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Knoppix 3.3 Update, 3.4 C't Edition Are Out

hkfczrqj writes "Knoppix has two more children. The first, 3.3-2004-02-09, an update with kernel 2.4-24-xfs, KDE 3.1.5, Mozilla 1.6, XFree 3.4. Also, and more important I guess, Knoppix 3.4 c't edition is out (torrent here). It is supposed to have kernel 2.6!" And it does. If you're looking for a way to test your setup with a 2.6 kernel without trashing a current install, this is a good way -- but note that the ct edition Knoppix boots into German (Shift-0 gets you an =, as in "lang=us") and kernel 2.4; you'll need to type "knoppix26" at startup to boot the new kernel. (You may find the excellent forums at knoppix.net helpful, too.) Update: 02/10 01:03 GMT by T : Note that the XFree version is really 4.3, not 3.4.

31 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. DVD edition download? (more current DVD edition? by beh · · Score: 4, Informative


    The download mirrors still have a packages-dvd.txt file listing all the packages of the DVD version. But is this version available for download somewhere (with DVD burners becoming more and more common, I would assume, that this image should appear somewhere as well... ;-)

    Alas - the packages-dvd.txt is pretty old - does that mean, the DVD doesn't get updated any more? (Again - I think it would be a shame - it would be really great to have a really filled up live system that could be used to REALLY show off linux some more... ;-)

  2. XFree 3.4? by whenyouargue · · Score: 4, Funny

    that's quite a step back ;)

    it has 4.3

  3. other 2.6 distros by another+misanthrope · · Score: 5, Informative

    Distrowatch weekly has a list of distros that contain the 2.6 kernel:

    # Fedora Core, development branch (2.6.1)
    # Mandrake Linux 10.0-beta2 (2.6.2rc3)
    # Debian unstable, not the default kernel (2.6.0)
    # Gentoo unstable, not the default kernel (2.6.2)
    # Arch Linux 0.6 (development), not the default kernel (2.6.2)
    # Sorcerer, not the default kernel (2.6.2)
    # Conectiva Linux 10-TP2 (2.6.1)
    # Magic Linux 1.2pre5, a Chinese desktop distribution (2.6.0)
    # Berry Linux 0.36, a Japanese live CD (2.6.2rc3)
    # Bluewall Linux 1.0, a minimalist distribution (2.6.0)
    # JoLinux 1.0, a Slackware-based Brazilian desktop distribution (2.6.0)
    # knoppiXMAME 1.2, a bootable arcade machine emulator (2.6.1)
    # LinuxNetwosix 1.0, a specialist live CD for security operations (2.6.1)
    # Shark Linux 1.06-beta2, a minimalist distribution for AMD-64, in early development (2.6.1)

  4. Re:Knoppix!! by beh · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't know what kind of problems you've had...

    The only "problem" I've had with Knoppix was, that it didn't figure out, what kind of display resolution my Thinkpad A30P could do (1600x1200)... BUT - just the fact, that Knoppix 3.0 was able to boot off a notebook and recognize most of the hardware - that was something I found pretty impressive. Especially bearing in mind the kind of setup problems a lot of people HAVE with notebooks and their special hardware.

    Also, I recently showed some people at my last job Knoppix 3.2 - and even there it booted off without a hitch on the Dell Latitude notebooks they've had in their offices...

  5. gigabit speed download location for 3.4 here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
  6. Makes no sense to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought I knew geek speek, but the line "Knoppix has two more children. The first, 3.3-2004-02-09, an update with kernel 2.4-24-xfs, KDE 3.1.5, Mozilla 1.6, XFree 3.4. Also, and more important I guess, Knoppix 3.4 c't",

    with its oddly placed apostrophes, version numbers with more than one dot, *ix variation, and references to kids and corn even threw ME for a loop!

  7. Re:Erste poste! by Phillup · · Score: 4, Informative

    Because MandrakeMove freezes durning hardware detection and Knoppix doesn't?

