Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

Knoppix 4.0 DVD - Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Posted by timothy on Mon Jun 27, 2005 09:28 PM
from the that's-a-lotta-knoppix dept.
Operating Systems Software Linux
IdleTime writes "O'Reilly Developer Weblogs has a nice review of the new yet unreleased Knoppix 4.0 on DVD. As the article says 'A totally new release of Knoppix was unveiled at LinuxTag 2005, Knoppix 4.0. This is the release that introduces the split between "maxi" DVD and "mini" CD releases. I've tried out the 4.0 DVD and let me tell you, I'm like a kid in a candy store.'" AlexanderT points to some currently available torrent files for the DVD.
+ -
story
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Knoppix 4.0 DVD - Like a Kid in a Candy Store 50 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.

  • maybe im alone on this one (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 27 2005, @09:32PM (#12927942)
    But the article could have been summed up by just saying "it has tons of packages. Pretty much everything you'd expect."
    • [I]t has tons of packages. Pretty much everything you'd expect.
      That said, I really hope they put LaTeX back in the DVD version; LaTeX was my main motivation for booting up Knoppix at school.

          • Re:maybe im alone on this one (Score:4, Interesting)

            by CastrTroy (595695) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @07:29AM (#12930266) Homepage
            I find that making math formulas in OO.o works pretty well. It's also a lot easier if you're doing a lot of regular typing with a few formulas thrown in. I can't stand the Equation Editor for microsoft word. The fact that you have to click to do just about anything is what makes it terrible. OO.o is far superior in this respect, and I think that if science/math/eng. students tried it, they would love it for this simple reason.

            • Re:maybe im alone on this one (Score:4, Insightful)

              by frodo from middle ea (602941) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:10AM (#12930490) Homepage
              LateX differs from any other WYSIWYG typesetting editors, because it keeps content different from presentation.

              If you are writing anything over 20 pages, neither OOo nor MS Word, nor Wordperfect will do. Trust me I wrote a 100 page document once in Word, absolute nightmare.

              Latex has a learning curve, but once you have passed it, there is nothing close.

            • Re:maybe im alone on this one (Score:4, Informative)

              by Coryoth (254751) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @08:55AM (#12930825) Homepage Journal
              The OO.o equation editor owes a lot to LaTeX - if you know LaTeX you can pretty much just use the OO.o equation editor by just typing the LaTeX with the backslashes left off.

              Having said that, the output is quite simply not the least bit comparable. LaTeX equations are beautiful, and OO.o equations are just barely tolerable (at best).

              If you must use OO.o for document preparation, but want pretty looking equations try this [ucl.ac.be] which allows you to insert proper LaTeX equation output into OO.o docs with ease (as well as making them conveniently easily editable).

              Jedidiah.

  • RE: Knoppix plug (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tezkah (771144) on Monday June 27 2005, @09:34PM (#12927965)
    This is the release that introduces the split between "maxi" DVD and "mini" CD releases

    My question is: are the maxi ones super absorbancy?

  • Woo! Knoppix! (Score:4, Funny)

    by idonthack (883680) <idonthack@NOsPAM.gmail.com> on Monday June 27 2005, @09:34PM (#12927967)
    It's made of pure awesome.

  • Nice....... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by compmanio36 (882809) on Monday June 27 2005, @09:35PM (#12927973)
    See, this is awesome, because I can finally have everything I ever wanted in Linux with me, to run on any PC with a DVD drive (and who doesn't have one these days?), without having to install a thing. This means when I go to a friend's house, I don't have to use their spyware infested Windows partition, I can just pop in the Knoppix DVD and run that.

    I would like to know what else is included in the DVD version that isn't in the CD variant, though.
    • After seeing fedora core 4 crash with the eclipse that it comes with natively, I am skeptical of all new distros and features.

      We are at the point where we release too fast squeezing everything into every version on every distro. I am starting to think 2 releases a year is a rush.

      • Re:Nice....... (Score:4, Funny)

        by kesuki (321456) on Monday June 27 2005, @10:32PM (#12928369) Journal
        I am starting to think 2 releases a year is a rush.

        I think you're ready for Debian linux. The current stable release spent 4 years getting ready to be released. Then they delayed the release by 6 months because 'it wasn't ready.'

  • From the article (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jonathan (5011) on Monday June 27 2005, @09:36PM (#12927983) Homepage
    "I've really only scratched the surface of the Knoppix 4.0 DVD"

    Ouch -- it hasn't been released yet and he's already ruined his copy? Hopefully he didn't delete the image file or he'll have to download it again.
    • These are DVD's you have to gouge the surface pretty bad to damage the data layer, which is in the middle. Clearly he's happy that unlike CD's when he 'barely scratched the surface' his knoppix 4.0 DVD kept working normally.

