]

I have been using Knoppix for several years now.

I have nothing but good things to say about it. It was innovative from the start and remains innovative.

It has a friendly and helpful user community.

It delivers the goodies of Debian with ease of installation, ease of use, and no hassles. It is one hard push away from being "grandma suitable".

If that wasn't enough, it is available free of charge.

I have tried other live distros and imitators, none does it all as well and as consistently as knoppix.

The only thing I hope for with the DVD version is that user gets some choice of what to install. A DVD's worth of software is a lot to dump on a hard drive without giving the user a choice.

Again, my hats off to the knoppix people.

Re:Nothing but good stuff with Knoppix

[m50d]

While knoppix is good I find slax better. It had writing to everywhere on the filesystem before knoppix, better init detection stuff (IME of course), includes koffice which was unfotunately dropped from knoppix for space reasons, and is generally much nicer. Fits in a much smaller space, which makes caching the whole thing in RAM a real possibility (with knoppix this is impractical with less than a gigabyte), and is generally faster and lighter (it can manage with 32mb ram). It's also modular in a really easy way (I've made my own modules, which is something I never managed with morphix) Get it here [linux-live.org]

Re:Nothing but good stuff with Knoppix

[beforewisdom]

Dude, the thread and my post is about Knoppix.

What do you think yu are replying to?

Maxi and Lite, eh?

[iamdrscience]

This is likely the last single-CD version of Knoppix before the split into 'Light' and 'Maxi' versions.

Light for light days and Maxi for heavy flow days, right?

Another "Knoppix is Good" post

[miyako]

I've always been a pretty big fan of Knoppix, I like to keep the latest version on hand for helping people back up files and such when they have to re-install Windows. I also generally boot up Knoppix to check for rootkits etc everytime a new version is released.
Before I got my laptop I used to use it quite a bit at school, where all of the lab computers run Windows XP. Never really been able to find a development environment in Windows that I like as well as vim under Linux (even as nice as XCode is on OS X, I still find myself going back to vim most of the time, especially when I'm doing a lot of editing, since I find it to be a big pain to take my hands off the keyboard to move the mouse to highlight code, etc. Too bad none of the IDEs support vi-like editing of code).
I always thought it would be an interesting idea to build a live cd specifically aimed at non-technical windows users to recover from crashes. Something that would boot up and give them a series of simple steps they could follow to recover/backup a borked windows install, and maybe show a nice slideshow like a lot of the Linux installers have now telling them the benefits of Linux.

live dvd....when do you suppose they will make...

[3seas]

a usb drive to hold that?

Hmmm, and dual layer ???

Actually a cd/dvd disk and usb drive is a good combination. The usb drive for your personal stuff,

Anyone know if the reburn process has been made easier?

say you want to install something that is not in the disk but then reburn the disk with it, perhaps removing something to make room..

but has the process been made easy enough for us idiots?

Re:live dvd....when do you suppose they will make.

[SharpFang]

Put the steps of reburn in a script, and it will be trivial - it's quite a few steps, but all very easy, been there, done that. It takes quite a bit of time though (recompressing 2GB of data...), so you may pick the simplified version - edit just the startup script to create links to directories on your flash drive and simply add (mount) them e.g. as /usr/local with your custom stuff, without touching the compressed image.

Which article are you responding to?

[3seas]

reading the responses to my original post, only one seems to be in regards to my post, whereas the other two seem to be a response to some other articles..

maybe its the ./ effect.

Re:live dvd....when do you suppose they will make.

[hawaiian717]

a usb drive to hold that?

Umm... today?

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products .asp?DriveID=94 [westerndigital.com]

Non-Torrent Downloads

[LogicX]

Don't forget you can still download knoppix directly from any of the mirrors [knopper.net]

Re:Non-Torrent Downloads

[An Onerous Coward]

:: me scratches head ::

Sure... I guess.

:: me thinks at it again ::

But, why would you want to DO that?

