Knoppix Hacks

norburym writes "The publishers' blurb on the back cover describes Knoppix as 'a veritable Swiss Army knife in CD form.' Knoppix Hacks by Kyle Rankin is no less astounding in revealing the hidden versatility and power inherent in this unassuming tool." Read on for the rest of Norbury-Glaser's review. Knoppix Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools (with CD) author Kyle Rankin pages 336 publisher O'Reilly rating 10 reviewer Mary Norbury-Glaser ISBN 0596007876 summary Knoppix Hacks

Most Linux users will recognize Knoppix even if they've never given it a whirl, but this book goes beyond the simple "how to create and boot from a Knoppix Linux Live CD." Rankin displays the raw power that lies beneath the surface of simply running a clean distro of GNU/Linux free from fear of installation issues. Proper Knoppix books are lacking in the wild, with mere chapters in general Linux volumes mostly dedicated to larger issues for both the novice and the intermediate user. One or two Knoppix books are out there (and one by Samuel Hart, Knoppix Komplete, is in press) but what sets Knoppix Hacks apart is not that it is one of the few available on the subject, but rather Rankin's skill in exposing the underutilized potential in the Knoppix tool set.

This book begins with a forward by Klaus Knopper, creator of Knoppix. It's always entertaining and enlightening to read a first-hand account of some clever soul's chance involvement with an "experiment" that turned out wildly successful and this is no exception. The "Knoppix Story" is engaging and leaves the reader with a sense of awe at the ingenuity of this dedicated and resourceful individual.

Rankin has collected a "who's who" of Linux hackers to contribute to this book: John Andrews, creator of Damn Small Linux; Fabian Franz, creator of FreeNX server; Alex de Landgraaf, creator of Morphix; Simon Peter, developer of klik; Wim Vandersmissen, creator of ClusterKnoppix and many others no less accomplished, all of whom have contributed to the future of free software/open source development.

As is expected with the O'Reilly Hacks series of books, the chapters are structured with clean typographical conventions identifying URLs, directory/folder/file names, code examples and excerpts, sample text delineation and cross-references. Tips and warnings are clearly identified with pushpin and screw graphics, respectively, and indented. There are a helpful number of tips without getting too overwhelming or annoying by breaking the flow of the text. The thermometer icons next to each hack indicate the level of expertise required: beginner, intermediate and expert. Screenshots are placed where needed but again, the reader isn't left distracted by unnecessary filler.

The nine chapters cover hacks ranging from beginner to expert: "Boot Knoppix," "Use your Knoppix Desktop," "Tweak Your Desktop," "Install Linux with Knoppix," "Put Knoppix in Your Toolbox," "Repair Linux," "Rescue Windows," "Knoppix Reloaded" and "Knoppix Remastered." The book includes a CD with v.3.4 of Knoppix (3.6 having just been released; the author wisely chooses to stay with the tried, true and debugged version).

The first two chapters are pitched to beginners, with Chapter 1, "Boot Knoppix," leaping directly into downloading Knoppix and creating a bootable CD. It then covers "cheat codes" - options passed at the boot: prompt to work around hardware detection and support failures. Tweaking X settings, desktop and laptop scenarios, language settings and optimizing the Knoppix CD are also included here. Chapter 2 introduces details of the KDE desktop and encourages the reader to become familiar with the Knoppix desktop, the applications included and connecting to the Internet (even via GPRS over Bluetooth!).

Chapter 3 concentrates on saving settings and documents, using Knoppix as a kiosk or terminal server to boot multiple computers over a network from the same Knoppix CD, and how to use the live installer feature to add extra packages directly to ramdisk.

Chapter 4 covers the inevitable situation when you will find yourself using Knoppix so often that you decide to install it onto your hard drive. Rankin includes single and dual boot system installs.

Chapter 5, "Put Knoppix in Your Toolbox," is where admins should head. The full list of 15 indispensable hacks in this chapter include running remote desktops via rdesktop or xvncviewer, running X remotely with FreeNX, browse Windows shares, create an emergency router, emergency file or web server, wardriving with Knoppix (including how to capture GPS coordinates along with data), audit network security, check for root kits, collect forensics data, clone hard drives, wipe hard drives, test hardware compatibility, and copy settings to other distributions.

"Repair Linux" (Chapter 6) is for those of us who spend a lot of time "breaking" things in the course of experimenting and need to recover the system. Rankin shows hacks for repairing both lilo and grub, how to: back up and restore the MBR, find lost partitions, resize linux partitions, repair damaged file systems, recover deleted files, rescue files from damaged hard drives, backup and restore, migrate to a new hard drive, create Linux software RAID, reset Linux passwords, repair Debian and RPM packages, and copy a working kernel. We will always break something along the way and these hacks help minimize the frustration.

Chapter 7, "Rescue Windows"...well, need I say more? Put these hacks into practice and you'll probably be using them every day. Use Knoppix to: fix the Windows boot selector, backup files and settings, write to NTFS, resize Windows partitions, reset lost NT passwords, edit the Windows registry, restore corrupted system files, scan for viruses and download Windows patches securely. A must for any systems administrators with Windows machines lurking everywhere.

Knoppix Reloaded, in Chapter 8, takes on Knoppix variants Morphix, Gnoppix, Mediainlinux, Freeduc, Damn, Small Linux, INSERT, L.A.S. Linux, Knoppix-STD, distccKnoppix, ClusterKnoppix, Quantian, GIS Knoppix and KnoppMyth. There is also a well-deserved pitch at the conclusion of this chapter to become a Knoppix developer and contribute to the ongoing work.

The final chapter includes seven hacks that help the reader create their own customized Knoppix CD. Knoppix Remastered walks the reader through the steps of customizing and personalizing a live CD.

This is one of the liveliest technical books I've read in a long time. A few of the easier hacks can be found on Knoppix.net or elsewhere but I think Rankin has managed to put the majority of Knoppix related material in one book that could be subtitled the "First Knoppix Manual." The admin hacks, in particular, will add a whole new arsenal of Knoppix wonders to an admin's repertoire. Kudos to O'Reilly for publishing such an outstanding volume, to Rankin for compiling some damn useful material, and to MacGyver for inspiring many of us to look for simple solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems.

You can purchase Knoppix Hacks from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

Just fyi, there is more information found here at http://www.payfornothing.com/

Enjoy. :)

Knoppix rocks. But...

[Anonymous Coward]

But...

so true

[Anonymous Coward]

as a camp counselor I used knoppix to save a child's movie files off a camp computer where windows had incorrectly written the boot sector.

Re:so true

[MikeMacK]

Uh, just to let you know, as a counselor you should be careful about what "movie" files the kids are looking at on the camp computer.

Re:so true

[Andrewkov]

"There was this time at band camp..."

For Dummies

[MikeMacK]

At least he didn't call it "Knoppix For Dummies".

How many copies?

[110010001000]

Out of curiosity, how many copies of these types of books does O'Reilly expect to sell? I would predict less than a thousand based on this partiular subject matter, but I could be totally off.

interesting

[Anubis350]

This book seems like it has everything about knoppix, only thing to make it more complete would be if it includes a guide to knoppix STD, the security version.

Re:interesting

[acvh]

"Knoppix Reloaded, in Chapter 8, takes on Knoppix variants Morphix, Gnoppix, Mediainlinux, Freeduc, Damn, Small Linux, INSERT, L.A.S. Linux, Knoppix-STD"

your wish was granted.

Re:interesting

[Anubis350]

point taken, I realized that after I posted

Re:interesting

[MysteriousMystery]

I'd try Knoppix-STD but I'm paranoid about getting a virus!

Re:interesting

[AtomicSnarl]

You can avoid Knoppix-STD's through abstinence. If you must, wear a Kondom.

