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 guess distrowatch.com is chopped liver.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
Thanks.
Now to go load these guys on all the computers at Best Buy!
I have been pwned because my
Well, I know that some distro's can have installs of up to 2 or 3GB (ok, alot of that is source-code), but why aren't there any live DVD's? People really haven't explored this medium for distributing data. Many programs and games have still refused to switch over to DVD, despite it's wide usage in most new computers. Why is this?
I remember a friend going up to a girl in a bar, opening his wallet, pulling out a business card CD and saying "Get a load of my distro". Let's just say she wasn't interested.
The famous Knoppix is also available as DVD version with even more software and stuff. Dunno if it's already on the net.
`dd if=/dev/sig ibs=120 count=1`
Thank you for your efforts! To repay you we will saturate your bandwidth and overload your server.
If a see once more YALCD on Freshmeat or Distrowatch I am shove my CD-RW drive up the author's ass! (and run the eject command in the process)
There are too many of them, the more there are, the more fragmented they become and therefore less tested, resulting loads of crap cds with poor hardware dectection, buggy apps and does not bode well for Live CDs.
So if you want to make one, DON'T, help fix the bugs on the major ones, such as Knoppix and MandrakeMove, and let the other ones die unless they have a Good Reason to exisit (such as ClusterKnoppix or Knoppmyth) rather than just being a YALCD (Such as Mepis and Gnoppix)
If you had read the bottom of the page, you would find this!
Know of one not on the list? Have comments/complaints? Send me an email.
So send him the list of these mysterious CDs, if there is over a 100 live cds, with more being created every day, of course theres going to be some missing!
Interesting that there are two bioinformatics-tailored liveCDs. Now I can BLAST into my work at a remote PC in an instant :)
http://www.finnix.org/
Yes, it's outdated but I know the guy who created it and he's pretty cool.
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.
Over half of these 100 "Distros" are Knoppix remasters. Here's a list of 60+ Knoppix remasters. The reason there are so many? It's very easy to make your own Knoppix remaster. I'm pretty sure many of these distros have 5 users if the're lucky.
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!
Does any of these boot on Xbox???
I checked out teh one called Plan-B. Sounds pretty cool.
[quote]Plan-B is a bootable Linux environment without the need for a hard drive, it runs entirely in ram or from the cd, based on a basic, stripped installation of Red Hat Linux and the fundamental workings of the SuperRescue CD. A list of tools and utilities are also included for projects such as: * Forensics/Data Recovery * System/Network Analysis and Security Scanning * Temporary Network Device/Server * IDS / NIDS System * Network Status Report Creation
1) I had knoppix and to make a HD install is simple enough even for my mom with only minor instruction. Quick, easy and functional and I know it. I knew and had installed Debian before but it's not that because my peeps didn't and they could get it installed.
2) MEPIS website. Sucks bigtime. They list 7 different ways to buy it but not a single way to download it. FAQ doesn't stand for "how to buy it" or "questions I'd love to be asked." After 15 minutes trying to find an FTP download and failing miserably I gave up. Because Knoppix worked anyway and has real support in their and other's page. If I'm kind enough to dedicate my time to trying their distribution out despite having several working alternatives I already know, they should at least don't piss me off with their bullshit.
I've tried dyne:bolic or here for my xbox. It works, but the version I tried was sadly slow. Seems like 32MB RAM isn't what this distro calls a good time. And of course: It requires your xbox to chipped and ready.
From the Freecache FAQ:
So if he were hosting the distros, rather than links to the distros it would help. As it is, his page is way too small for freecache to get involved.
I've been using CDs from Crash Recovery Kit for Linux for a while, for both crash recovery (obviously), and for quickly booting up Linux on assorted machines for debugging, network connectivity or other tasks.
Krishna
--- I'd love to go out with you, but I have to study for a Turing test.
Particulary if you, like me, are just poking into this Linux thing and want to test several different versions without having to invest in a sexond harddisk or get rid of my still fully working Windowns installation. I'll definitly be spending using a lot of my bandwidth to download some distros this weekend *smiles*
What I miss, however, is beeing able to see what minimum hardware requirement the various LiveCDs need without having to look at each one that looks interesting. Can't have everything I guess.
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
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
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Every Tuesday it should rain parachuted bricks of gold in my back yard.
I'm not sure much is stopping you from making a Live DVD now.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
Knoppix supports wifi out of the box. At least some wifi. Knoppix 3.1 and 3.2 to recoginze my wifi card (an old school PCMCIA Aironet 340). However I did have to downgrade my card firmware to get knoppix to see it, though I believe that was a 2.4 kernel limitation, not a knoppix limitation.
