Slashdot Mirror
Specialized Knoppixes for Fun and Profit
An anonymous reader writes "The University of Puerto Rico High Performance Computing facility (HPCf) and the Puerto Rico Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN-PR) are pleased to announce the release of bioknoppix. bioknoppix is a live CD linux, based on KNOPPIX, and specialized to include tools for bioinformatics. bioknoppix does not need to be installed on your computer, making it a perfect tool for workshops and demos. Some of the software included in the 0.3 release: EMBOSS 2.8.0, jemboss, artemis, clustal, Cn3D, ImageJ, BioPython, Rasmol, Bioperl, Bioconductor. For more information please see the bioknoppix home page." Reader
Tussinator wrote in about a new release of ClusterKnoppix.
Sheesh (tm)
The specialization of Linux continues. Soon we'll have linux for people born in february, Linux for spider lovers, linux for travelers..
Best Community for Gaming and Gadgets!
This is just a wonderful way of packaging certain types of application. To those who say "I don't want to reboot every time I want to play XYZ", consider this: virtual environments that can boot off a CD in a window inside your current Windows or Linux setup.
Perhaps not the future of software distribution, but a significant part of it, nonetheless.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Soooooooo many knoppix's....It's so easy to roll your own. How many "knoppix can be modififed for any purpose!" stories are we going to see on /. ?
That was to be expected sooner or later, the linux kernel turning conscious. I for one welcome our new live CD linux overlords.
you insensitive clod
Wow, I'm a bioengineering major and I cant stress how useful this is, it like almost every computer in our lab has a different function due to software problems. After looking at the applications that are on the disc, I bet this well be big in schools. I wonder if they have considered doing this for other fields...
I remember when in the days of Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS using specialized boot disks when running certain games to load only the system files that were needed for the game, no more and no less.
It seems like this is the concept that is coming back into style here. Optimize a boot-off-CD operating system to be sure that all the applications you need are installed properly, and as soon as you're booted you have everything all set up. It's great for assuring that you know everything that's running on the PC you're working with, and that there's no extra stuff lurking in the background... even if you've never met the PC before.
shouldn't that be "knoppices"?
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html
$ strings FTP.EXE | grep Copyright
@(#) Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
As far as DevX are concerned, the entire Knoppix/Debian/Linux codebase is a trojan. No kidding! This kind of system could eventually replace your Windows installation, and then where would you be. Bad Linux! Bad Linux!
bioknoppix is a live CD linux it lives? are these like (semi) organic cds? do they need special readers or can i just eat them like my bio yogurts?
As more and more bioinformatics parties switch to a single biostandard distribution, this leaves bioroom for bioinformatics worms to biospread unchecked.
It's bioestimated that it would take only three biodays for a bioworm to biospread itself enough to bioDDoS an bioinnocent biostandar with as biomany as three biodozen biomachines, bioleaving biotelnet biosomewhat biolaggy.
...is that it's happening at all today.
Bootable DOS diskettes (not Windows, AFAIK) worked only because there was such a limited range of hardware to support. Typically the games started with a menu ("Sound card?", "Video card?", "Joystick?"). Since Windows went 32-bit, the range and complexity of the hardware we use has exploded. It's almost unimaginable to find an operating system that will correctly autodetect and autoconfigure all the possible combinations of hardware out there.
And yet, this is what is happening. It is not 100% perfect but it's good enough to use for wide-scale distribution of software.
I predict a big future for this method of delivering software.
Slashdotted. Mirrors please if you can
A blog I run for the wealth
a new topic(and icon) exclusively for Knoppix ?
getSexySig();
My school uses a live CD with AVR cross gcc, libc, and binutils for their micrcontroller and robotics classes.
When I first go wind of that decision my thought was: "Someone was smart for once."
I wonder though, has this become a universal trend?
Think about this. You make a custom liveCD, debug it, then deploy it on your Linux boxen. The boxes don't need HDDs, you could store user data on a network server. Even if a luser tries as hard as they can to mess it up, it's all fixed with a reboot. You could make different liveCDs for different departments with the proper apps installed (e.g. OpenOffice, payroll, accounting, sales, CRM, etc)
Anyone ever consider this?
And what about Gentoo users? There's a topic for Debian, after all, and it isn't like it's beta anymore. So, what do you think Malda?
