Linuxlandit & The Conqueror Worm: KNOPPIX 5.3 release at CeBIT 2008

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

KNOPPIX 5.3 release at CeBIT 2008

The KNOPPIX 5.0 Live DVD contains some major changes in the unionfs-based file system, new hardware detection and autoconfiguration, and a more "genuine Debian" oriented selection of packages. Apart from this, the harddisk install option ("knoppix-installer") has been extended by Martin Öhler, based on the work of Fabian Franz, featuring a "live update" of specific packages from a new version of the live DVD or CD.

The first release of Knoppix 5.0 is exclusively available as a free pressed DVD on CeBIT, at the KNOPPER.NET booth (University of applied sciences Zweibrücken, Hall 9, booth C39/31) and at the Heise booth (Hall 5, E38). Apart from CeBIT, this version cab be ordered from www.emedia.de. The pressing of the CeBIT KNOPPIX DVDs has been sponsored, like in the past years, by the Heise publishing company.

Knoppix is a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for sound cards, many graphics cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals.

Knoppix can be used as a Linux demo, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos.

It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it.

What's New in This Release:

· Linux Kernel 2.6.24,
· KDE 3.5.8 with compiz-fusion as 3D-window manager,
· Updates: cloop 2.624 realtime decompression with threads and experimental "suspend" feature, Debian etch+testing, Iceweasel/Icedove (Firefox/Thunderbird)
· OpenOffice 2.3.1,
· VirtualBox OSE

special feature accessibility:

· ADRIANE Audio-Desktop,
· Orca as graphical screenreader

Screenshot 1 of KNOPPIX 5.3.0

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Screenshot 2 of KNOPPIX 5.3.0

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Screenshot 3 of KNOPPIX 5.3.0

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Knoppix, or KNOPPIX, is a Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux designed to be run directly from a CD / DVD. Knoppix is one of the best-known live CDs. Knoppix was developed by Linux consultant Klaus Knopper. When starting a program it is loaded from the optical disc and decompressed into a RAM drive. The decompression is transparent and on-the-fly.

Although Knoppix is primarily designed to be used as a live CD, it can also be installed on a hard disk like a typical operating system. Computers that support booting from USB devices can load Knoppix from a live USB flash drive or memory card.

There are two main editions of Knoppix: the traditional Compact Disc (700 megabytes) edition and the DVD (4.7 gigabytes) "Maxi" edition. Each of these main editions have two language-specific editions: English and German.

Knoppix mostly consists of free software, but also includes proprietary software.

Usage

Knoppix can be used to back up files easily from hard drives with inaccessible operating systems. To quickly and more safely use Linux software the live CD can be used instead of installing another OS.

Contents

More than 1000 software packages are included on the CD edition and more than 2600 are included on the DVD edition. Up to 9 gigabytes can be stored on the DVD in compressed form. These packages include:

* Part of KDE, the default desktop environment, including the Konqueror web browser and the KMail e-mail client. Knoppix is also packaged with several other window managers, such as Fluxbox, twm, or IceWM. As of Knoppix 5.1.1, the Beryl window manager is also included, which allows access to a 3D desktop environment
* XMMS, with MPEG video, MP3 audio, and Ogg Vorbis audio playback support
* Internet access software, including the KPPP dialer, ISDN utilities and WLAN
* The Mozilla Firefox web browser (now known as Iceweasel on Knoppix)
* K3b, for CD (and DVD) authoring and backup
* The GIMP, an image-manipulation program
* Tools for data rescue and system repair
* Network analysis and administration tools
* OpenOffice.org, a comprehensive office suite
* Many programming and development tools

Requirements

Requirements to run Knoppix:

* Intel-compatible processor (i486 or later)
* 32 MB of RAM for text mode, at least 96 MB for graphics mode with KDE (at least 128 MB of RAM is recommended to use the various office products)
* Bootable CD-ROM drive, or a boot floppy and standard CD-ROM (IDE/ATAPI or SCSI)
* Standard SVGA-compatible graphics card
* Serial or PS/2 standard mouse or IMPS/2-compatible USB-mouse

Saving changes in the environment

Prior to Knoppix 3.8.2, any documents or settings a user created would disappear upon reboot. This lack of permanence made it necessary to save documents explicitly to a hard drive partition, over the network, or to some removable medium, such as a USB flash drive.

It was also possible to set up a "persistent home directory", where any documents or settings written to the user's home directory would automatically be redirected to a hard drive or removable medium, which could be automatically mounted on bootup. What is stored there physically is a file called knoppix.img. The file is used to simulate a file system into which files are written for later use. This is transparent for the user. What the user perceives is that it is possible to write files to the home directory.

Since Knoppix 3.8.1, a UnionFS filesystem transparently saves any new or changed files to a writable filesystem – one which can reside either in memory (ramdisk) or on a hard disk, USB flash drive, etc.

This means that the user can modify the software installed on the Knoppix system, such as by using APT to install or update software.

By default Knoppix will scan available storage devices for a persistent home directory, however you can override this scan and provide a specific location with a boot option(see below) such as

home=/dev/hda1/knoppix.img[2]

By carrying a Knoppix CD and a USB flash drive, a user can have the same environment, programs, settings, and data available on any computer that is Knoppix compatible.

Versions

Knoppix version Release date
3.1 19 January 2003
3.2 26 July 2003
3.3 16 February 2004
3.4 17 May 2004
3.6 16 August 2004
3.7 9 December 2004
3.8.2 12 May 2005
3.9 1 June 2005
4.0 22 June 2005
4.0 updated 16 August 2005
4.0.2 23 September 2005
5.0 25 February 2006
5.0.1 2 June 2006
5.1.0 30 December 2006
5.1.1 4 January 2007