REVIEWS Live Distro Roundup Highlights of the live Linux landscape LINUX LIVE Many fine live Linux distributions are waiting for you right now on the Internet. The right choice depends on what you need. BY FABRIZIO CIACCHI Linux live distribution is a com- (such as a browser, mail client, and mes- time, for example, to set the language or plete operating system that senger), and all the other tools you need activate the framebuffer. There is even a Astarts and works exclusively to work in Linux. command for using braille hardware. from a CD or DVD. You can boot the live Although live systems are designed to If you simply press ENTER at the boot Linux system from any PC as long as the operate without touching the perma- screen, after few minutes, you are in system supports the hardware. Because nent configuration, many can also be KDE 3.4, with OpenOffice.org 2 beta, a live system runs from the CD or DVD installed on the hard disk like any other Mozilla Firefox, The Gimp, and other drive, live distros don’t alter the contents Linux distribution. Because live systems desktop apps familiar to the Linux faith- of the hard disk. tend to be smaller and simpler than ordi- ful. The new DVD version has an unbe- Windows users who are thinking of nary Linux systems, they are often an lievable amount of software, including switching to Linux can use a live distro ideal solution for older computers with KDE-centric programs such as Kopete, to try Linux without disturbing their small hard disks and limited resources. Kaffeine, K3B, KOffice, and Konqueror, configuration. You can also use a live We tracked down a few of the most as well as Gnome-centric tools like Evo- distro to test whether a particular com- popular live distributions and tried them lution and Rhythmbox. You’ll also find puter supports Linux or to recover a out. We’ll begin our tour with the most graphics tools like Blender, Inkscape and damaged system. popular and influential of all the live dis- Sodipodi, multimedia tools such as To start a live system, simply put the tros, the famous Knoppix. See the Linux Xmms and Xine, and a collection of edu- CD or DVD in the drive and reboot. (If Magazine website [1] for more informa- cational programs. This dream of a fully- this doesn't work, see the box titled tion on permanently installing some of functional, CD-based desktop system is “Booting from your CD or DVD Drive.”) the distros described in this article. achieved through the hard work of The best live distros are not only for scripts that load the modules or pro- demo or recovery purposes. Many live Knoppix grams, and the whole system functions systems come with a graphical environ- Knoppix is generally considered THE with the precision of a Swiss clock. ment, an office suite, Internet programs Live Linux distribution. Knoppix was the Several other live distros are based on first live distro to support a GUI desktop. Knoppix. Some of these projects are only Fabrizio Ciacchi http:// fabrizio. Creator Klaus Knopper based Knoppix customizations, but others, such as ciacchi. it is an Italian student of on Debian [2]. From its first release, Kanotix, add valuable features. Klaus computer science at the University Knoppix has grown in size and also in Knopper often adopts these innovations of Pisa. He also works as a consul- functionality; for example, it is possible back into later versions of Knoppix. tant and writes articles on Linux. In to load all of Knoppix in RAM (if you his free time, he collaborates with have enough) and use the CD-Rom Slax the Abiword project (www.abiword. THEAUTHOR reader to read another CD. Knoppix also The main idea of the Slax project is to org). lets you pass a lot of commands at boot provide a set of several specialized 38 ISSUE 63 FEBRUARY 2006 WWW.LINUX - MAGAZINE.COM Live Distro Roundup REVIEWS Figure 1: Knoppix 4 is a mature live distribution with a huge collec- Figure 2: Slax is a clean and fast live Linux system with a very small tion of applications. footprint. small Linux versions from the same that fits on a business card CD. (Other and kernel source, which will let the base system. At the moment, four ver- distributions, such as DamnSmall- user compile any software – including sions of Slax are available. (A total of Linux, provide a full working environ- the Linux kernel. seven are planned.) All the Slax versions ment in the same space.) Slax has some very interesting character- have a size smaller than 185 MB, which The other Slax versions under develop- istics, such as its module system, which means that Slax fits on a Mini CD. The ment