News from the LiveCD World
DesktopLinux report that the new MEPIS 6.0 beta has LiveUSB support.
As for the USB key support, the MEPIS System Assistant reportedly can now install either the 32 or 64-bit version from a CD to a USB key. According to Woodford, “it will also reformat the key so it will be properly recognized on any machine that can boot from USB key. This should only be done with a high-speed key. Unfortunately the key is incompatible with MacTel firmware, so this will only work on a PC.”
NewsForge reviews the new FreeSBIE 2.0.
Last year the Italian FreeBSD user group, GUFI, rekindled the FreeSBIE project to develop a live CD based on the FreeBSD operating system. After more than four months of development, and an equal number of beta releases, the project released FreesBIE 2.0 this month. Codenamed Clint Eastwood, the live CD is based on the recent FreeBSD 6.2 release, and is an ideal platform to experience BSD and learn how things are done in BSD land.
A great example of how LiveCDs can be used, this programming book comes with an Ubuntu LiveCD with all the code examples and code editors installed and ready to use.
There’s a live CD included so you can boot up Ubuntu Linux and see all the projects – not only view and play with code snippets via the Bluefish programming editor (noticeably superior to the text editor I’ve been using to write my PHP), but also running the final applications off the disc.
EFYTimes has a review of, um, Klaus Knopper, creator of Knoppix.
Knopper is known as the man who can put a system to life without even touching its hard drive. And what makes his efforts notable is the fact that he is a one-man army. He has an infectious sense of humour which I noticed when I met him last year during Asia’s biggest Linux event, LinuxAsia 2006.
Linux.com has a review of the Super Gamer 2 LiveDVD.
I was intrigued when I heard about SuperGamer, a beta live DVD based on PCLinuxOS. The DVD includes, in demo version for the most part, 3-D shooters America’s Army, Doom 3, Postal 2, Cube, Enemy Territory, Nexuiz, Quake 4, Soldier of Fortune, UFO: Alien Invasion, and Wesnoth. Unfortunately, my SuperGamer/PCLinuxOS experience was as bad a Linux experience as I can remember having.
LinuxQuestions.org has screenshots of PCLinuxOS 2007 Test 1. The theme looks great, and it looks like they changed almost every aspect of it since PCLinuxOS 0.93.
Computeract!ve has an overview of GParted.
DistroWatch Weekly is packed full of LiveCD news today. First up is news of a gaming LiveDVD by Mandriva, along with a LiveCD showcasing a unique 3D desktop called Metisse. Below that is news of updates to Live versions of PCLinuxOS, gNewSense, Fedora Unity, BOSS GNU/Linux, and a new rescue LiveCD by the T2 project.
This weeks DistroWatch Weekly contains an interview with a developer of the FreeSBIE project.
FreeSBIE, the first-ever live CD based on FreeBSD, is a project that delivers a complete, desktop-oriented operating system that one can boot and use without installation, even on a computer which doesn’t have a functional hard disk.
The Fedora Unity Project has released new LiveCDs and LiveDVDs of Fedora Core 6. This new release has many patches and is built with a new tool.
This release was built with the new tool called Pungi[2], developed by Jesse Keating, a leading community member and Fedora Release Engineer, with community input. This tool will be used in future official Fedora releases and for Fedora Unity Re-Spins. We have joined in this effort to bring a full featured tool to the Fedora community, enabling anyone to build Re-Spins and Live-Spins now and in the future.
Linux.com has a short review of the latest Knoppix release.
The new year has brought a new release of the Knoppix live CD. Along with the usual updates to application software, the most noticeable change in version 5.1.1 is the inclusion of the Beryl 3-D desktop with the Emerald theming engine.
Tuxmachines.org reviews NimbleX 2007, a recently released lightweight LiveCD.
LXer has an interview with Kenneth Hensley of PuppyLinux and the Unofficial Puppy Linux Guide.
Digg is pointing to a email announcing a Debian based LiveCD for the PS3. Digg incorrectly announces it as the first, as a Gentoo LiveCD already exists. The creator of the new LiveCD makes no such claim.
Linux.com reports on the new Fedora LiveCD. Included is news about the upcoming graphical installer and possible LiveDVD and LiveUSB versions in the future.
The Fedora community got its first official live CD last month. Based on Fedora Core 6, it shows off the best of what Fedora has to offer. Furthermore, the tools used to put together the CD make creating and maintaining custom Red Hat or Fedora-based live CDs simple.
DistroWatch Weekly has reviews of both the BSD based LiveCD TrueBSD, and the completely free software based gNewSense.
A new release of Knoppix is out, just days after 5.1.0. It fixes several bugs, updates some programs, and improves writing speeds for NTFS partitions.
DistroWatch has information about the new release of LG3D, a unique 3D desktop LiveCD based on SLAX.
TablePCReview has success with an Ubuntu LiveCD on an Acer Tablet PC.
As seen on Digg, Gentoo LiveCDs which run on the Playstation 3 have been released. They also work on PowerMac G5 machines.