Re:interesting

[shish]

Kondom

KDE has a firewall script generator?

Jobs

[Anonymous Coward]

Steve Jobs invented knoppix. It was originally a branch from OSX, but it evolved into linux because OSX couldn't quite run on everything.

Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[garcia]

I would say that this book is more about Knoppix Forks or Knoppix Distributions not necessarily "hacks".

Using Knoppix as an emergency router, for wardriving, or for a Swiss Army Knife isn't exactly a "hack". It's using a tool.

People starting projects like KnoppixMyth etc are more of a fork or a seperate distribution rather than a hack.

That's IMHO at least.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[0racle]

All of the '* Hacks' books are simply collections of tips with very few if any actuall hacks. I guess 'Knoppix tips' and the like just didn't make the book seem interesting enough.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[mogrify]

Seems along the same lines of calling legitimate boot-time kernel options "cheat codes."

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[hal2814]

Yeah, but real hacks like using Knoppix to get Mode X graphics to play Rise of the Triad with double-buffering is a little dated.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[jaylee7877]

Take a look at How to become a hacker by ESR It's the basis of Oreilly's hack series. The books goals are to stimulate "hackers" and get them started. Often the hacks will offer ideas to "hack the hack" but leave it up to the reader to figure out how. I've got Linux Server Hacks and I've found it to be an invaluable resource, a reference book, but much more as it gives me all types of new ideas for my servers.... Nice job Oreilly.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[Anonymous Coward]

Rise of the Triad, you say? The source port for Windows on icculus.org doesn't even work that well. I would love to play it again, but it's really bitchy when it comes to running the vanilla version in 2000/XP despite messing with VDMSound.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[Overzeetop]

Okay, mod me OT, but since you've pointed to whta looks like a quite useful book for the linux-initiated, here's question for you:

What is a a good beginners book for linux? I'm not talking about the various O-reilly books on the different flavors of Linux (I have two, I think, though I can only find the RedHat one). I mean something that will walk you through the command line and internals, without being a reference for sysadmins.

---you can stop here to avoid a boring rant ---

You see, I grew up on the Apple II and DOS (IBM PC). I understand how it works and I cry a tear everytime I see Windows go farther from some of the simplicity of DOS. Luckily, I can still get to the command line. I started learning AIX a decade ago, but never got the hang of it (I'm still scared of vi, truth be told).

What I need is that background info on Linux. Some nuts and bolts info. I don't want to know how to install a CD and pick on pretty graphic widgets. How is the file system organized, and where do things go. I can infer only so much, and I hate wasting time guessing. I need to know how to get around, or I'll end up just giving up. I don't have hours a day to read the endless forum discussions, hoping to glean five minutes of knowledge, but I do have 30 or 40 minutes to read a chapter before bed.

I swear, I feel "that close" to being able to use Linux, but without a good foundation I know that I'll never really learn how to use it, and it will never take over my desktop.

Thanks

(yes, in the case of Linux, I'm one of the people I complain about in my sig...but at least I know it)

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[UnderScan]

What is a a good beginners book for linux? ... ... I mean something that will walk you through the command line and internals, without being a reference for sysadmins.

I would recommend Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye! for a good beginner book. It too uses Knoppix and includes a pressed Knoppix CD.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[sanctimonius hypocrt]

I've had this book for a week or so now, and I've found it pretty good. The basic 'hacks' are at least bullet resistant, and should get a newbie started right. The more advanced hacks are not recipes you can just follow and get good results.

For example, you can boot up Knoppix, use the live installer to download the fprot virus scanner and current updates, and virus-check a windows partition. It worked, but the graphical front end to fprot kept hanging up at the same point. It was easy enough to read the man page and run the scan from the command line, but an inexperienced user wouldn't necessarily be able to 'improvise' like that.

There are a few other hacks like that, of the half-dozen I've tried out so far. Not a knock against the book, just that it's maybe more hackish than immediately apparent. Probably the best thing about it is suggesting uses (or abuses) that I hadn't thought of.

One criticism I will make is that the lay-flat binding doesn't, which is mildly annoying.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[Daytona955i]

First I would learn most UNIX commands. UNIX Powertools is an excellent book.

Then I would also learn an editor. I would recommend learning the minimum ammount you need to get by in either vi or emacs as this will save you time.

Then skim through the linux from scratch HOWTO.

After that try and find howtos or books for specific programs. After figuring out how say apache works, you will have a better understandinng of how other programs work in linux.

Remember, most programs come with their own documentation and that will usually tell you where those programs are. If XFree86's log is in /var/log/ I'd take a look in there and see what else is in /var/log/. Hey look at that, logfiles. Sure it takes a while to learn, but that's what they mean when they say there's a steep learning curve.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[netux]

No, the hack part comes in for using it in non-intuitive ways and tools you may not of heard of and probly never used, such as using knoppix to download Windows patches, collecting forensic dadta (how often have you used grave-robber?), and cloning a hard drive?
The most unfortunate thing about the book is the name, this is the book that should have been titled "Linux Hacks". Granted, the book isn't really a hack book, but unless you are a *nix guru and have had to do every sysy admin task in existance, there are probly a few things in here you never thought of, and some you may have thought of but didn't know how to do and they wern't quite worth doing the research for.
I'd say buy it for anyone other than the folks who have been using *nix since '90

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[multipartmixed]

From one eight-bit guy to another -- You wanna REALLY have a good idea how it works?

Pick up the yellow Operating Systems book by Andy Tannenbaum. WONDERFUL book.

True, there are many, many, many differences between Minix and Linux -- but once you have a good grasp of that text, you'll be able to piece together whatever you decide you want to know about Linux from the mismash out there in webland.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[micromoog]

I had the same problem for a long time . . . I knew how to do a lot of things in Linux, but didn't quite feel like I had my mind around the whole thing. Basically, a three-step process got me to feeling very comfortable:

1. Get one or two big, fat books on Linux at a bookstore. It doesn't even really matter which ones; they all cover the same crap. They don't even have to be current at all. You may as well choose by weight. Anyway, read them, skipping the boring parts and parts you don't think you'll ever use.
2. Install Linux at home and use it exclusively for six months. Look up whatever you have trouble doing on the Web.
3. Go back and skim the books again for things you missed or disregarded the first time.

Viola! N00b-no-more.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[ebelloti]

Knoppix was born as hack to help its creator to have a complete, quick and cheap environment he could use on the road as lab setup for programming classes.

Of course it can be installed to your HD. But the beauty of the thing is that you can arrive at a room full of unknown machines and a pack of CDs and have a class setup in 5 minutes.

In that sense, yes, it is a hack. A very nice one indeed.
--

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[0racle]

The book however isn't talking about creating Knoppix, but using it. The actual creation my fall under the realm of a hack, but using it to recover data, or to show off Linux is not. For instance looking at the 5 sample 'hacks' on at www.oreilly.com:

Hack 5: Free Your CD to Make Knoppix Run Faster (PDF Format)
Hack 33: Install Knoppix as a Single-Boot System (PDF Format)
Hack 40: Create an Emergency Router (PDF Format)
Hack 61: Migrate to a New Hard Drive (PDF Format)
Hack 78: Scan for Viruses (PDF Format)

These all equate to, Using your hammer, pulling nails with your hammer, removing drywall with your hammer. They are instructions on how to use the tool, not 'hacks'.

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess 'Knoppix tips' and the like just didn't make the book seem interesting enough.

They should have titled this book: "Have woman fight over you".

Re:Umm, using a tool is a hack?

[owlstead]

This way the term "hacking" is subject to inflation. Death to those terrorist editors!

Chapter 1337

[dirtmerchant]

And of course, chapter 1337 covers downloading a pdf copy of this book using purely open-source solutions.