    Mandrake certainly doesn't like something about this setup:

    Dual Xeon
    Intel IHC5R w/ 875P chipset (ASUS PC-DL Deluxe)
    NVidia FX5900
    SATA RAID
    1G RAM

    --

    --Phillip

    Can you say BIRTH TAX
  8. Re:DVD edition download? (more current DVD editio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Simple question to the current people moderating this article - how can a QUESTION article be rated 'informative'? Aren't questions more about GETTING information rather than GIVING information? *g*

  9. Re:Erste poste! by mosschops · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is great and all, but why would I do this when I have MandrakeMove?

    I found MandrakeMove to be too dumbed down - menu items like "browse the web" for a web browser seemed to be aimed at complete newbies. It also required more input during the boot process, tho maybe that can be skipped if you save configuration.

    Knoppix is definitely a better tool for power users, and still does a great job for new users (it passed the "can my parents use it" test!).

  10. Re:DVD edition download? (more current DVD editio by bfree · · Score: 5, Informative

    The DVD was never really publically distributed. It was created for a german conference last year sometime where it was distributed to attendees. Nobody ever seemed to have the desire and the bandwidth to put it online.

    --

    Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

  11. Re:lang=not_us by glassesmonkey · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you've ever used the Knoppix ISO then you'd know the en ISO has correct US keyboard and the de ISO has the german keyboard.

    So when you boot this c't version up, you'll see a prompt and when you try and type "knoppix lang=us" you'll need to used the Shift-0

  12. Is there a CD distro like this for PowerPC? by MichaelCrawford · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'm interested to try 2.6 out on my PowerPC Macintosh, which I presently run Debian testing on.

    But the Mac is a production machine for me, it would be bad to have something like filesystem corruption happen. It would be great if I could test it with a distro like Knoppix, but I would need it to have all powerpc binaries.

    Is there such a beast?

    --
    Request your free CD of my piano music.
    1. Re:Is there a CD distro like this for PowerPC? by bfree · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yep, the knoppix men in black privacy edition is a ppc knoppix derivative! You can find a list of mirrors for it here.

      --

      Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

    2. Re:Is there a CD distro like this for PowerPC? by Tyrdium · · Score: 5, Informative

      Try the Gentoo PPC LiveCD. It requires a bit of configuration (e.g. picking what WM you want), but it's not that hard. Grab it from the Gentoo site.

  13. Re:DVD edition download? (more current DVD editio by calc · · Score: 4, Informative

    It would probably run faster as well since DVD's go up to 16x which is ~ 20MB/s vs CD's 52x at 7.6MB/s.

  14. Also (not so new) ... The Knoppix New York Edition by phoxix · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yep

    On Klaus Knopper's visit to New York City. He made a special edition of the distro just for New York's LUG. You will have to find a link of it on your own (being that it will cost some poor LUGer money for the bandwidth, heh)

    What a man! He really is a nice guy! We sure were thrilled and happy

    Sunny Dubey

  15. Bahh... by 0x12d3 · · Score: 5, Funny
    (Shift-0 gets you an =, as in "lang=us")


    In my day, we had to write our bootable Linux cd's by hand... with only a hex editor --in German.
  16. Re:Gnome? by bfree · · Score: 4, Informative

    The c't edition (the 3.4 version) has apparently removed a lot of software (like Lyx/Latex) so that Gnome (2.4) has returned!

    --

    Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

  17. Re:Knoppix!! by zulux · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can get Knoppix to work just fine with your A30p:

    knoppix screen=1600x1200 xvrefresh=60

    'nunthin like Celestia on a 1600x1200 screen that 15" large - the perceived resolution is awsome.