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
What I would really like to see (and possibly create) would be a portable Knoppix distribution. Since Debian runs on more architecture than any other major distro, and Knoppix is Debian based, it should be fairly simple port Knoppix. How cool would to be to be able to run Linux on any mac, RISC workstation, or server with no installation?
------ Take away the right to say fuck and you take away the right to say fuck the government.
Awww, after seeing that symbol I thought it would be a dreamcast story...
Even more, MAYBE you can boot on a Virtual Machine and not need to restart... The only limitation here would be bootup time.
Bite my shiny metal... oops... Nevermind!
http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/KnoppixRemas teringHowto
Build it the way you want and burn it!
Don't forget to grab an inexpensive USB memory toy and you have it all!
Don't agree with the troll rating meself, you have a point. I'd have said it applied more to Usenet (I remember being able to exchange comment with Marvin Minsky on a philosophy group once... a long time ago), but plainly I'm an old fart. Nonetheless, given random analysis of the things that excite the Slashdot populace, I'd say you might be onto something. But WTF, they might just learn some sliver of wisdom if we keep posting.... :)
The idea that these distros represent, however, could be very useful to gamers however. Games could come on a bootable CD at which point the game designer has complete control over the OS environment.
I downloaded knoppix from Bittorrent, and imagine my suprise when it started up I found a running rootkit in it. Open source indeed.
With Knoppix, as long as you can boot the CD, you have all the applications you need, pre-installed, pre-configured, pre-tested, pre-EVERYTHING.
It's all about the apps.
(and a rock solid OS to run the apps on)
Knoppix needs one too... (considering the uber-amount of gimp-stories).
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Cant find it on their downloadpage.
As, perhaps, one of the cognescenti I have some agreement with your general premise. The level of deep erudition here, even with regards to computer engineering, is remarkably low.
But as to your specific premise:
You're right, few here will appreciate this distro, even those among the cognoscenti, because some of us work in distinctly different fields. As a physicist or engineer this distro is pretty worthless to me. I have enough intellect, thank you very much, but I am both ignorant and uncaring. It does, however, stand as a generalized example of what can be done and thus appreciated on that level.
I believe it was in this spirit that the story was posted.
KFG
Pardon the beauraucratic buzzword, but this seem like the beginnings of a really cool trend. Imagine if everyone had their own customized knoppix and USB drive. We could stop at any terminal, and immediately have our favorite working environment and saved files.
Of course, this is merely a step towards the ultimate goal of not needing to carry anything or maybe just a small drive, and plugging that in and having instant access.
The point, though, is that this has the potential to make anybody without a laptop a lot more portable.
Is it running on DNA processors?
=
-- There is no spaam
How about a knoppix without all the openoffice stuff, that is specifically designed to recover data from crashed PCs? There is a "super-recovery" live cdrom, but it's pretty old.
Or, how about a knoppix which searches a pc and a network for security vunerabilities? I think phlak linux is supposed to be sort of like that. But phlak linux doesn't work very well.
I would suggest that, by default, such versions boot to command line. If any gui, it should be lightweight, like fluxbox or something. I'm talking about something for pros.
So where is the advance in technology?
> BioPython, Rasmol, Bioperl, Bioconductor. For more information please see the bioknoppix home page.
Yes, but can you build biowulf cluster of these ?
- Arwen, I'm your father, Agent Smith.
- Well, you're just Smith, but my father is Aerosmith!
Try Knoppix-STD. I haven't really tried everything on it, but it's supposed to be very good for doing security vurinabilities.
blog & fiction: jd87
I'd love to work with others on this. I have tons of ideas relating to it.
-cp-
A much more sensible aproach is to do network booting. Then you don't need CD-ROM drives and you don't need to distribute (and keep up to date) all those hundreds of CDs.
There's another VERY good one out there for the media hacktivists but really not only, Dynebolic.
Give it a try it just gets where others dont (check for yourself the features) and for the lovers of the "beowulf of these" liners...
yes it does! Openmosix clustering in a boot.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
I'm a windows geek and find that installing Linux gives me a headache. Don't get me wrong here, I keep trying and am getting used to the headaches.
Along comes Morphix, and that NLP version. It made my eyes pop out. F'ing brilliant.
Now, I'm gobbling up Knoppix distros like candy. I use them desktops and laptops when I want to experiment with Linux and ease my way into the whole thing.