Re:Chapter 1337

[Anonymous Coward]

And, of course, how to win Final Jeopardy! ($1337)

Sounds comprehensive

[mogrify]

I've used Knoppix a few times to rescue hapless Windows installations -- seems like every time I look for some needed utility, I find it somewhere in Knoppix. I'm sure it can do things I've never thought of, so it's nice to see a user manual of sorts for what's become an indispensible tool in the ol' repair kit. Put this on my Christmas list.

Re:Sounds comprehensive

[ween14]

Definitly agree as to the usefulness of Knoppix. It is one of those tools that you don't realize how useful it really is untill nothing else seems to work, but by booting Knoppix you can usually find the problem and hopefully fix it. Nice to see a book that helps people use this tool to it's full potential.

Re:Sounds comprehensive

[CedgeS]

I made this guide, which is sadly in need of an update*. One of the most frequent email questions I get is, "Help - I lost my partition table, how do I get it back"? There's a great utility included in knoppix called gpart that searches the hard drive for partitions and constructs a new partition table. It also makes backups of master boot records. Its amazing all of the stuff they've thought to include.

* If anyone wants to mail me a copy of the newest knoppix cd I'll update it. I hate downloading ISO images. My address is 888 E 18th Ave, Apt 8. Eugene, OR 97401.

Is that site yours?

[Safety Cap]

Another idiot "portal" that someone bought and filled with stupid links while he waits to get the big money from some other idiot wanting to buy the DNS name.

Hope you didn't pay too much for it; enjoy the wait.

Re:Is that site yours?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, actually, it's a mate's of mine. :)

Re:Is that site yours?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your "mate" is a grade "A" fuckchop, and so are you.

Sheesh

[JPelorat]

Knoppix Hacks by Kyle Rankin is no less astounding in revealing the hidden versatility and power inherent in this unassuming tool.

The pages will stick together if you don't wipe them off.

Knopp... what ?

[lecuyerjm]

A book for hacker, hum interesting indeed. A must have. !!! Seriously Knoppix saved my azz dozen of time, so having someone who wrote a book to help the community, that's really nice.

I'm sorry,

[mekkab]

I thought you were going to say "as a camp counselor I used knoppix to save a childs life when they where drowning; it makes a great rescue cd!"

Re:I'm sorry,

[archen]

I think that would be a BSD rescue disk.

child: "Help I'm drowning!"
guru: *throws cd at kid* . "RTFM"

Re:I'm sorry,

[EugeneK]

*BSD Child: "Help I'm dying!"

Troll : Have another crippling bombshell! You don't need to be a Kreskin!

Re:I'm sorry,

[secolactico]

I thought you were going to say "as a camp counselor I used knoppix to save a childs life when they where drowning; it makes a great rescue cd!"

I tought he was going to say that he saved a child from being skewered by Jason Voorhees.

Re:I'm sorry,

[THESuperShawn]

Or..... "as a camp counselor I used knoppix to save a childs life by breaking it in half to form a surgical knife and remove his arm after it became lodged in a rock wall during a climb."

Knoppix saved me

[alarch]

Knoppix is really powerful tool. I use it often (or its Czech clone called Danix) but recently it saved me really. After my computer broke down not being able to boot from HD i use Knoppix for my everyday work. If it was not here, I would be in deep trouble, because I cannot afford a new computer now. Thanx for Knoppix!!

Re:Knoppix saved me

[mav[LAG]]

its Czech clone called Danix

Wait - its Czech clone is called Danix? So the Hungarian clone is called Norwix and the Bulgarian one Swedix? What's the pattern (for those of us not living in Eastern Europe)?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[HenryKoren]

A hack... a "worn-out horse for hire". "harsh coughing", a "rough, irregular cut". a "quick job that produces what is needed, but not well".

These books might not be all about hacking... But the title might make the reader feel special about themselves.

Are these hack books trying to Capitalize on 'leet-ness, or are they simply the antipathy of the "for dummies" series?

Is self inflation and self deprecation really such a critical component to technical literature sales?

Re:Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[barc0001]

It's all in perception. But you're right. It's much better for "hacking" to be thought of as the computer equivelant of armed robbery instead.
Face it: What we used to think the word "hacking" meant has long been depracated by the world at large. At least a series like this might bring the meaning of the word a bit away from the dark side. Maybe.

Re:Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[slapout]

The jargon file also list:

"2. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed. "

And

"6. vi. To interact with a computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed way"

Re:Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[NardofDoom]

Those aren't the only definitions.

A hack can also mean a way of using something in a clever way, including the way it was intended. Using Knoppix to repair a Windows machine is a hack, because it uses the tool to solve the problem in a clever way.

Kinda like using duct tape to 'resize' a metric socket to fit on a standard nut.

It's not about 'leetness,' it's about solving the problem, and then communicating that solution to others.

Re:Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[Daytona955i]

Heck I've used linux to repair all sorts of windows machines. And people have the gall to be upset when they find out that windows is no longer on their computer.

Re:Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[dbIII]

"quick job that produces what is needed, but not well".

Often this is exactly what you want - also known as something done once to get the job done but not something you do daily. The correct way to recover from a dying disk is to restore from a daily backup and redo the rest of the days work, but the hack of using knoppix will usually give better results.

I think the intended audience is after quick and nasty solutions, I know I am. You can also build on such ideas to produce something that isn't so quick and nasty.

Re:Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[Anonymous Coward]

It may well be. If we equate these books to 'Self-Help' books then the argument carries some weight

Re:Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[74nova]

that was the best 'upgrade windows by installing linux' joke ive ever read, nice.

Re:Duality of l337ness versus Stupidity

[DrSkwid]

you have the wrong definition of hacking

In English gentry, "hacking about" is the term for riding one's horse about with no particular intent. There's even a "hacking jacket" which is a particular tweed, distinct from hunting pinks, that one wears when "going hacking".

I suspect that it is this definition of hacking from where the computer related term derives.

OT Cnn.com

[BubbaTheBarbarian]

WTF is going on with cnn.com right now? Anyone else seen the cool web-mail interface?

Re:OT Cnn.com

[Anonymous Coward]

What webmail interface?

Re:OT Cnn.com

[Anonymous Coward]

I though i was the only one being redirected...
"Welcome to Horde..."?
This aint MS, IE either!

saved by CD burning under knoppix

[Anonymous Coward]

I lost any access to a Windows machine by a power failure. It wouldn't boot at all.

I rescued the data from its hard disk by:
1. make the existing cd rw drive a slave
2. installing a cd drive
3. booting knoppix from the newly installed cd drive
4. burning critical data to the cd rw drive.

Re:saved by CD burning under knoppix

[darkonc]

Almost easier than that, if you have a second computer available:

1. Boot the second computer in Knoppix, and start the Knoppix Terminal Server.
2. Many new computers now have the capability to boot from the net via pix. For those that don't you can create a boot floppy or CD via rom-o-matic.
3. Boot off of the net
4. If you used a net boot CD, you can now remove it (or just re-use it if it is a cd/dvd-rw)
5. write your data to your CD

No need to install a second CD, as long as you have a built-in CD-RW. When you're done, you can reboot the Knoppix Terminal server, and nobody's gonna know the difference.

One thing to note is that this setup starts a DHCP server... If you already have a DHCP server on the 'net then you'll have to either disconnect your boxes from the existing DHCP server, or copy the DHCP info to official server. When your box is fixed, this won't cause a problem with regular boots. It just provides extra info for net boots.

Re:saved by CD burning under knoppix

[killersneakersofdeat]

if you have a nother computer, you can just pull the harddrive out of the first one, put it in the second and copy over everything you need.

Re:saved by CD burning under knoppix

[Stephen Samuel]

The intent here is to do the recovery without having to pull out a screwdriver (and change hardware around). Sometimes (eg: when you're dealing with a laptop), it's not a very viable choice. .