Great....

[Spacejock]

I've only just finished downloading Knoppix 3.8...

(Not karma whoring - that's the honest truth. Might just be time for me to find another ISP... Mine's been promising upgraded accounts for almost a year now and I'm all but out of patience.)

Re:Great....

[HermanAB]

Many Knoppix mirrors are still at 3.7!

Looks like their comment tool is unsafe

[hacker]

Has anyone noticed that their comments section [uni-kl.de] has already been hijacked?

Looks like its time for sites to do some XSS auditing [ckers.org] before they put up their sites, and make sure people can't just post arbitrary garbage by stuffing the query strings.

For those of you running active data on port 80 (or 443, or https/https on any public port), please PLEASE take the time to understand XSS [securitydocs.com] and avoid coding sites that allow it to happen. Yes, even major sites like Perl.org and Yahoo.com have some pages that are NOT xss-safe.. but they're working on it. Are you?

Speaking of Knoppix......

[dalmiroy2k]

Knoppix it's a great way for troubleshooting Windows pcs that won't boot. Any PC tech guy should have the latest release handy so it can save the day for those clients who keeps getting virus and then screwing Windows.
But there is another release that you may find interesting: Whoppix

Whoppix is a stand alone penetration testing live cd based on Knoppix. With the latest tools and exploits, it is a must for every penetration tester and security auditor. Whoppix includes Several exploit archives, such as Securityfocus, Packetstorm, SecurityForest and Milw0rm, as well as a wide variety of updated security tools. The new custom kernel also allows for better WIFI support, for tools such as Aireplay.

The 2.7.1 minor release fixes several issues, such as support for Centrino wifi 2100 and 2200 drivers, missing Autoscan, and several new tools

Download it from http://www.whoppix.net/ [whoppix.net]

Azureus Magnet URI

[Danathar]

And for those who don't even want to download the torrent file to join the swarm....

Here is the Azureus Magnet URI...

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:F57RHAID47YKCYTWAHON3ATMRQY6 DJ WQ

pxe booting, loopback mount over nfs

[caseih]

Does anyone know if it is possible to boot knoppix via pxelinux, perhaps nfs-mounting the iso image which is then loop-back mounted instead of having the CD in the drive? That would be incredibly useful.

Michael

Re:pxe booting, loopback mount over nfs

[ScytheBlade1]

I do.

Heck, I documented the entire process... Knoppix itself makes it easy, but I didn't want to be forced to run a knoppix computer whenever I wanted to boot into knoppix.

First read setting up PXE [brantleyonline.com] and then PXE Booting Knoppix [brantleyonline.com] (less running a knoppix terminal server 24/7, and causing dual DHCP server collisions, and etc. etc. etc.)

DVD Version

[attobyte]

Can't they do a DVD version for the people that have DVDs? They are like $35 now.

Hmm.

[Grendel Drago]

Just booted it on a laptop I have here. Anyone know why in the blue hell there's an 'xpdf' under the 'Lost and Found' menu?

It definitely has some beta feel to it. Things listed twice in the menus and so forth.

--grendel drago

Re:Better, please. Not bigger

[Seumas]

I can see the confusion in the way the article blurb is written, but no - we're not talking about a multi-CD Knoppix. We're talking about a split, leaving us with two CDs to choose from. One, the reduced "light" version. The other, the full shebang, on one DVD.

Re:Better, please. Not bigger

[eyeye]

The "story" was badly worded but you also clearly couldnt be bothered following the links in your haste for first post or it would be obvious to you that the maxi version is for DVDs.

Re:Better, please. Not bigger

[daniil]

You'd be surprised to learn how many Slashdot readers "can't be bothered to follow the links." Now, while reading the linked story would have avoided the grandparent poster's kneejerk reaction, it's still not an excuse for confusing story blurbs.

Re:Better, please. Not bigger

[rkcallaghan]

... but let's just say I'd rather have a nice thin and light Mini distro than a bloody huge Maxi.