Soon, I'll go dual boot.. and eventually windows will be off all my machines.
It makes it easy for me to get used to Linux.. and my wife to get used to the desktop. I give them to my friends to let them try. I take them to work to let other windows geeks try.
I think this, combined with the awesome GUI's out there, is going to really help Linux in the home.
Man, I'd pay real money for this! Imagine if you could build a Linux CD to scan Windows HD's for Spyware and Viruses! There'd be no need to even boot the host OS and install anything to do it.
Of course, I don't know of any software in Linux that will scan for Windows crapware. {sigh}
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Bio-Linux
BioBrew
DNALinux
I'm a developer for one of the above projects. Competition is interesting.
I don't read your sig, why do you read mine?
Yeah... first time I see my university here on /. Or any other news site !!!
GO PUERTO RICO !!!!
I'm a little dissappointed that there are no DICOM viewers / toolkits in this distro. Is that because there no decent open-source DICOM viewers/solutions yet exist?
DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine. It is THE standard for storing and transfering medical image data, be it CT images, MRI images or even 3D radiation dose distributions. The spec for this data format weighs in at a monster 1200 pages, so rolling your own parser when building a medical app seems pretty much out of the question.
(Caveat: the page is slashdotted, so i had trouble searching all the packages)
Wouldn't the plural of "Knoppix" be "Knoppices"?
barzelay.net
Sorry to put you down. But my vote, as native german speaker, goes to "Knoppixe".
The "e" is pronounced as a schwa vovel. Plus the "K" is not silent!
At our group at our university, we use a lot of diverse programs for several bioinformatics projects.
Some students might like the idea of having a linux system at home, just like what they work on with great pleasure at the university. This while not having to fear their windows to be destroyed somehow.
One of the first things at work will be to check out this knoppix edition and see how useful it can get.
--- Sigmentation Fault - Comments Dumped
Clam AntiVirus can scan for windows viruses. I don't know about spyware.
Open Source Linux / UNIX Anti VirusHow about one compiled to run on Athlon64s, with drivers for all the popular Athlon 64 notebooks (Radeon mobility, etc), and ready to go with cool crypto and high number crunching applications so I can actually use those parts of the CPU that are sitting lonely and undesired in this x86 32 bit world.
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
KnoppMyth
Practically a linux PVR on a bootable CD...
E.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
I have found the Knoppix STD disc to be of endless utility in conducting forensic examinations. Just haul along Knoppix and a spare HD to stick disc images on and you're set. If you have to conduct an on the spot examination and don't have the luxury of making a drive image, just fire up the hex viewer-I couldn't work with out it. Give a copy a try: The homepage here can fill you in on everything.
Don't Panic!
Due to work reasons, I have to use a number of numerical packages, such as Octave, GNU R (I don't feel like typing URLs; use google), python, and other stuff (like yacas, maxima, lyx/latex, GRASS...). For these purposes, Quantian is a superb Knoppix remaster. With some work files on a USB keyring (or on a website), I have my own personalised desktop to carry around. And I can do OpenMosix as well, should the need arise!
I've played with linux for years but never got the expertise level to make the fluff stuff work (scanners, cameras, etc). I can compile my own kernels, etc... but never the consumer devices. On my laptop, out of the box, my wireless card works. My wife's digital camera works. It has a utlity I used to resize my NTFS partition. It has a ~working~ DVD player and cd burner. I repeat, I didn't have to patch the kernel. I didn't have to download anything! This was easier that the last windows box I setup! I have ~never~ gotten this level of consumer usable Linux from anyone else.. not RH, not Mandrake, no-one. Go Knoppix! I've already given copies to 3 other Wintel users. :) This one is ready for prime time.
btw, using the toram flag at boot time runs the whole thing out of memory! It's really fast! :)
Agile Artisans
There is an alternative distribution for bioinformatics. It is based on Slax (A live distro based on Slackware) and it's is called: DNALinux.
Disclaimer: I am one of the authors of DNALinux. The program is free as in GPL.
DNA in your Linux: DNALinux
So...ogres are like KNOPPIX?
Theres a linux version called Trinux.
Its a security concsious distro that boots from a single floppy and you'd need another floppy if you need more than the basic security tools for linux.Def worth a checkout.