Ob. Amazon Karma Whore Link

[bujoojoo]

Amazon link

Re:Ob. Amazon Karma Whore Link

[lordsilence]

How was this offtopic? This pointed to a link at Amazon where you could 'buy' the book.

Re:Ob. Amazon Karma Whore Link

[Anonymous Coward]

The mods just didn't want to give him the karma boost. Hell, he even said it was a karmawhore.

BioKnoppix & VLinux

[FiReaNGeL]

BioKnoppix and VLinux are indispensable toolboxes for every bioinformatician out there, especially if you do lots of consulting (or need to travel from lab to lab, without having a laptop). Both distributions contains tools for sequence and protein analysis, 3D structure viewing software... etc. Very handy...

"Screenshots are placed where needed but again,

[Sai Babu]

the reader isn't left distracted by unnecessary filler."

Excessive screenshots has been one of the main reasons I stay away from the 'hacks' books, so this is good news.

It will be worth a sawbuck if it and a knoppix CD get my 'Windows Flumoxed'(TM) brother interested enough in Linux to ditch the Mr. Softy OS product.

Re:"Screenshots are placed where needed but again,

[j1bb3rj4bb3r]

Flummix... a new linux distro based on the Windows XP kernel.

Re:"Screenshots are placed where needed but again,

[Anonymous Coward]

I like it.
We can supply thread challenged kernel an broken drivers.
Later we can gather karma via FREE patches!

Great introduction to Linux

[MysticalMatt517]

This sounds like an interesting book, I may have to pick it up next time I'm at BN.

I think one of the most fantastic things about Knoppix is that it provides a safe gateway for people to get into the Linux world, especially young people. At some point (around 8th grade) they realize there's more to life than Windows, but don't know enough to create a dual boot system. Knoppix is a great way for them to get their feet wet.

It's nice to see a book out on this. Regardless of whether these are truly "hacks" or not is irrelevant. The information it brings forward is interesting.

Re:Great introduction to Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

"At some point (around 8th grade) they realize there's more to life than Windows, but don't know enough to create a dual boot system".

That's what parents are for. My six year-old daughter is wild about her "Penguin System" (i.e Debian Sid) as long as I keep it running properly. Granted, most kids don't have parents that get up at 5 AM and do a dist-upgrade, compile a new kernel, tinker with Grub, and the like.

Re:Great introduction to Linux

[chitselb]

I've got a 5th grader and an 8th grader living in my house, and after seeing pr0n splashed all over the screen back when it was booted to Windows for the last time, and reinstalling Windows to remove virii and trojans and browser hijackers for the last time, I installed Linux (SuSE 9.1, no dual boot). They like the games, the Open Office is fine for their school projects, and my 5th grader is happily learning how to code HTML. Life is good.

Re:Great introduction to Linux

[armyofone]

It's currently on sale for $16.95 (plus S&H) at bookpool.com. But I think I got their last in-stock copy just yesterday. Can't wait for it to show up next week.

And yeah, ditto to everything else you said. A friend of mine was complaining that "every time he goes on the internet, my computer slows waaaayyyy down...". I told him, "Dude, you are 0wn3d", gave him a Knoppix CD and told him to unplug his DSL modem when he boots into Windows. He's happily back to full speed surfing and I didn't have to go clean up his Windows mess. Win-win, baby. Gotta love it!! :-)

Re:Great introduction to Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

The information it brings forward is interesting.

Correct.

This book begins with a forward by Klaus Knopper, creator of Knoppix.

It's OK too. Just as forlay instead of foreplay, it'll be fun either way.

Re:Great introduction to Linux

[ndogg]

And this is why Knoppix should be illegal, because it's a gateway distributions to more dangerous distributions...

Re:Great Book

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, an Amazon-affiliate link right in your "personal" URL. How quaint.

Not to mention the one in your post...

New Knoppix user sings praises

[Anonymous Coward]

I just started experimenting with Knoppix recently. It was extremely cool to boot into a full KDE desktop with only 128M of memory and no hard disk support. I could even launch Open Office and Mozilla, but not at the same time. Extremely refreshing to realize that I do not have to have a system with 1G of memory and a 400G hard drive to get a very useable machine.

It also came in handy for offloading files from an unbootable Windows 2000 machine to another machine. This can easily be done even if you know nothing about Linux.

Re:New Knoppix user sings praises

[Anonymous Coward]

I can boot my Amiga desktop and browse the Internet with only 2 880K floppies and 8M of memory.

Re:New Knoppix user sings praises

[micromoog]

An Amiga troll! Wow, I thought those were extinct!

Regarding the Swiss Army Knife metaphor

[mogrify]

that everyone is happily using, how about we just buy the USB-key-equipped Swiss Army Knife and boot Feather with it? Now I can open the PC case with my Linux distro -- hmmm, no more metaphor.

Re:Regarding the Swiss Army Knife metaphor

[shish]

What happens when you want to run linux and poke your hardware at the same time?

Re:Regarding the Swiss Army Knife metaphor

[mogrify]

If you have enough RAM, you can load the entire image into memory at boot time with the 'toram' option... then remove the key. I haven't actually done this, but it should work...

Re:Great Book

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, a pasted review followed by an affiliate link. How about fuck you, you subhuman money-grubbing spammer piece of garbage?

At least be up front that you're trying to fuck people for dough, eh?

Try before you buy!

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.lokitorrent.com/download.php?id=42129

I know kyle, IRL!

[donniejones18]

IRL, Kyle is the person who got me to start using linux! :-)

Thanks kyle, I've never looked back.

-Donnie

Re:I know kyle, IRL!

[greenfly]

Heh, You're welcome Donnie :)

-Kyle

Morphix

[quamaretto]

I'm a big fan of Morphix. I've used Morphix Lightgui (Comes with XFCE) and GNUStep (The distro) at various times and I think the project is headed good places. But then, I haven't used the original Knoppix in quite awhile. I should pick it up again.

Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

It sucks. I meant it sucks. As in "BLONDE WHORE SUCKING OFF 79 BLACK STUDZ *HOT*"

Knoppix on a HD?

[siliconjunkie]

Hopefully this is on topic enough:

Ever since I saw the Mandrake Globetrotter I have been really wanting to roll my own "portable linux virtual machine". I don't want to pay for the overpirced Globetrotter, so I bought a 200GB drive with an external Firewire/USB2.0 enclosure.

Now, I have found some excellent resources on installing Linux on an external firewire drive, but the thing is, this (and other articles) are written with the idea that the end result will be used on one system, my goal is to have something like the Globetrotter which is a FULL distro of Mandrake 10, with the awesome hardware detection of Knoppix at boot time (so it can used it on multiple machines with no problem, like a Knoppix disc).

My question is, how would one go about doing this? I have considered just using the Knoppix "install to hard drive" feature, but I would rather have a more robust fully featured distro from the get go. Mandrake does not make it clear on their site if Mandrake 10 has the inherant ability to detect hardware at bootime like the version that comes on the Globetrotter does...any ideas?

Re:Knoppix on a HD?

[ltbarcly]

First of all, the ability to detect hardware at boot time is pretty much taken care of by linux. However, things like the fstab and so on need to be updated. With that said, even Mandrake 9.2 (the last version I used) had the ability to detect hardware changes at boot time. I removed a HD from a computer, and installed it in another computer, every piece of hardware being different, and it booted and loaded X without any problems, or any need to configure anything.

Re:Knoppix on a HD?

[siliconjunkie]

Thanks, that's good to know. I constantly hear folks touting Knoppix's "advanced hardware detection" and assumed that the version of Mandrake on the Globetrotter incorporated something similar. I have used Linux a bit and am comforable installing it and such but I wasn't too sure about being able to "plug and play" on different hardware.

I have left a nice solid 40GB partition unformatted on the disk, so I guess I know what my weekend project is going to be.