    --

    Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

  18. Re:Great tool by MRoharr · · Score: 4, Informative

    from the changelog, take a look at the second to last option

    * V3.3-2004-02-09 (Updates)
    - Kernel 2.4.24-xfs
    - KDE 3.1.5 from Debian/unstable
    - mozilla 1.6 from Debian/unstable
    - fixed Knoppix-Terminalserver problem with new libacl
    - XFree 3.4 from Debian/experimental
    - removed prelink (caused memory leaks under certain conditions)
    - removed for space reasons: kjots, kcoloredit
    - added prism54.org drivers for wireless cards
    - the usual apt-get upgrade

  19. Re:Knoppix!! by FreeLinux · · Score: 4, Informative

    Are you sure that you are using a good CD? I have used Knoppix on at least 50 completely different systems, different brands, ages, hardware, peripherals, etc, and have had almost no issues at all. In fact I frequently have to rely on Knoppix to figure out what drivers and settings I need when I am trying to install other distributions.

    Frequently, some distribution or another won't detect a piece of hardware. I simply boot Knoppix, make a note of the drivers and their parameters and then specify them manually when installing the other distribution. Most recently I tried installing SuSE on a Compaq Proliant 3000. SuSE loaded a Compaq NIC driver but it would not activate the card. Knoppix had no problem with the card, or the Compaq Array controller, DLT tape library, or anything else. But, in the case of the NIC card, Knoppix chose an Intel driver instead of the Compaq driver that SuSE had chosen. I configured SuSE to use the same Intel driver and it worked fine from there on.

    Frankly I am most annoyed by the various popular distributions because they each seem to have their own problems detecting hardware yet, Knoppix repeatedly has no such problem. I am constantly asking why the various distributions don't use Knoppix' hardware detection instead. And yes, I've had issues with Slack as well.

  20. Torrents for Knoppix 3.3 by hbmartin · · Score: 5, Informative
    --
    Karma: Bizzare (mostly affected by varying internal caffeine levels.)
  21. Re:Kernel 2.6 by SharpFang · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well...

    1.2 Install updated modutils, binutils etc, which are incompatibile with old ones, so there's no easy way of return.
    2.2 Go back to config and remove any modules that cause compile errors (I don't know about 2.6 but in 2.3 it was a real bane, every second kernel I tried was broken in this or that way. It took YEARS to get Amiga Fast File System fixed.)

    If it doesn't work and i.e. panics on boot-up, go, get some liveCD to boot the system, because you're screwed (No old kernel - new binutils, remember?) and work out slowly what causes the error. May take several hours, sometimes including messing in the sources. Compile, install, reboot, liveCD, repair, compile, reboot... And finally start looking for old binutils to get your old kernel back to work.

    Yeah, installing new kernel is an interesting and often pleasant experience. But that's not a morning coffee type task. It CAN go SERIOUSLY wrong.

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  22. Apt-get by FreeLinux · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's Debian. Use Apt-get. You can find sources here:

    # Kernel 2.6.0
    http://packages.debian.org/testing/base/ker nel-ima ge-2.6-686

    deb http://www.backports.org/debian stable kernel-image-2.6.0-i386
    deb-src http://www.backports.org/debian stable kernel-image-2.6.0-i386
    deb http://www.backports.org/debian stable kernel-source-2.6.0
    deb-src http://www.backports.org/debian stable kernel-source-2.6.0

    To answer your question directly, I do not believe that upgrade functionality exists in the Knoppix distribution.

  23. Here's your answer: corrupt filesystems by MichaelCrawford · · Score: 4, Interesting
    One reason to be afraid to try out a new kernel is that a bug in any of the kernel code can result in a corrupt filesystem.

    While I'm sure you can see how buggy filesystem code might cause this, perhaps you don't see how this could happen from any code in the kernel at all.

    Well, one way is for a pointer error in, say, a network driver to overwrite some disk data buffers with random garbage. Then the data gets saved to disk.

    I've read of this happening on the linux-kernel list.

    Even journaling filesystems won't help for this. While journals can protect against power loss or crashes, the filesystems do make the assumption that any metadata committed to disk is correct.

    --
    Request your free CD of my piano music.
  24. Re:Still can't install by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Boot Knoppix.

    From Konsole run knx-hdinstall.
    Answer prompts.
    Done.