  • yeah but.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by to_kallon (778547) on Monday June 27 2005, @09:39PM (#12928015)
    good distro, rather light review, but, and bear with me on this one, what about machines that lack dvd-roms?
    i promise they're out there, they're not even uncommon. sure, any pre-packaged machine will have one these days but, imho, one of the advantages to knoppix has always been all the functionality you get from a just one cd. i can certainly see how nice it is to have the choice of 7+ window managers and all those bulky suites that were being cut, but no mention is made regarding the continuation of the cd-based distro. is it going to be dropped?
    download time is, as always, also a factor to consider.
    i'm sure i'll download and try out this release, as i have with more than i can remember in the past, but it crosses my mind to wonder if such bulk might not hurt the usefullness of a traditionally handy distro.
  • Having RTFA, I see he meant it was fun to look at all the cool treats in store for Knoppix users.

    I was hoping he didn't mean morbidly obese, toothless, and spoiled rotten by overindulgent or inattentive parents.
  • It's nice that you can cram every single package under the sun onto a DVD, but does it really make "knoppix" any better? I mean, the review basically says "OMG Packages! I can run teh Gnome & Firefox, then KDE and Konq! This makes knoppix awesome!!!

    I'm more interested in what the 4.0 "mini" release.

  • At the other end of the spectrum ... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 27 2005, @09:51PM (#12928093)
    we have Damn Small Linux. www.damnsmalllinux.org

    It takes just 50 MB and can be run off read only memory (or memory that you shouldn't write too much to) like compact flash or a usb dongle. It is a riff off Knoppix. It is the easiest way to create an 'embedded' system that I've seen.

    Not only does Linux scale well but so, apparently, does Knoppix.
    • Tomsrtbt, http://www.toms.net/rb [toms.net], fits on a floppy disk. (one of the ways he saves space is by taking out the extraneous Os and spaces in 'Tom's Root Boot'

        • Re:not damn small enough (Score:4, Funny)

          by UserGoogol (623581) on Tuesday June 28 2005, @12:11AM (#12928845)
          He considered it, but he experienced an unacceptable performance loss when the 1s started getting stuck in the wires. 0s don't have that problem of course. No sharp edges.

          • Re:not damn small enough (Score:5, Funny)

            by david.given (6740) <dg.cowlark@com> on Tuesday June 28 2005, @05:06AM (#12929747) Homepage Journal
            He considered it, but he experienced an unacceptable performance loss when the 1s started getting stuck in the wires. 0s don't have that problem of course. No sharp edges.

            If you line the 1s up lengthways, they slide down real easy. Just make sure that your way doesn't have any sharp kinks in it, or they may clog. Some people have had luck in soaking their 1s in water before transmission; it makes them easier to bend. However, wet ones have a tendency to stick together and they tend to come out the far end in clumps --- which is bad. Nothing makes a LAN game lag like soggy packets.

  • FYI: you can't choose the software (Score:5, Informative)

    by beforewisdom (729725) on Monday June 27 2005, @10:00PM (#12928188)
    Please don't interpret this as a downer.

    I use knoppix myself, I think it is the best distro out there and I plan on continue using knoppix.

    I am just posting this because I was curious about it and had to go to the trouble to find out.

    If you are interested in installing the DVD version of Knoppix to your hard drive you have to install it all. You can't pick and choose among the software.

    FWIW.....
    • This is true. The installer is a dialog/Xdialog script that guides the user to partition the HD, create a user account, enter the root passwd, and then decompresses the entire compresed loopback KNOPPIX and KNOPPIX2 files to the new partition. Then it applies the user info, converts the init & runlevels to be normal init system, and installs grub to the MBR. At no point is there any choice in deciding which packages to install since ALL of them get installed.

      Knoppix users & newbies should also note

  • Saving a borked system (Score:5, Informative)

    by kebes (861706) on Monday June 27 2005, @10:04PM (#12928211) Journal
    Many of you already know this, but one of the great things about linux LiveCDs is the ability to work on an otherwise screwed-up computer, and salvage it (or the data on it, etc.). A LiveCD is absolutely great for fixing a Windows or linux PC that has gotten messed up. For instance, you can create backup images of disks using partimage [partimage.org] and restore them with a LiveCD (in particular, the SystemRescueDisk [sysresccd.org] is good for that).

    A Knoppix LiveDVD is more geared towards booting a PC and being productive (with OpenOffice, Blender 3D, etc.)... however it's a great thing to have lying around because you can diagnose and repair a system, do a full virus scan (as pointed out in TFA), while having internet access, being able to open relevant wordprocessor documents, etc. etc. A LiveDVD like this could also help in extracting files from a corrupt filesystem (you can open and work with the files immediately, if that becomes necessary).