Re:Knoppix on a HD?

[darkonc]

Knoppix knows that it's gonna be booted on lots of random devices, so it has to find everything all the time (and does a good job of it). Something like Mandrake expects that it's usually on the same machine, so the process of locating hardware is a bit less robust (it expects that it was done in the initial install).

When I doubt, I'd bring along your boot HD and a spare knoppix CD... That way, if your mandrake box gets confused about things, you can use knoppix to 'set it right' (It's likely to be something relatively minor). You should even be able to set it up so that the knoppix disk can be used just for the syslinux boot to get a box that doesn't otherwise know how to boot from USB/firewire to do that.

Re:Knoppix on a HD?

[Anonymous Coward]

The review doesn't mention this, but I hope the book distinguishes between the (at least) two modes of installing Knoppix, which, since I can't recall the official terms, I'll call Knoppix Mode and Debian Mode.

Installing in Debian Mode is basically using Knoppix to detect the hardware and then copying a fully installed Debian, configured *for your particular hardware* onto the hard drive. When you subsequently boot from the hard drive, it just boots up a normal debian that has been configured for your hardware, exactly as if you'd installed Debian and manually configured all hardware.

Installing in Knoppix Mode includes the Knoppix hardware auto-detect stuff in the boot sequence if the installed hard drive. This means it goes through hardware auto-detection every time you boot. The downside is it might take longer to boot. The upside is you can painlessly change hardware, or even connect the hard drive to a completely different computer, and the system will boot perfectly.

I find Knoppix Mode to be fascinating, and if all the kinks are worked out it could be great for hard drive resellers to throw a copy on the hard drive.

Anyone have links to more information about these to modes and their pros and cons?

Re:Knoppix on a HD?

[bobodeclowne]

I had aproblem with a laptop and Lilo and Knoppix saved me a LOT of work. The same process could work for this external drive. Boot off of the Knoppix cdrom, mount your external drive partitions, and use the chroot command. The following is what I posted in response to the person who suggested this online for MY problem. "I booted from a knoppix CD in failsafe after hitting F2 for HELP, and did the following. ctl- alt F2 (to pull up the root terminal) mount -t ext3 /dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3 chroot /mnt/hda3 (my root partition) mount -t auto /dev/hda1 /boot (/dev/hda1 was my boot partition) /sbin/lilo ctrl alt del " You could install Knoppix in "Knoppix" mode as another poster suggests, on the external, boot off the CD, mount and chroot, good to go. This could likely be set up on your own custom version of knoppix.

Repeat Amazon referral whore

[Anonymous Coward]

Excellent referral whoring.

You seem to do this often.

Koppix saved my ass

[goodrob]

I once lost all data on my D:\ 80 GB drive when i reformatted my C:\ due to a virus..

I tried so many utilities to rescue it.. Norton, partition magic and a bunch of others i had never heard of and never looked at again..

nothing worked..

finally i booted to knoppix and changed the flag of the partition to what it was supposed to be and presto! i had everything back again!

i love knoppix!

Knoppix is easy entry linux

[landimal_adurotune]

I work at an all girl private college, and we put in a Perfigo box. Many of the students had a tough time getting windows patches and spyware was wreaking havok.

So I modified the startup html of Knoppix to tell them how to get GAIM going and do internet browsing. Tons of these girls are happy linux users, and have gone on to 'the hard stuff' like gentoo.

The disk is indespensible as a system rescue as well.

Re:Knoppix is easy entry linux

[Anonymous Coward]

I think most of the crowd here just turned green with envy. And it had nothing to do with your ability to modify HTML.

Re:Knoppix is easy entry linux

[Anonymous Coward]

if you stopped at "all girls", i'd probably buy it.

"all girls" + "Private college" sounds a little fishy ...

"all girls" + "private college" + "using linux" = a typical /. poster, still living at home & daydreaming with his keyboard.

Re:Knoppix is easy entry linux

[j1bb3rj4bb3r]

I doubt it. My friend is a network admin at an all girl private college (where my ex-gf happened to go). It wouldn't surprise me if the original poster worked there. Said college will remain nameless but it rhymes with Count Rolycoke :).

Re:Knoppix is easy entry linux

[j1bb3rj4bb3r]

I think I should also add that an all girls private college is not what it's cracked up to be. I've never felt like such a complete outsider before in my life. My ex-gf and her friends were great to me, but any parties I went to, I was often the only guy. While that may sound like heaven to those social rejects who've never spent much time with girls in the first place, it's actually a very uncomfortable feeling, because you really just don't fit in, don't belong, and are pretty much just tolerated (and that's by the straight girls). Don't get me wrong... I met lots of very cool people there, it's just the social environment of an all-one-gender place is very different than coed environments.

Re:Knoppix is easy entry linux

[Anonymous Coward]

I work at an all girl private college

Argh... I can't read past this point!

Re:Knoppix is easy entry linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Tons of these girls are happy linux users

You take the red or the blue pill and the story ends.

Re:Knoppix is easy entry linux

[owlstead]

Nah, you just want to keep them all to yourself, admit it.

Re:Knoppix is easy entry linux

[david.given]

I think I should also add that an all girls private college is not what it's cracked up to be.

I went to St.Andrews University, which had a number of single-sex halls of residence. One of them was all-female, but was thinking about becoming mixed. In my first year, I think there were two males there and about a hundred and fifty females.

From all accounts, the guys had a hellish time, for all the reasons you describe.

Any single-sex environment tends to go rather weird. You can explain a lot about upper-class British culture when you realise that most members were educating at single-sex boarding schools. Armed forces get a lot of this, too. Exaggerated peer group pressure, distorted social expectations, and a whole set of cultural norms that bear very little resemblance to the outside world. Not healthy.

I started out at a male-only school. Half-way through my time there it suddenly became mixed-sex, and almost overnight it become so much more civilised...

Re:Great Book

[Anonymous Coward]

By the by, you can save some money by purchasing the book here.

...and you can save some of your soul by purchasing the book here.

Finally, all those work PC's...

[RobertB-DC]

The final chapter includes seven hacks that help the reader create their own customized Knoppix CD. Knoppix Remastered walks the reader through the steps of customizing and personalizing a live CD.

Aha! Finally, I'll be able to create a bootable BZFlag CD-ROM, and I won't have to ask permission before bringing my friends to the office on the weekend for a fragging session. Power goes out here regularly, so as long as everyone has to power up in the morning, nobody will be the wiser. Heh.

Now, where's that "Post Anonymously" check bo

actually, it's...

[the original m0nk]

this one time, at band camp...

Saving Windows Machines

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows can do this too ya know, have a look around the net for BartsPE.

Re:Saving Windows Machines

[74nova]

i dont know, that barts pe stuff just didnt seem as easy as burning an iso. ive built several windows machines for people and had more than a couple linux distros going, so im not a moron. maybe it has gotten easier since i tried it about a year ago...

here is the link if anybody wants to check it out

I should make a distro

[falconed]

Linus made Linux,
Knopper made Knoppix,
Falcone should make Fallix!

Re:I should make a distro

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft makes Windex?

My favourite hack...

[m50d]

Knoppix-STD is only ~460 mb, which leaves 240 mb you can use to your advantage. Put some "normal" files in there - I use a set of mp3s and play them on my mp3 cd player, alternatively some "work"-type files or a set of ebooks. Then create the iso with mkisofs -r -J -hide-joliet KNOPPIX (and -hide-joliet index.html etc. if you leave those files in there) Now you have a bootable cd full of security tools which, when viewed on a windows pc, looks completely innocuous.

Re:My favourite hack...

[j1bb3rj4bb3r]

I read the post just above this... Brain mixed them and I saw Fallix-STD Not what you want to call your standard distro Falcone.