I suppose it is a good thing they're making that light version then huh? I'm kind of confused as to the point of your comment, other than to get a FP, since it says in the summary the light version is being made, and the presence of a larger version doesn't hinder the light one at all.

Oh, and that "Bloody Maxi" pun was terrible.

~Rebecca

Re:Better, please. Not bigger

[smittyoneeach]

If you don't like the pun, just throw it on the floor and tampon it.

Re:Multi-CD live CD?

[Noogie Brown]

That's what it was like in the old days when HDs weren't standard - except you would be swapping floppies.

Re:Open source bloat

[0x461FAB0BD7D2]

For both MEPIS and Ubuntu it's a single CD. And "the evil and incompetent Microsoft" does not have an Office Suite, IRC clients, and a host of other software on it.

What was your point again?

Re:Open source bloat

[NickFortune]

They don't distribute XP in a LiveCD version either, so far as I am aware. I really think the GP is on to a loser with this one.

Mind, we should not ignore the possibility that the GP was in fact making an impassioned plea for a single cd linux distro, since he hates and despises microsoft but feels bound to them because he suffers from some strange condition of bloat-o-phobia.

In which case, we could also mention the likes of Damn Small Linux (50MB), Puppy Linux (50MB) and Feather Linux - which is a Knoppix with the bloat removed and which clocks in at 123MB. Also to be considered are Tomsrtbt which boots off a floppy for a command line distro, and muLinux which boots off a floppy into X. Hell's teeth, these days MS don't even like you using boot discs!

And of course there's Knoppix, which if it doesn't fit on a floppy, still fits into a single CD.

Yeah, what was the GPs point, anyway? :)

Re:Open source bloat

[NickFortune]

Informative and off topic at the same time :)

I wonder: is this the latest thing in trolling, or is slashdot's message database FUBARed at the moment?

Re:Open source bloat

[erroneus]

If the distros removed the office and a lot of other non-OS files from their images they'd be able to get it back down to one CD I'm sure... but then people would be annoyed that they have to download applications separately.

I guess OS+Apps has always been the way. I wonder if a distro will experiment by stripping it down to the OS and then distributing the apps as a separate set of images? To me it'd be all the same... just a different order of installation.

Re:Open source bloat

[trewornan]

Microsoft" does it with one disc

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not a troll.

Windows comes on one disc true!

But then, to do anything useful you're going to need MS Office (3 disks), a development environment/compiler/toolchain (3 disks). . . So you're already at 8 disks and you're not even close to all the applications you get on most linux distros.

Plus you've just spent >$200 on top of the cost of windows.

Re:Open source bloat

[cortana]

Not to mention a hard disk to install all that crap!

Re:Open source bloat

[rincebrain]

I can install Gentoo, Debian, Ubuntu, or Red Hat (off the top of my head, probably Mandrake too) off of a single CD, given an internet connection...and even that's not completely necessary.

That said, how many CDs does M$ need to install an office suite, development IDE with associated tools, and operating system? Last I checked, it was at least three, ignoring the fact that Visual Studio has more CDs than Debian does (unless you're using some REALLY obscure packages with no net connection).

Re:Open source bloat

[scupper]

doesn't Visual Studio come on a dvd now?

Re:Open source bloat

[scupper]

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Re:Knoppix?

[danfreak]

check out

http://www.gnoppix.org/ [gnoppix.org]

for a gnome based live cd,
it's not from quite the same base as knoppix (they now seem to be working with Ubantu), but still pretty damn good

Re:Adobe Reader 7?

[ChaoticCoyote]

KPDF 3.4 is terrific; for the first time, there's a very good "free" PDF viewer. It handles searches, bookmarks, extracting text... overall, it's quite nice, and I haven't needed Acrobat 7.0 since KDPF 3.4 came out. Plus, KPDF runs on my AMD64 system, while Adobe's reader does not.