  25. The lineup is nearly complete... by darnok · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This looks nice. I'll download it when the heat dies down a bit.

    Now we've got the following live CDs:
    - Knoppix; perfect geek distro, just about every geek tool in one place. The Swiss Army knife distro
    - Mepis; excellent end-user distro, exactly the Linux distro for mum and dad
    - Morphix; customisable distro, put whatever you want on it

    IMHO, the missing one is the "live server" CD. You boot from this and you get Linux servers, not workstation tools. It should have the following features:
    - stable/testing versions of all common servers (e.g. Apache, Postgres, MySQL, Zope, iptables, sshd, Postfix, courier-pop, Samba, ...)
    - support for all the server-class hardware out there (e.g. RAID cards, SCSI/SATA discs, etc.)
    - when booted from CD, all servers are enabled but discs aren't mounted by default. You can have a play around with it, but you have to go out of your way to hurt yourself
    - when booted from disc, all servers are disabled but all discs are mounted. Login for the first time as root and you get asked "Which of the following services would you like to enable?"...
    - best-of-class GUI config tools for the servers for both Windows and Linux. Once you've installed the server, you then use the tools on the CD on a workstation to configure it
    - tools to migrate existing data from proprietary solutions (e.g. email and mailing lists from MS Exchange, ). These could run on client workstations rather than on the server, if required; obviously they wouldn't automate the migration, but anything that could reduce the workload would be worth considering
    - support for reading/writing configurations to USB key. Installs can run unattended using configs stored on the USB key. This would allow you to install fleets of identical servers (e.g. Web farm) quickly

    I'm sure there's other requirements you could come up with, but this would let you quickly put an entire data centre together. MS in particular would find it hard to compete with this.

  26. Re:Knoppix!! by forlornhope · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From what I hear, debian is going to begin merging a lot of knoppix into debian-installer once they get it to the point that it works and will install the distribution on most machines.

    And for those wondering why debian just doesnt switch to using knoppix as the installer instead of d-i? The main problem with debian is that they thankfully have chosen to support 11 different archs. That means that they need an installer that will install on all those archs and that is a pretty hard task. Also they support installs over a serial port, tftp, cdroms, and bacically anything that the computer will boot off of and load a kernel. That is definately a good thing when your trying to get debian installed on a machine several hundred miles away from you.

    --
    "We Don't Need No Truthless Heros!" - Project 86
  27. Re:Kernel 2.6 by crimsun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    module-init-tools plays well with modutils-2.4 just fine. I've been alternating 2.4 and 2.[56] kernels at work for quite some time.

    Simply booting a new binary kernel image has no dependencies on binutils whatsoever.

    And *never* remove your failsafe (eg. current working) kernel - even after your new one works.

  28. Re:Great tool by Talez · · Score: 4, Funny

    XFree 3.4 from Debian/experimental

    I know Debian is supposed to be behind but thats just plain ridiculous! :D

  29. Re:it comes with the ct magazine by Cruciform · · Score: 4, Informative

    The hard drive installer script for knoppix rocks.

    Just type knx-hdinstall as root and off you go.

    It's easy enough that the only technical knowledge you need to get up and running is how to use cfdisk, and there's lots of uncomplicated tutorials to be found on how to create swap and install partitions.

    Want to upgrade apps?
    apt-get upgrade.
    ta da!

    Want to set up a web server with php and mysql to do some web design testing? It's already there. Just look in the distro or on the relevant web sites for the docs.

    Knoppix is a great learning linux, and being able to start the distro solely from CD gives a newbie the chance to become familiar with it before they commit to a HD install. Until they're ready they can always save their settings to the location of their choice.

    I'm no Linux guru, or fanatical advocate either. I just like what I see.

    Postscript: Any time I travel in the future, one of these CDs will be coming with me. If I need to check my bank account info or other sensitive data you can bet I'm not doing it from an untrustworthy OS on someone elses machine. No worries of infection with keyloggers or whatever this way :)