    To anyone in the /. crowd that has not played with LiveCDs yet (or linux at all) you should seriously consider burning a copy and seeing what all the fuss is about.
      • Knoppix has a utility called "Captive". This nice little utility allows you to actually use the NTFS driver from a Windows installation (Knoppix supports NTFS Reading right off the bat) in order to get fully working NTFS Read/Write.

        You could also put the NTFS(.sys?) driver on a USB drive, or a floppy to use. OR you could use Captive's builtin ability to download some service pack from Microsoft's website and automatically grab the file from there, though it takes awhile to download and I'm sure Microsoft d

  • Define unreleased (Score:3, Funny)

    by slapout (93640) on Monday June 27 2005, @10:29PM (#12928345)
    Two quotes from the Slashdot summary:

    "nice review of the new yet unreleased Knoppix"

    "currently available torrent files for the DVD"

    Someone must be using a definition of "unreleased" that I'm not fimilar with.

  • Waiting for an actual review (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Stauf (85247) on Monday June 27 2005, @10:53PM (#12928489) Homepage

    I really don't like it when people pass of a blog entry as a review. The author tells us that "There are simply tons of packages on this DVD", and spends three paragraphs (about a third of the 'review') describing ClamAV and how to use it - something which has little or nothing to do with Knoppix on DVD apart from that fact that it's included.

    Nothing against Kyle Rankin and his blog of course, he's doing what blogs do. And it is nice to know I can now run Gnome. But shame on you Mr. IdleTime.

    • Knoppix 4.0 is brand spanking new release only as a 4GB ISO that at last check had a 230:1140 seed to downloader ratio. I think that is why there is little to no info about it.

      As for the review, if you are at all familiar with Knoppix then it is just the same Knoppix with a huge load of packages, some GUI improvements, and some new functionality brought about by using packages & configuration info from Knoppix derivatives (like Kanotix) that was then accepted by Klaus Knoppix & fed back into Knoppi

    • Re:Uh (Score:5, Informative)

      by Tezkah (771144) on Monday June 27 2005, @09:38PM (#12927999)
      But these websites are so trustworthy!

      Quote from torrentreactor.to in IE:

      The site might require the following ActiveX control: 'Free Download Access__ Click YES - If you agre...' from 'WEBSITE ACCCESS'. Click here to install..

      Well, if WEBSITE ACCCESS wants me to install it, I better! It has THREE C's! That's one more C than normal access!

      Come on guys, this is free software, no need to go to disreputable torrent sites to download it.
    • You can find torrent trackers & even info on how to hexedit the ISO to force it to US English at the Knoppix.net forum thread [knoppix.net].

    • Re:Uh (Score:3, Informative)

      by shancock (89482) *
      This link will explain what to do to get a fully functioning English version. It is from the forums on www.knoppix.net - http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1972 6 [knoppix.net]

      It states:
      As with some of the other versions that default into German, you can use the cheat code Knoppix lang=us (to get the equals sign, press shit+zero) which will than bring up a fully functional English version.

      I'm still waiting for a peer to download from the torrent however.

      • Re:Uh (Score:4, Informative)

        by Sancho (17056) on Monday June 27 2005, @09:49PM (#12928083) Homepage
        Generally there's a -en ISO and a -de ISO. The -de defaults to German while the -en defaults to English. It is possible to get a US language/keyboard from the de version and vice versa, however you have to know where the = key is on the German keyboard (something like shift-2?)

      • Re:Uh (Score:5, Funny)

        by Sir_Real (179104) on Monday June 27 2005, @09:53PM (#12928119)
        Whatever do you mean? What if I'm just suspicious of Germans you insensitive clod?! Okay. You caught me. I never thought of "lang=us". I tried up up down down left right left right b a select start though.
    • There is no 'release' at all really. The DVD's for LinuxTag are basically one-off 4.0 discs, the 'real' 4.0 release usually comes out a couple weeks later and might include a couple more updates.

    • Re:Don't get me wrong... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by joe_bruin (266648) on Monday June 27 2005, @10:09PM (#12928239) Homepage Journal
      I love knoppix and all, but when was the last time you popped it into someone else's computer (especialy one at work or school if your not IT/fixing it) and didn't get your head bitten off.

      Well, when I was travelling around the country, visiting my friends and family, for one. I wanted to ssh into my machine to read my mail, browse the web using firefox, and play my mp3s. To accomplish this on their spyware-ridden Windows machines, I brought with my a Knoppix CD, and a DVD of my mp3 files. No installing software on their machines (they surely don't have ssh installed), no worries about having my password stolen by whoever rooted that computer, no annoying pop-ups. Using Knoppix was the least intrusive method of doing this, as their PC is 100% back to its original state when I'm done with it.
    • Hell, I still like booting school computers into knoppix when no one is looking, then taking the CD out and walking off. They FREAK out... lol
      Here's an idea... leave the disk in when you leave.
      Blanks don't cost much, and it's one way to "spread the word".

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.