are: makes it easy for the developers to cus- current versions of Slax include: • Server edition – The Slax Server edi- tomize the different versions from a • Standard edition – a fast and easy to tion, which will contain common common base. The Slax module system use Linux live CD. The boot process server programs such as DNS, DHCP, also lets users quickly and easily install take no more than one minute, and SMB, HTTP, FTP, MySQL, SMTP, software from the Slax homepage; if you the system is ready to use and easy to POP3, IMAP, and SSH, is near to its re- want to create your own Slax CD, just configure. The software is all KDE-cen- lease. add the modules you need to the tric: Konqueror, Juk as Music player, • Hacker edition – So far the Hacker /module directory. Or. if you want to KPlayer as Media Player, Kopete for in- edition is only a concept. This edition use a module on the fly, open a terminal stant messagging, and KOffice instead will be a Swiss Army knife for Linux window and write uselivemod module- of the more famous OpenOffice.org. hackers; it will contain all the known name.mo. • KillBill edition – is very similar to security-related tools, like network Unless you like working with vi, you the standard edition, but it has some sniffers, intrusion detection systems, may have some trouble booting Slax in emulation programs, like QEMU, and so on. graphical environments. In the Standard dosbox, and WINE, to run Windows • Professional edition – The last edition and the KillBill edition, you may need vi programs or emulate hardware archi- of Slax will be a union of all the oth- to edit the xorg.conf file. vi is not even tectures. You can install Internet ers, and the hope will be to create this included with the Popcorn edition, Explorer using WINE, or you can union in a 1.4 GB (Mini DVD). This which could cause even more problems. test a CD ISO image using QEMU. version will also contain gcc, make, In spite of these complications, Slax is (You’ll find a very interesting article about QEMU in the Linux Magazine Booting from your CD or DVD Drive Archive [3].) To use a Linux live CD, you need to con- writer, be sure to select the CD reader, • Popcorn edition – The Popcorn edi- figure your computer to boot from the because, commonly, this option has bet- tion of Slax is like its parents: very CD drive. Many modern PCs boot from ter support for booting. Save the BIOS easy, very fast, and very clean. The the CD/ DVD drive by default. If your sys- setting, insert the Live CD in the drive, distinguishing feature of the Popcorn tem doesn’t boot automatically when a and reboot. edition is that KDE is replaced with CD or DVD is in the CD/ DVD drive, con- Remember that booting from a Linux XFCE, and this change causes other sult your vendor documentation or live distribution doesn’t touch your in- changes in the application lineup. watch the boot screen for instructions on stalled system; the only way to destroy You’ll find BMP instead of Juk, how to enter the BIOS configuration the data on your hard disk is if you Mplayer instead of Kplayer, and Abi- menu. (The instructions may vary de- “play” with the partitions, so if you’re pending on your motherboard manufac- worried about protecting your data, word instead of KOffice. turer.) Select as your first boot device don’t try any of the options that affect • Frodo edition – Text-based Frodo is your CD/ DVD drive; if you have options your hard disk unless you are sure of the “light” edition of Slax, intended for both a CD reader and a CD/ DVD what you are doing. only as a portable recovery system WWW.LINUX - MAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 63 FEBRUARY 2006 39 REVIEWS Live Distro Roundup Figure 3: The simple and practical Mepis distribution is based on Figure 4: Elive comes with the very fast and attractive Enlighten- KDE. ment 17 window manager. one the most powerful live distributions; a reputation as a system that is simple Mepis edition is a Windows 98 user it is fast and easy to install, and the and uncomplicated for beginners to who wants an operating system that is range of editions cover a range of user install and use. modern and fast. This edition is a needs, with some small problems related Mepis has become one of the most good choice if you have a Pentium II to the distro’s young age. popular Linux distributions and now has with 128 of Ram. a life of its own. The installation is very • SoHoServer – The SoHo edition of Mepis easy, and the included software is appro- Mephis is missing much of the multi- Mepis may be the only Debian-based priately balanced.