Lord of the Binges.
Knoppix-STD perhaps? (for the security part), thought not something you can just put in and let it scan, so a simpler version you could distribute to all family+friends to check their network would rock :)
phlak, although based on Morphix it has just about every security utility you could imagine.
Okay, it's a pretty cool idea and it goes one step further than what my friends and I (grad students in biology or chemistry) have done on our own by putting useful biochemistry tools on a CD for when we travel. But Rasmol?! It's antiquidated and was replaced by Protein Explorer, a Rasmol derivative, three or four years ago. If you want a free, compact, powerful, and reasonably easy-to-use program that can be run on linux/mac/windows for viewing macromolecular structures then you use Deep View
Swiss-PdbViewer. It can do a lot of what the molecular visualization programs we actually use to build protein structures (eg O, Xtalview) can do, plus you can use it to generate good-quality images by using POV-Ray.
Who modded this up as insightful? While Knoppix does by default open the hard drives as read-only (to protect them from an accident from a newbiee), it's easy enough to issue a remount command and have full access to the hard drive if you want it. So a Knoppix CD comes with about 2 Gig of good software on it (in a compressed format that it can run the software from) and can write to all the FAT volumes you have available, as well as to any external drive (such as a pen drive). In what way is this even remotely like the limitations of an Apple II?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
In the Overclocking community, we use Overclockix, a distro specified for testing new overclocks and also using distributed computing apps without a hard drive.
If any of you were wondering how to do something similar with Windows then now you can! I realise that this being slashdot there are going to be flames about why would you do this etc? For the simple reason that not all porgrams are available on Linux.
Anyway coming back to the topic of how to do this for Windows. Well first of all there is this thing called Windows PE (Pre-installtion Environment) which is basically a Microsoft created bootable Windows CD for computer OEMs. Its basically a very stripped down version of Windows XP (or Win2K3) with just a command prompt and the ability to run some simple GUI programs. But this WinPE is normally only available to OEMs and system builders (but it isn't hard to find online retailers for it). However WinPE isn't very useful from a full usable system point of view. So someone has come up with a way to make your own customized WinPE like bootable Windows CD. All you need is the instructions and your own Windows CD to do it. Here's where you can find more information -
Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD
featherlinux is this, and can fit onto a 64mb usb memory stick.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Check it:
http://www.knoppix-std.org/
Which is, to a certain extent, why consoles exist. A PC, however, is a different beast. Why should I have to reboot my system, interrupting whatever I was working on, if i just want to play a quick half hour of counterstrike in my lunch break?
Mod parent up! Damn useful stuff!
KnoppiXMAME for MAME stuff. :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Recently I realized just how easy it is to extend Knoppix if you're using DVD. First of all, you can burn Knoppix ISO on DVD and get a bootable system. It makes sense because DVD are generally faster than CD and system will use only 1/7 of the space so seek times are much lower. (Just for completness: to burn ISO on DVD+R/W, you just say "growisofs -Z /dev/dvd=/cdimage/knoppix.iso", et voila, it's done; may also work with "-R/W", but I'm not sure). Another nice feature of growisofs is that it can write the next session: /dev/dvd -r /usr/local/games" and all your games can be found in the root catalog (i'm sure mkisofs has an option to put it elsewhere)
"growisofs -M
So, you start with standard knoppix and add about 3.8GB of your favorite software: no need to repackage and create compressed isofs.
BTW, it also probably means that a malicious application can in theory alter Knoppix if it's on CDR/W, esp. if mkisofs and growisofs are included.
Uhm... because you're not allowed to install CounterStrike on your work PC, yet the admin is clueless enough to allow Knoppix to detect and work with the network? :)
Speaking of Knoppixes for Fun:
KnoppixMAME is a bootable arcade machine emulator with hardware detection and autoconfiguration. It works automatically on all modern and not-so-modern hardware, including gameports and joysticks. It is powered by Knoppix Debian GNU/Linux, X-MAME, and gxmame.
It would be awesome if it was current enough to actually work.
/udev ... The ones in /dev seem to remap for some apps, and not for others.
Mythtv has come a LONG way since the release knoppmyth was based on, even in a few short months.
My main problem was xmltv, and any attempt to do an apt-get update//install xmltv hosed it totally.