Where have I heard that name before?

[crawdaddy]

Rankin has collected a "who's who" of Linux hackers to contribute to this book: John Andrews, creator of Damn Small Linux; Fabian Franz, creator of FreeNX server; Alex de Landgraaf, creator of Morphix; Simon Peter, developer of klik; Wim Vandersmissen, creator of ClusterKnoppix and many others no less accomplished, all of whom have contributed to the future of free software/open source development.

I emailed Simon Peter for information about klik, but he denied involvement with it. I pointed to this review in a followup email as evidence. Again, he denied it in his reply. Upon my pointing to him being listed on the klik site, he replied "I don't know this klik you're talking about," denying his involvement a third time. Then a rooster crowed twice.

Re:Where have I heard that name before?

[Sparkle]

Groan.

Sorry I lack mod points crawdad, or you would have them for funny!

Re:Where have I heard that name before?

[EnVisiCrypt]

You know, you don't see many biblical references here on Slashdot.

Strange.

Re:Where have I heard that name before?

[Anonymous Coward]

I soooo don't get the joke.
Please, can someone enlighten the unenlightened?

Re:Where have I heard that name before?

[Anonymous Coward]

Never mind, should have googled for "rooster crowed" instead of simon peter klik...

Re:Where have I heard that name before?

[Anonymous Coward]

Matthew 26

75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

Re:Where have I heard that name before?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to be picky, but wasn't it 3 times?

Re:Where have I heard that name before?

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, reread his post.

Danix

[xdc]

Until now, I had assumed that Danix was a Danish distro. Thank you for turning me on to this Czech version.

I think a good name for a Czech version of Knoppix would be Knoppicz. :) Of couse, then Czechs might pronounce it, "knoppits," so that probably wouldn't work.

Re:Danix

[alarch]

Yes it is a Czech distro, a clone of Knoppix although they are planning to make a full desktop distro not based on Knoppix. It stands for Daniel's LinuX - the main authors name. ppicz is in pronounciation simillar to a word which means "cunt" in Czechm so it wouldnt be a nice name I think :)

Re:Danix

[PitaBred]

Depends. Do you know where, say, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon or Wisconsin are in relation to the rest of the US? East, west, central? Many Europeans are just as ignorant on our political geography as Americans are on theirs ;)

Re:Danix

[alarch]

Yes I know it. If I didnt learn it in an elementary school I would have a very hard time to pass all exams and complete the school.

Re:Danix

[magefile]

I live in central Europe. You woudlnt say that Austria or Germany is in eastern Europe, would you?

No, but we think of the Czech Republic as an eastern bloc country (i.e., formerly of the USSR). It's not so much geographic as it is political/historical/socioeconomic.

Re:Danix

[alarch]

we was not a part of USSR :)) yes we have been for 40 years (which is historically pretty insignificant amount of time compared to centuries being part of the west Europe) under influence of USSR, but large part of Germany was in the exactly the same situation. Culturally we are west europe. There is no much difference between Czech and Austria for example. There is very very large difference between Czech and Bulgaria, Ukraine and other eastern European country.

Re:Danix

[mav[LAG]]

I see. As magefile has pointed out most non-Europeans think of your country as Eastern Europe for historical reasons, not exactly where you are on the map. I imagine the next couple of generations who don't remember the Berlin Wall or the Cold War will start referring to it as central rather than Eastern.

Re:Danix

[alarch]

by the way, why you thought that a Danish project would use an expensive Czech domain? I wouldnt see the point for a non-Czech project to use dot-cz.

Re:Danix

[b17bmbr]

(disclaimer:i'm a history teacher)

most people don't know their history. czechs are a germanic people, especially the sudetenland, part of the reason why hitler wanted bohemia and moravia. the other being the BRNO arms factories!! sadly, the czechs have a very tragic history in the 20th century. the west turned its back on the czechs, in direct violation of article 16 and 50 of League of Nations charter. especially when the czzechs had 30+ divisions ready to confront the germans if the french had their backs. (fat chance there, ya know) then we left "uncle joe" have czechoslovakia after pottsdam. and people wonder why the czechs are supporting us in the war on terror. God bless them. they know dictators. they know evil must be confronted now, before it grows. anyways, sadly most of us in the US are ignorant of history.

Re:Danix

[AvitarX]

You mean Austria, that country with a cicle and hammer in its flag?

Just courious.

Re:Danix

[alarch]

no :) czechs are not germanic people. we share long histroy with austria - and culture, like cuisine which is very very similar, and more. but czechs are slavic by language and by genetic analysis we share most with celtic nations. of course, we are just mongrels like any european nation. but language is slavic and genes are mostly celtic and slavic, only few germanic.

Re:Danix

[night tilda]

There is very very large difference between Czech and Bulgaria, Ukraine and other eastern European country.

As soon as the west calls again, your Slavic brothers are rapidly forgotten...

Re:Danix

[kiltedtaco]

Europe is not analogous to the US.

There is a far greater difference between Hungary and the Czech republic than there is between Oregon and Wisconsin. Yes, there are many countries in Europe. That's not an excuse not to know them though.

Re:Danix

[b17bmbr]

i didn't mean to imply every czech was germanic. and yes, central europe is quite a mix, dating back to the hunnic and gothic invasions of the roman empire. but please accept my admiration for the czech peoples, their independence and resistance to the nazis and the soviets.

Re:Danix

[Anonymous Coward]

sadly most of us in the US are ignorant of history

Gladly that is what makes us great. We are not shackled by history that spans centuries. A clean start is a good thing. Lets keep it that way.

Re:Danix

[xdc]

Because I only looked up the domain after seeing your post, so that I could include a link in my reply. (I just like to hyperlink key things in my posts to web forums.) Previously, I had only seen the name Danix on DistroWatch or someplace, but I did not check it out or find out its domain name. I'm sure that if I had seen danix.cz, I would have assumed it was Czech.

BTW, thank you for your other interesting comments on the subject of Danix. :)

Re:Great Book? Yes.

[UnderScan]

Mods!

While the book is great, the parent copied his "review" from http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?Item=978059 600787&Catalog=Books&N=35&Lang=en&Section=books&zx ac=1 and also links to a has a amazon.com referer account.

If you want it cheap, addall.com (the book search engine) lists bookpool.com with the lowest price.

Danix

[alarch]

LOL :)) You made me laugh. Danix stand for DANIels's linuX i believe, which is name of the main developer. Similar case as with Knoppix itself. BTW: I do not live in the eastern Europe. I live in central Europe. You woudlnt say that Austria or Germany is in eastern Europe, would you?

You want Slackware.

[RangerElf]

Slackware is for people like you.
Simple, clean, unobtrusive, great.
Not to start a distro flamewar, and before any Gentoo fans chime in: no, Gentoo is definitely NOT "Simple, Clean, Unobtrusive".
You can find it here,
hope you finally can understand Linux, it's a great tool/toy/idea.
-gus

Re:You want Slackware.

[the morgawr]

I'm going to second that. Slack is my all around favorite distro (I use Debian on occasion for certain things). IMNSHO, it's also the best documented of the distros.

However, lately I've been using OpenBSD more and more (I started using it for a secure server, then a packet shaping router, etc). It's a little more daunting to install then Slackware but it's even better documented.

Pick one or the other, they'll both help you learn the ropes of unix far better then any book.

Re:You want Slackware.

[Overzeetop]

Slackware was one of the first distros I downloaded (I've got RH, Knoppix, Slackware, Mandrake, and, um, one other I can't remember, luring in my CD folders). It sounded like what I was looking for, but I never got a chance to really get into it at the time (work always seems to get in the way of things I want to do ;-)

That was a couple of years ago, and I hadn't really looked back at it. I should have taken more time to read the book that goes with it. I just cliked over, and I think I'm going to take a few evenings to read through the whole thing, as it seems to be what I'm looking for.