Found this Copyright (C) 2004 by Nicholas Brand on IE 6 at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, good list :)
Great job, brother!
But I would also add:
SUSE LINUX for i386 Live-Eval
MandrakeMove
or were you fishing only for non-commercial ones (or Knoppix derivatives) or something?
You can defy gravity... for a short time
I use Salvare. It is great, and is loaded with apt, so you never miss any software. Its made for credit card sized CDs, so I am always carring one in my wallet. http://salvare.sourceforge.net/ Salvare is: "Salvare (from the Latin "to rescue") is a small Linux distribution designed for small, credit-card sized CDs which typically hold around 34MB. More Linux than tomsrtbt but less than Knoppix, it aims to provide a useful workstation as well as a rescue disk."
Is there a LiveCD that will boot on an "OldWorld" PowerBook 3400c without the use of an OS 9 install?
It would need sound support, and network support...
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*-
The gentoo developers are working on a program that can do just that. Go take a look at the Catalyst homepage:
http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/releng/catalyst/
I can buy DVD-R in the UK for UK0.32 (~UD$0.50).
That's only 12p more than a CD!
How cheap do you want it to be?
Neil
No sharp objects, I'm a programmer!
Still somewhat in it's infancy .. Catalyst.
It is usable now, just requires a little effort to get everything working smoothly.
Wikipedia entry on LiveCD
Well, i'll be honest. I'm not a huge Linux fan. I'm not a computer geek. I'm just an average joe that likes to pudder around with his PC. That said, I am forever in debt to slashdot for showing me Knoppix. That CD has saved my bacon so many times. These LIVE CD's are gift to all us computer amatures. When we need to correct/save something we just screwed up, it offers a stable way to make the changes.
. . . has anyone published instructions on how to make a Windows 2000 live CD :)?
Alright, I agree with pretty much everybody about the whole Read-only positive aspects of live CD. No Hard Drive , easier administration etc. BUt guys wake up. The industry has created an aswer to all this and it's called THIN-CLIENT. That,s right. On the local machine they run an os of some ROM or even better boot from the network. On one central server there is a shared drive, permissions for applications etc. I reckon that is the future of entreprise desktop. Do this remind AS/400 to anybody else but me? Is history repeating itself or what?
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity
While SLAX is listed in that list, the author didn't note that Disc 2 of Slackware's 4 CD set is a bootable live CD.
Go Slackware!
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Q.
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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:
Knoppix 3.3 is the ~first~ to support most of the hardware on my laptop. The wireless card worked, the dvd player worked, cd burner... it even saw my wife's digital camera!
All this without patching a kernel, downloading a utility or compiling anything. I know that to most hard core linux users, that's okay. But I want a distro that I can use not that I can spend time setting up.
It didn't support the power features of the laptop, but I guess I have to do ~something~ to the kernel to make it feel like linux. :)
Agile Artisans
http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/
Bart's bootable CDs
I haven't used it but a friend of mine swears it is trivial.
Agile Artisans
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 I have this very nice high end box, running, oh let's say one of those Linux type OS's, with VMware.
In theory, I ought to be able to store all these ISOs on one of the rather large disk drives, then mount the file as a drive, and boot the live CD in VMware.
It follows that I ought to be able to make a pick list of all the live cds and run several side-by-side as a demo to friends of what's available without all that booting/rebooting that's hard on the hardware.
At the end of the demo, I could give them a CD of the OS they liked best.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
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Flonix and Puppy. These are both small, and capable of being run off of more than a cd, but they do have bootable isos. They both have flash drive versions, which I have taken looks at while designing my USB pen drive distribution RUNT.
When I'm doing something people don't understand they don't question whether or not I'm doing my job, because it is my job to do all the things people don't understand.
This is not the case. These CDs do not provide a thin client at all. All processing is done client side, and they can be used at any machine without a specific server.
With a thin client/terminal server system, you would have a fully running server which you could connect just about any hardware to. However, if you were down at the local computer shop and wanted to test compatibility, would you lug your server down there? How about if you were at a friends house and needed to fix a local HDD problem using a more useful program than DOS fdisk?
No, these CDs are NOT thin clients. They are temporary fat clients.
Remember when computers could only run one program? You'd grab a floppy, put it in the drive, then boot the machine? It was probably obvious to many, but I just realized that this is sort of a return to that. No worries about viruses, operating system is customized to the application(s).
I wonder what other "progress" in computers could be improved by using ideas from the past.
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LWN's list of 56 CD-based distributions
This is a section in a list of distributions of various types with short descriptions.