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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..
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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.
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.
a new topic(and icon) exclusively for Knoppix ?
getSexySig();
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?
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.
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!
A bit torrent of the iso and md5sum.
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.
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.
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-
"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?
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!
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?
A much more sensible aproach is to do network booting.
./configured in) and have a Grub floppy that will grap an IP from DHCP and grab the kernel and initrd as configured in /path/to/grub/menu.lst and use CDs for PCs where that doesn't work.
If you have control of the DHCP server, sure. (Or if your area uses static IPs and a KNOPPIX DHCP server won't hurt)
The LiveCD has the advantage that most people in a work environment have the ability to boot their PC from CD. And few people who would care that you're doing that can notice that you're doing it.
I'm in a position--local netadmin of a building in a corporatewide/worldwide network--where I have moderate control over the network and DHCP server but not absolute or sole control. It's a Novell DHCP server, and I haven't figured out how to make it provide netboot parameters only to clients identifying themselves as etherboot devices, and I don't want to give Linux termserver boot info out to everything because many of my non-PC network devices may try to download new embedded kernels off the tftp server.
Also, nonconformance gives the corporate admins something to point to if something goes wrong; it goes like this: "Well, your system is configured differently than ours, so that's your problem" even if the issue is demonstratably their problem, and even if it has nothing to do with DHCP.
I've implemented a hybrid solution where I use GNU Grub's network capabilities (you have to compile with specific network code
When I read the grandparent post for some reason it made a couple of ideas fuse in my head: I had previously tried to implement a minimal Linux install that would boot up to a tn3270 client; I had a proof of concept prototype ready when my V.P. pooh-poohed the idea--nevermind that everyone else thought it was a great idea that would save $1mil over their current plan. A different idea was to have a custom LiveCD with items and preconfigurations useful to my company. Duh, why didn't I think of it before: a LiveCD that is only a tn3270 client!! Now my department can stealthily save $1mil! (Not that I'll see a penny of it, but hey, maybe I get corporate karma, and it definitely goes on my resume.)
(I was going to post my menu.lst, but I can't find my disk! I'll post a reply to this with my menu.lst when I find my disk.)
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.
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
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.
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.