I even tried just building xmltv from source, and just pulling it's dependencies--- still horked.
I eventually got it working on Mandrake cooker, now if the transcosing made the files smaller ratehr than fill my 120G drive on every attempt,
it wiul be fully functional.
urpmi --auto-select in progress...
Tip--- Under 2.6, with devfs, devices are in
Well, I can't find the stupid disk. Okay, I'll reconstruct it as best as I can--without testing--from memory, documentation and peeking at KNOPPIX's startup settings:
My menu.lst looked something like this:
/tftboot/pxelinux.cfg/default or the syslinux.cfg file in the boot.img. Note that I had to remove initrd=miniroot.gz and BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix when copied from the syslinux version of the kernel parameters since Grub loads the initrd directly and BOOT_IMAGE is some syslinux thing I think. (Come to think of it, I wonder if this is used by the init script? well, it worked without it for me.)
/tftpboot to the beginning of the paths for the kernel and initrd.
/path-is-usually-cdrom/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX image.
/path-to/grub-0.9x/netboot/README.netboot for which drivers you want. Example: ./configure --enable-3c90x . After compiling, format a floppy with either a fat, minix or ext2 filesystem, make a directory of either /grub/ or /boot/grub/ , copy stage1 and stage2 to the grub directory and make your menu.lst there. Then, assuming your floppy is fd0, run grub (or boot a grub boot disk) and enter the following manual commands:
Grub should find stage1, stage2 and menu.lst and install stage1 in the boot sector.That nodhcp in the kernel parameters doesn't look right; I cut and pasted that from KNOPPIX's pxelinux.cfg/default file, so you may need to axe that for Grub, but try it this way first. Also, I think noprompt and noeject are parameters I threw in there to try to avoid the CD eject prompt, but those cheat codes don't seem to work for the KNOPPIX netboot init script. (They do for a local boot.) The rest of the parameters were scoped either from KNOPPIX's
I don't recall how KNOPPIX's tftp server is set up; you may need to add a
The magic is in the dhcp, ifconfig and root (nd) lines. See the network section of the Grub manual for details, but basically dhcp grabs an IP and (nd) is network device. Since I didn't put the tftp server location in my DHCP server config I had to add the line ifconfig --server=10.0.0.5 to specify it.
nfsdir= is used by the KNOPPIX init script to find the
To do this, first download the source. Grub uses etherboot's drivers (included with Grub source), and it seems like I had better luck with either of Grub 0.93 or 0.92, but I may be getting confused with another project I did so both may be good. 0.94 is new since I last looked. unpack it and look at
Come to think of it, etherboot may be able to specify a tftp server during compile time, and it definitely can be written to a floppy disk. However I like Grub for its versatility. And Grub can be compiled for support for multiple network cards; I'm not sure if an etherboot *.lzdsk can do that. I can also modify all Grub parameters at runtime, and I'm farily sure I can't do that with etherboot. (/me checks rom-o-matic.net) Doesn't look like etherboot can hardcode a tftpserver or even specify an IP address if necessary. Grub can at runtime.
Actually I run Biopython on a 1200+ node Beowulf cluster on a regular basis, so the answer is yes.
With the correct answer to the word puzzle, the giant fluffy toy is mine! "layers" == GNU ... right? :-P
Bitdefender using a rebuilt knoppix not done for spy ware yet Someone a nice project. In past I have used a boot linux striped back with a wine system running a windows antivirus but Bitdefender is faster.
ie Linux Defender question is how long before all anti-virus companys put out this.
Has anyone rolled a Knoppix CD with support for the Sony/Ericcson GC82 card?
.-=Wit is educated insolence=-. -Aristotle
Knoppix for hemaphrodites. It's success could go either way.
"None of thinks of each demo disk as a specialized distro, it's just an all-in- one demo disk."
Yup! The ultimate demo disks. Remember CBT disks? Now imagine that kind of handholding coupled with the real app? I also see these doing well in this down economy for out of work techies. both as living resumes, and portable trainers.
Throw in proprietary apps and emulation and the knoppix world gets even bigger.
If I had my own Knoppix variation distro, are there free hosting sites that would allow downloading of large ISO files?
It's a very useful tool but it has some problems.
1. Hardware detection is minimal, basically it runs in 'safe mode', meaning 800x600 with network but few other devices. This makes it unusuable for real applications other than system administration.
