News from the LiveCD World
LXer has a review of the MadTux Knoppix LivePC, an affordable retail PC sold with Knoppix as the OS.
The LivePC runs off a USB key, and can be expanded to serve a variety of needs. I could sum up the LivePC in just three words, “it just works”. Still, let’s see what we’re getting and how well it works.
InformationWeek has a step-by-step howto for getting Windows XP to boot off a USB flash drive.
Since our earlier discussions, three things have happened that can make it much, much easier to get XP to boot from a USB device.
More screenshots from OSDir.com, this time of Mandriva Linux One 2006.0 Beta, its new LiveCD with installer. Putting an installer on a LiveCD seems to be popular right now, as Gentoo just released theirs yesterday, and Ubuntu is testing one on their beta-flight-6.04 pre-releases. It seems that Knoppix, MEPIS, PCLinuxOS, Kanotix, SLAX, and everyone else I’m missing were early to the “LiveCD with installer” party.
OSDir.com has screenshots up of the new LiveCD from the fine people at Gentoo. Slashdot currently has a story linking to it, with surprisingly few comments about how people just finished compiling the previous version.
DistroWatch.com has a review of the OpenBSD-based LiveCD OliveBSD. It’s always good to see another BSD LiveCD.
Gentoo Linux is announcing the release of their 2006.0 LiveCD. This LiveCD has major changes over the previous one by including a full desktop environment (Gnome 2.12) and the much anticipated official installer. They also state a KDE based LiveCD will be released in the future, and also a LiveDVD.
Linux.com reviews some Linux distros for running on older computers and includes two great LiveCDs, Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux.
This was the first time I used DSL for any period of time, and I was impressed by what the DSL developers have managed to fit into a 50MB download.
Caffeinated Security has a review of Penetration Tester’s Open Source Toolkit, a book which includes the Auditor LiveCD.
Tuxmachines.org also has a review up of Wolvix Media Edition. While they say it has some bugs, it looks like a great LiveCD for setting up a quick media center. The desktop appears to be a cleanly configured XFCE.
Tuxmachines.org has a review of a visually impressive LiveCD.
Elive, or Enlightenment live CD, is a Debian-based desktop Linux distribution and live CD featuring the Enlightenment window manager.
DesktopLinux.com announces the latest release of Puppy Linux. It still has the ability to save changes back to the CD it was burned on using multiple sessions.
nixCraft tells us how to recover a grub boot loader password using Knoppix.
osxbook.com has pictures of Knoppix running on a new Intel-based iMac.
OSDir.com has news about a developer looking to combine some of the hottest computing commodities available today: Ubuntu, Ruby on Rails, and LiveCDs.
I am working on a linux distro liveCD called Rubuntu. Which is, you guessed it, a ruby/raisl (sic) centric ubuntu livecd that has the option to install to your HD if your so inclined. I hope to have my build system for this set up this weekend so i can start pumping out a few betas while I tweak it to perfection.
Don’t forget to click on the link at the bottom of that page to see the full usenet discussion.
DistroWatch reports that ParallelKnoppix has been updated.
Tectonic brings us news that the next testing version of Ubuntu 6.04 “Dapper Drake” has been released. Flight 4 includes some major changes, including a graphical installer on the LiveCD named Espresso. This means it’s now possible to browse the web with Firefox while installing Ubuntu.
Not LiveCD related, but cool anyways, is that after installation the Universe repository includes packages for the experimental XGL 3D desktop.
CD images for Flight 4 of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Edubuntu are available.
Mini-itx.com reviews a custom made computer whose purpose is to scan the local network for audio files and play them. The little computer boot from a modified version of Knoppix called Troubadix loaded on a compactflash card.
Troubadix is a specially customized linux (Knoppix-derivative) that differs from other mini-distributions by containing the complete Knoppix kernel 2.6, MySQL 4.1, Apache2, PHP5, OpenSSH and Sun’s JRE 1.4.2 – however no X and thus no window-manager. Since Troubadix is booted from a compact flash card, no moving parts are installed in the housing that could be damaged during transport.
ExtremeTech posted another chapter from their book Hacking Knoppix. Definitely worth bookmarking.
A bootable disk with Knoppix can be a lifesaver when your computer goes awry. In this feature, we guide you through the process of fixing Linux with Knoppix, which includes repairing boot issues, working with key system files, and working with Linux partitions.
OSDir.com has some screenshots of the Myah OS LiveCD. It includes shots from many of the games included on this LiveCD.
*Update: the games are available after installing, which is accomplished from the LiveCD
Anonym.OS gets a mention near the bottom of this SecurityFocus article under the “Little name privacy” header.