BTW, is there an easy way to get the slackware "book" as a single chunk, either as linked html or some printable format? If not, my assistant is going to have a lousy afternoon ;-)

Oh, and thanks for the suggestion. I've been online for 10+ years, and in the last three or four, I've encountered a lot of "newbie, go home" attitude on the ne. It's good to see that it's not everyone.

Re:You want Slackware.

[Overzeetop]

Okay, bad form to reply to your own post, but all I have to say is...

"newbie, go home"...and do a freakin' google search. Found it in a single file in the top five hits.

Re:You want Slackware.

[micromoog]

How is that not starting "starting a distro flamewar"? You basically just said "A is great, B isn't. Why? Because I said so." And nobody was even talking about B to begin with. Sheesh.

My best use of Knoppix

[LarsWestergren]

When I worked as a sysadmin, I used Knoppix several times to errorcheck Windows computers. At home, I have used it to run Linux from Scratch on a clean computer. It's great to have all tools available and no fear of removing or messing up an important partition by mistake. Also you can surf and play games while compiling.

Customize

[Ann Coulter]

I like the prebuilt Knoppix CDs. They are very useful, especially when one needs to touch up an installation. What I like more than Knoppix is Gentoo. The main reason why Gentoo in better than Knoppix, in my opinion, is because Gentoo gives me a lot more choices than any other distribution I have encountered. One of the best examples of customization is catalyst. Catalyst is a tool that lets one build Gentoo LiveCDs. All one has to do is build three seed stages, select packages that are appropriate for the LiveCD, build the stage one of the LiveCD, select files to overlay the LiveCD, and build the stage two of the LiveCD. This process will give a Gentoo LiveCD containing anything covered by portage. What is amazing is that these LiveCDs can be just as useful as a Knoppix CD while being optimized for a particular target (I have not tried to use the Intel C/C++ compiler to build any Gentoo distribution ... yet). Gentoo supports more platforms than Knoppix. Building a LiveCD takes place on a machine that is compatible with the target. Examples of applications for LiveCDs include: adding features to a Gentoo installation LiveCD that is not covered by any Gentoo Release (I have reiser4 support on my first catalyst generated LiveCD), diskless platform with arbitrary packages (download porn in the lab with specific tools already on the CD), reliability and security testing (include hacking tools in the CD), diskless encryption box (disable the hard drives and purge the physical memory on the way out), demonstration of a software product (with a little more effort, anything can be put on a LiveCD), and having a toolkit in your jewel case, just to name a few uses for custom LiveCDs. Although one can create custom LiveCDs with Linux From Scratch methods, the Gentoo Catalyst is one of the most balanced methods for creating LiveCDs.

Re:Customize

[lukew]

PARAGRAPH motherfucker, do you speak it?

Bookpool!

[SoTuA]

I worked on my thesis with a Web Service integrator, and for example I used amazon+barnesnnoble+bookpool. One (unwritten) conclusion of my work was that Bookpool always had the best prices on tech books.

Ultimate Boot CD

[scubacuda]

Many of these tools are on Knoppix, but useful nonetheless: Ultimate Boot CD

newbie article

[scubacuda]

I'd like to see an article where someone takes popular "Windows fix it tools for admins" (like this one) and write an easy-to-undertand tutorial for newbies.

Until then, these hacks will only be available to the uber geeks (not that that's a always a bad thing).

Re:newbie article

[Skiron]

Yes, agree. But one big difference. With MS windows, everything is hidden, and when you do 'real shit' to hack a fix, you haven't the slightest clue if the box ever comes back up... and if it don't, they you get deeper in the mire. Plus logs will be totally meaningless anyway.

You DID back up the registry, didn't you?

Re:newbie article

[dbIII]

Until then, these hacks will only be available to the uber geeks

Incorrect. Relative who has never used any breed of *nix + laptop + knoppix and he could get wireless networking going and order a new hard drive online. The configuration options are not hard to find in the GUI.

Knoppix

[Anonymous Coward]

hehe

Now using root console:

dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/hda
dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/hdb
dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/hdc
dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/hdd
dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sda
dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sdb
dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sdc
dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sdd

Re:Knoppix

[ibennetch]

Just tried it and nothing happened, guess I'll have to pop the CD out and boot back in to Windows.

hehe

Re:Knoppix

[Anonymous Coward]

That won't actually work. /dev/null won't actually output anything. You probably want /dev/zero or /dev/urandom.

Re:Knoppix

[Anonymous Coward]

Go into your bios by hitting Del/F1/F2 whatever your bios key is and put your CD to the top of your boot order. That should get it going.

Re:Knoppix

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone else already said using /dev/zero or /dev/[urandom|random].

But doing an entire drive is going to take a while. Even my fastest drives using a /dev/zero would take somewhere 40-45 mintutes to wipe because of their shear size.

How about a:
(change drive letters as exist on machine)(a bunch of partitons because if you hit a logical partition you don't want to skip the contents, otheriwse it would just be 1-4. Machine here has one drive that goes hdb1 hdb2 < hdb5 hdb6 hdb7 hdb8 >)
---
for driveL in a b c d e f g
do
for partN in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
do
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hd${driveL}${partN} bs=1024k count=30
done
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hd${driveL} bs=1024k count=1 &
done
--
So you have 30MB of semi-random data at the start of each partition, and you've wiped the boot sector and partition table out(probably wouldn't need the meg, 1024 bytes I think is enough, but eh, whats the difference). Good luck trying to recover data from that drive with simple utilities. (Unless of course you like to view the raw drive contents, or use grep, or you don't want to hire a data recovery service)

I'm sure someone could optimize this and make it work on drives in parallel (seperate channels perhaps, so do hd[a|c|e| in one run, then hd[b|d|f] in another).

Re:Knoppix

[ibennetch]

How is this a troll?? OT or maybe even funny, but how does it get labelled a troll?? Someone please explain, I'm a little confused.

MetroPipe: Knoppix for flash drives

[lucidvein]

I just downloaded http://www.metropipe.net/ProductsPVPM.shtml which uncompresses to an executable Knoppix environment. Runs on top of Windows or Linux so no need to even reboot the client machine.

Could use some updating now that Firefox 1.0 is out, but overall I found it to be a very compact and usable resource. Look forward to the release that supports Mac OS X.

Re:MetroPipe: Knoppix for flash drives

[NETHED]

Holy crap thats an awesome app. I Love it. Thanks, its links like this that make surfing /. for hours worth it.

Re:MetroPipe: Knoppix for flash drives

[lucidvein]

Yep, thought the same thing when I found it earlier this week on Engadget

Ask Engadget: What do you keep on your USB keychain drive? http://www.engadget.com/entry/1409518962884828/

Re:MetroPipe: Knoppix for flash drives

[MrEnigma]

Awesome link.

I was just looking into grabbing knoppix, and look at this even better.

I recently got a Victornox USB knife, (got it for like 15 dollars, so no comments about overpriced stuff), and loaded it up, works awesome.

Now i'll get it all setup for when I go to Europe next week, the internet cafe's can all be the same.

Props for the link!

Re:MetroPipe: Knoppix for flash drives

[Sean Riordan]

Thank you for the link. Just pulled it down and already seeing great uses for it.

Personally

[Skiron]

When I first downloaded Knoppix and ran it, it was a really "WOW" moment. Perhaps one of the first best things to come out to promote Linux ever - I hand out Knoppix disc's all the time at work, even though the users haven't a clue ("Will it fuck my memory up?". "I have a windows monitor, will that work?" et al ad naseum).

