Freeduc, an educational live CD

NewsForge has a review on Freeduc, a LiveCD geared towards education and students.

The true gem of the distribution is GCompris, an educational suite that contains more than 60 educational applications, ranging from mouse games to a chess tutorial.

Knoppix 4.0

Heise online is reporting that Knoppix 4.0 is done, and that it will be distributed this Wednesday at LinuxTag 2005. The 4.0 release is when Knoppix will be split into a CD and DVD versions. The DVD version will include 5,300 applications, two books about Knoppix, and the kitchen sink.

Be the First Kid on Your Block to use Gnome 2.11!

I recently noticed Gnoppix had a big graphic on their homepage announcing “Gnoppix uses gnome Desktop Environment 2.11”. Seeing that Gnoppix 1.0, which was recently released, has Gnome 2.10, I picked a download mirror and a couple clicks later came across a beta folder with an ISO image dated from two days ago. A quick download, burn, and I’m running the development version of Gnome!

I noticed some changes which included a menu editor, new version of evolution, evidence that suggests it is using Cairo, and a fast-user-switching feature (oops, looks like it’s in 2.10 too). Check out the mirror list to download the ISO, or just download it directly from their primary server.

Gnoppix with Gnome 2.11 thumbnail

NewsForge | My Workstation OS: Kurumin Linux

NewsForge has another article in their My Workstation OS series. This one focuses on the LiveCD Kurumin Linux, providing information that I was not aware of, such as its large script collection.

In fact, one of the highlights of this distribution is its extensive use of scripts. Kurumin comes out of the box with more than 400 small scripts –- most of them embedded in Clica-Aki, Kurumin’s Control Panel -– aimed at making easier some of the usual configuration tasks such as setting up a server, installing softmodems and wireless adapters, and installing new software.

LiveCD Boot Benchmarks: Round 1, Popular LiveCDs

This article originally posted on frozentech.com on June 15th, 2005
One of the most obvious differences between a LiveCD and an operating system installed on a hard drive is the time it takes for the system to start. LiveCDs have the disadvantage of all CDs, easily being 15 times slower in both transfer and access speeds than standard hard drives. Even with this huge variation in speed, the average LiveCD does not take 15 times longer to boot than the same software installed to a hard drive. This article will provide an overview of the boot speeds of nine popular LiveCDs in several different configurations.
Continue reading “LiveCD Boot Benchmarks: Round 1, Popular LiveCDs”

NewsForge | Creating a custom live CD with Slax

NewsForge reports a success story of one business who started using custom SLAX LiveCDs to gather manufacturing data. It details two possibly ways of quickly customizing SLAX, and Kanotix also makes an appearance.

In addition, due to the fact that a PC in a factory may be subject to electrical and mechanical shocks, we feared extended down time in case of hardware failures (especially the hard disk’s), and we wanted to avoid reinstalling everything.