Re: Best live distribution

From: Richard Steven Hack (richardhack_at_prontomail.com)
Date: 02/11/04 

Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 09:07:08 GMT

On Sun, 8 Feb 2004 20:09:01 +0100, "Fran" <fran.jagic@public.srce.hr>
wrote:

>Which live distribution is closest to "the real thing"? Which would you
>recommend?

I've loaded and briefly tested Knoppix, MandrakeMove, SUSE Eval,
Mepis, and PCLinux.

Knoppix is by far the slickest, quickest, easiest and best hardware
detection. The others (with the possible exception of Mepis) do not
even come close. PCLinux wouldn't run on my video hardware for some
reason, SUSE took fifteen minutes to figure out the hardware (and
asked for the root password four times), and MandrakeMove came up in
some weird oversize screen resolution. This on a clone PC with ASUS
A7V8X mobo, 512MB RAM, AC97 sound, GeForce 64MB video, old Dell
monitor, WD and IBM HDs, onboard Broadcom LAN chip and D-Link PCI NIC
card (the latter hooked to SBC DSL).

Knoppix is the way to go, but, of course, YMMV.

On the other hand, do keep in mind that live distros aren't really the
same as a full hard disk installed distro for the simple reason that a
lot of compromises are made in order to squeeze the whole thing on one
CD AND run entirely from that CD. It's just not quite the same thing
as running Linux from a native install. 

-- 
Richard Steven Hack
"Whatever does not kill me makes me stronger" - 
and YOU have not killed me!

Relevant Pages

  • Re: setup knoppix internet
    ... Eli Aran wrote: ... > my conclusion is that i burned the ISO image file for the Knoppix CD TOO ... Mepis and Knoppix are very, ... recognize the same hardware, both choke on the same hardware. ...
    (alt.linux)
  • Re: setup knoppix internet
    ... Eli Aran wrote: ... > my conclusion is that i burned the ISO image file for the Knoppix CD TOO ... Mepis and Knoppix are very, ... recognize the same hardware, both choke on the same hardware. ...
    (comp.os.linux.setup)
  • Re: disk error occurred
    ... The bottom line is that this is hardware and since you have a laptop, you can't swap out parts to test. ... The only other exception I can think of is if you encrypted those files with third-party software such as TrueCrypt or the like. ... I'll give you the basic instructions for using Knoppix, but if you did use third-party encryption that's probably not going to help. ... Note that the default mouse action in the window manager used by Knoppix is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS Windows' double-click. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Using set up disks from Micorsoft download centre for XP Pro
    ... If the problem is related to wrong video drivers, ... In addition to Knoppix, the Ubuntu CD is bootable and will help you ... determine if the problem is hardware or software. ... OS Windows XP Pro SP2 ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Debian, Knoppix, and other varients
    ... >> supporting newer hardware that stable does not currently support. ... > be a Debian stable that is aware of the latest hardware. ... I use Knoppix to boot from, make the "system image" as far as ...
    (Debian-User)