2. Cost: since it's not free, you effectively need a Win2k/XP license with every CD, and this makes it unusuable for software distribution.
So it does demonstrate that Windows LiveCDs are theoretically possible but it does not answer the two unique selling points (is this possible?) of a Knoppix-based LiveCD: it's free, and it detects hardware brilliantly.
Just wondering if slashdot community would be interested in making something like slashdoppix for the slashdot community to have all the sys admin and server management utilities in there.
It's all about scale, and how things like floppies, thin clients, and disco keep coming around in some form or another. That's what I was pointing out. And kinda trolling too ;)
The only real function of Live CDs in the enterprise is provide exposure to Linux to people with no risk.
/usr/local/ servers, nearline storage, etc. All you really need is a network boot OS and nfs storage, but it's hard to replace local disk swap with network disk.
The enterprise version of "live CD" is called PXE boot of a network OS install.
Change a bios setting and your computer boots off of the network.
Also, in the enterprise, where you have homedirectory servers, shared application servers,
An interesting twist on this is to use the overlay filesystem on top of a network boot image, so that users can actually modify files in an overlay layer and save those layers of changes
You want to check your windows partition? Or any OS?
Windows on CD. BartPE. Similar to WindowsPE, but extensible. It uses plugins to use certain software. So you can use AdAware, if you also install the adaware plugin (which adds in registry entries and extra files adaware needs to run).
By default is uses a different GUI than windows does, mostly because to get 'explorer' to run, it'd need a lot of work. There is, however, a plugin that enables both 'explorer' and 'internet explorer.'
You can also install adaware, partition magic, ghost, several antivirus programs, and any number of other applications. Network support is included, but modem support is not enabled or supported by default. Nor is sound. That needs some work to get running. Although a rescue cd doesn't need audio or dial up support, to be honest. You can also make your own plugins, to use whichever program you want. And any program that does not need registry entries, or files that are not already on your cd (Some programs, say, need visual basic runtimes. If they are not installed, yer SOL. But you can add those files to be included in your bootable CD, if you add them into your plugin file), can run OOTB and fly.
As it is windows, it also has inate support for NTFS drives, and there is no risk of corrupting the drive by inaccurate writing. (Linux ntfs support can be iffy at best).
(You need to 'build' BartPE yourself. You hvae a script, which reads from your installed windows XP SP1 installation, as well as a slipstreamed Windows XP SP1 install CD. It will not work with plain XP. It also works with Windows Server 2003.
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
Base website, with downloads.
http://www.911cd.net/forums/
Web support forums, with sub-forums for the 911 rescue CD, and BartPE. Also includes new plugins not on the official base website.
Overall, though, knoppix is a more full featured disc. And as posted already, knoppix-std is a great secure variant to standard knoppix.
You can check your email on an Apple //? Is there some kind of internal 802.11 antenna that i'm not aware of?
Every time you run "emerge", a Microsoft drone dies.
I noticed several people saying that they had things that are too large for a single CD, such as mineral data. Why can't we use DVDs for Knoppix ?
Ian
Centre for Computational Geography, Uni of Leeds
At a previous employer, we had network-based training materials we could access on various subjects. Each one was basically a glorified Flash file, complete with voice-over and demonstrations of various things. The person who'd purchased my workstation (the department manager) felt, as you do, that sound cards and speakers have no place in a corporate environment. Consequently, when I needed to access some of the training material, I couldn't hear a blasted thing. There was no "closed caption" for the voice-over, so the training was basically useless. After pointing this out, they promptly acquired a sound card and speakers for me. I usually used headphones instead of the speakers, but what the heck.
That give you some ideas?
... by the Dew of Mountains the thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning
Now we will NEVER know how many Linux desktops and/or users are out there! Getting reliable statistics of current Linux vs. Windows desktops would be like gauging the population of Manhattan/any major metropolitan area: it would balloon upwards during the day, and drop down drastically at dusk.
You can also check the recent Slashdot stories of Contiki - this OS for Commie64s lets you surf the net. This is a good example of how thin clients are nothing new. And how old machines can do more than they are given credit for.
check out this GIS flavored Knoppix release. It has other GIS installed besides GRASS. It will give you an idea about other GIS on Linux. http://www.sourcepole.com/gis-knoppix/