Met the guy, got the CD now first time on KDE

[Anonymous Coward]

I met Klaus Knopper last friday in Holland and helped him out with some advanced laser level of Enigma (Ha, I don't even get the first laser level yet, is this a game that gets easier? :-)

He showed me arround KDE which I had never seen live before and went home with my first IBM compatible PC. I'm trying to install 'normal' Debian but I failed the BIOS style intimidation menu, or Sarge just can't recognise my Club 3D FX-5200 nividia card. Luckly it did install an OS picker so now I'm still running Dutch Knoppix 3.7 from the first partition. And I knew I could boot from CD like on the Mac.

Installing Knoppix was easy once you know the magic word. Its a bit secretive about installing to HD but how else am I going to install KDE with my only CD burner playing Knoppix.

Is there a nice application that can install Debian style system to another partion from inside Knoppix? It would really help to have google nearby at all times.

Thanks Klaus for letting me use my Sonata tower instantly (Mac users can't call THAT silent) and showing me it can and should work.

Knoppix saved my bacon too

[rjshields]

I had a dropped laptop with damaged hard disk sectors that wouldn't boot. I booted knoppix and managed to recover about 98% of my files from an NTFS partition.

Thanks, knoppix!

obligatory OT anti-ms comment

[ibennetch]

Microsoft makes Windex?

I knew they had to make *some* useful product.

whoppix

[philipacamaniac]

Knoppix is a great rescue tool, but Whoppix (www whoppix net) is the best MacGuyver tool.

I just bought this book

[notjonny]

Just came back from lunch after buying this book and then I see it on Slashdot. Coincidence? Well, ya, I guess so....

I've only quickly skimmed this and thought it was a little slow in the beginning, but I did see lots of interesting stuff later on so I decided to by it instead of trying to read it in B&N. I didn't know some of the variations even existed like the MythTV version.

In looking at the Knoppix website I did find lots of Knoppix based distributions listed. My favorite being Whoppix "a standalone penetration testing toolkit" though they do give another reason for it being called Whoppix.....

Gotta Love That Knoppix

[Ambient_Developer]

Knoppix, is an excellent distro for not only spreading linux, but also retrieving lost data and working with partitions. You just gotta love a all in one tool!

Download via BitTorrent

[ndege]

For those of you that might not know, Knoppix can be downloaded much faster (usually) via a BT. The main BT download page is here.

Download KNOPPIX_V3.6-2004-08-16-EN from here

Download KNOPPIX_V3.4-2004-05-17-EN from here

There are German versions of Knoppix available from the first link I referenced.

How many ways can Windows crap out?

[Anonymous Coward]

In most instances this "type" of book would have a limited market, however, Knoppix has created an unusually large audience. If this sounds strange, perhaps you haven't spent a couple of hours with Knoppix. It has NO equal that I have seen and enables a total Linux novice to have a positve and productive Linux experience in an amazingly short time. One more thing to consider is that everytime a Windows system locks up, it creates a new potential Knoppix user and customer for this book.

The truly amazing thing is that its taken this long for someone to exploit Knoppix as The Windows Repair Tool. The market is gigantic!!!!

interesting-Awsome coverage.

[Anonymous Coward]

"If you must, wear a Kondom."

Upgrade that to a Gondom, and she'll really be impressed.

Is Knoppix still the leading distro?

[Anonymous Coward]

Live-cd getting more use than installations?

Newb

[FallenAngel_Ca]

I recently have switched over from windoze to linux. I have a copy of Knoppix 3.6 and i used it to test my machine for hardware compatibility. Being pretty much a Linux newb, i had no clue what to do or how to use it, other then knowing that since it loaded presumably other linux distros should install without much difficulty. This book will definatly be on my 'To Get' list.

THE HUMANITY!!

[comet69]

oh my dear lord!! someone's hacked knopixx!

If they really want that book to sell . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

. . . They should call it "Surf for Porn on a Borrowed Computer and Leave No Traces."

Also, the book includes a nice extra -- a Knoppix disk that's actually stamped instead of burned.

knoppix is great

[torrents]

for most people because it's so simple to use and doesn't require much computer/linux knowledge to use it as a recovery disk. it's also pretty well documented

RDesktop Knoppix?

[grolschie]

I'd love to see a Knoppix variant that will simply do the following:
1). Grab an IP address via DHCP
2). Configure hardware
3). StartX
4). Prompt for Server name
5). Start RDesktop

Nothing else. I am amazed it hasn't been done yet. The ultimate thin client boot CD.

Re:RDesktop Knoppix?

[angelsdescent]

No, what you want is for the machine to do a reverse dns lookup and set the hostname accordingly

No point in manually doing what can be scripted

Re:RDesktop Knoppix?

[grolschie]

Basically a generic boot cd that will boot to a RDesktop would be ideal, rather than having to configure DHCP servers to allow network boot, etc. All a computer really needs is a unique computer name perhaps (randomly) and an IP. Or have I missed something?

Re:RDesktop Knoppix?

[Christopheles]

5). Start RDesktop

You misspelled 'SSH.'

With current live cd generation tools, however, this should be quite possible. Or even just Knoppix with a USB keychain (assuming it comes with RDesktop or the USB drive contains it)

Re:RDesktop Knoppix?

[Fabianx]

Well, this knoppix variant already exists and is called:

KNOPPIX.

Yes the mother / father is already capable of doing that :-) :

And its quite easy to use too:

Just do:

boot: knoppix desktop=rdp rdp_host=server-ip-or-name

And it'll just startup with a rdesktop pointed to your server and then automatically shut down again.

And if you want to do that automatically, just use this parameters in knoppix-terminalserver.

cu

Fabian

Nice addition to the CD

[Ehwaz003]

Well,
Since I've had to repair a couple of BSOD-prone Windowz boxes already with the help of Knoppix, I think this book can form a nice introduction to those same people who think Linux is just some sort of hacker software or who think that Windowz is the only OS on the planet!

But, looking at it from a different perspective, I do see that when it comes to using Knoppix as a general introduction to Linux, it won't work!!!
Most people will see Knoppix as a good way to see what Linux is all about, but they only want to see it when:
a. they are sure that when they remove the CD and reboot the PC, they see their "trusted" Win screen again, and
b. it can solve the problems that Win produced or when the OS messed up (again)

I've had to reply a while ago to somebody who would like to know how to mount a NTFS partition from a rescue disc, and while he was at it, he would like to see this enabled in all Linux Live CD's, so that "people would see what Linux is all about and would eventually change OS".
Yeah right!

Soon after I gave him the advice to use Knoppix and gave him some links to programs and commands that made him able to mount a NTFS partition, I asked him what he was going to do after he successfully mounted the NTFS partition and recovered his data...
Well, he was used to the OS he liked, so it was obvious that Linux wasn't going to be the only OS on his HDD after the data recovery...

What is the conclusion to this? Well, most people will see Linux as a TOOL to clean up the mess that Win made. Some other people will actually see it as a nice introduction to Linux.
But most people will not change OS, since they are so used to working or playing in their everyday environment, that it will demand a HUGE effort and willpower to format C it all and use Linux only.

Migrating people to Linux is becoming a lot harder when most people just see Linux as a tool or as a nice introduction, but nothing more then that...

STUX

[Shadow_139]

My so called "I.T. Manager" shity dell desktop crash, he installed WinXP SP2.., The root of all evil (and not the good-fun kind.., like FIRE and BEER). The PC had all the database crap on it, and on reports that we needed for a meeting that day. I throw a copy of "STUX LINUX" in the Drive, spent 3 mins setting up Samba, and it was back online. It's been running for 3 weeks now with not problems what so every. ----- "I wonder if I'm still crazy. Go find a cheerleader and saw her legs off. OKAY, that answers that." -Nny

Free hacks, get your free hacks!

[AlXtreme]

Kudos to Kyle for all his hard work!

For anyone interested, I had licensed my contributions under the GNU FPL; check them out (unedited) here.