Slashdot Mirror
Giant List Of Linux-based Live CDs
nick58b writes "After searching the Internet and not being able to find a list of all available Linux Live CDs, I decided to create one. In its current form, it attempts to makes finding a Live CD easy. There are nearly 100 Live CD distributions listed so far, with functions ranging from clustering to home entertainment, and ISO image sizes from 5 to 702 Megabytes."
I'd guess it's partly because a lot of the stuff on the second and thirds CDs is less frequently used. If all most people want is KDE, OpenOffice, and Mozilla, and Knoppix can fit them all on one CD, why bother with a DVD at all?
This might be a stupid question, but has anyone put out a live cd for a playstation 2 or xbox? I would love to run some form of *nix on my console, as it's probably the fastest computer I own.
Awesome job with the compilation of a large list of Live Linux distros. However, I think you're missing out on a primary function: porn. I mean, c'mon, having a live CD means no history to keep on hard disk!
Rubbish. Live CD's represent a solution to a problem which has plagued this industry for years. (*cough*Microsoft*cough*)
... and its good for there to be a thriving 'cottage industry' around building these LiveCD images.
... on the order of a local 'FreeNet' or what-have-you ...
...
It is *GOOD* to have so many to choose from
I would like to see a live Boot CD build system which allows you to customize the payload *easily* (easier than it is to actually 'install' something on a local dedicated machine, individually, and administer it, anyway) and use the Read-Only aspect of the Operating System/Applications binaries to full advantage in securing a productive machine and network.
Imagine: you have 20 PC's, all booting from a Live CD which is configured to give all users the tools they need, and can then join the remaining no longer OS-centric hard disks all together in a large, local, p2p network filesystem.
New "graphics" guy comes onboard - give him the "GIMP CD Toolkit" CD, point him in the direction of any machine he wants, and away he goes. No more local PC administration. New 'sales' guy comes onboard, give him the "Office CD Toolkit" and away he goes. All the disks can then be joined together over p2p, and nobody ever has to worry about where their files are stored, or which PC to use, or what the security of an individual node is going to be if someone gets access to it - since a node would be OS-less, and the filesystem dedicated to the p2p fileshare, which would presumably be secure
I can see that Live Boot CD's are a solution to so many problems... as long as they get easier and easier to make, build, and use
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
To answer the 'why more distro' trolls, hundreds of LiveCDs does not mean thousands of Knoppix/Gnoppix clones.
It means hundreds of applications, each specialized for a particular niche, each provided in an ultimately convenient format: plug and play.
It's a lot like console computing: plug in a cartridge and play. It's so different from the "traditional" computing model where software is carefully installed into an environment...
I've always believed that the need to install software was one of the biggest handicaps with delivering software to a global public.
LiveCDs eliminate this problem. We are coming back to the 1980's when home computers booted clean and software came on cartridges. Robust, stable, cheap. Look at some of the advantages from the home user's point of view:
- no installation
- total separation of data (on some kind of memory stick?) and code
- unstable system? reboot it!
- many people can share the same hardware with no interference
- you can use any available box to run the software
Conclusion: LiveCDs are not some esoteric hack. They represent a fundamental change in the home computer paradigm, and will open the door to a huge new public that still faces computers with trepidation (and after that Windows XP virus disaster that wiped their snapshots for the third time), and some trauma.
If I was a computer manufacturer, I'd be looking at designs optimized for this way of working:
- small, silent case
- optimised for game playing
- large amount of RAM (2Gb+)
- no hard disk
- easy-access USB memory sticks
- very fast CDROM/DVDRW
- no diskette
- network, TV out, 5.1 sound, etc.
And then distribute it with a pack of 20 or so interesting Linux LiveCDs including Mythtv.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
What I think would be really interesting would be multiple LiveCD distros on one CD! Imagine, you use the boot loader to choose between Gnoppix or Knoppix, bioinformatic or educational, vanilla or chocolate.
And, honestly, DVDs aren't at all expensive. On rebate, I bought a whole slew of DVD-R from OfficeMax (Depot?) for $5 per 25. Yeah, they're low quality, but for linux distros, the junkable ones are what you want to use.
www.eissq.com/BandP.html Ball and Plate System. Amuse your friends. Crush your enemies.
once the last mile is crossed we will have arrived.
P.S. knoppix boots faster than alot of XP installs that alone might be enough.
-*The above statement is printed entirely on recycled electrons*-
In less than two hours, I was up and running, recording TV.
Much credit and thanks due to the KnoppixMyth guys for the easy install!!
BTW - Myth TV PVR Box Specs:
I'd love to see a release that focused on the power management as well as WiFi, etc
also, I don't want to store my settings on a USB key chain.. that costs $$ to buy! :) Set me up to store my settings on an FTP server!!!! Accessible from anywhere in the world! Security (via username and password) built it.
joe sixpack at work could try out distro X and then take it home and keep trying it.
also, it's time for a common preferences format (XML anyone)? so that I can set prefs in Knoppix and then reboot and point my Slax distro at the same home dir.
Agile Artisans
So, if , for example your bootable ISO would be 700MB, then your UDF would be 4GB - pretty good, huh? This case is good when you take some existing LiveCD image and slightly modify it (1) to mount UDF and (2) to know what is there.
Or if your ISO would be 2GB, then your UDF would be 2.7 GB accordingly. This case is good if you build your own LiveCD image and your "root" partition must be big enough already (by some reason).
UDF is important also in situations when you want to save something back on DVD (if you have DVD-/+RW hardware).
And of course I should mention another limitation of ISO: filenames. They must be short, they should not have any strange characters, and the path in the filestructure must be not too deep. With ISO we have to use some dirty hacks to work around. With UDF you don't have such limitations.
Do you know if Catalyst has any plans to work with UDF?
Less is more !