Duel of the Distros There Have Been Many Recent Reports of Kanotix Out-Knoppixing Knoppix

REVIEWS Kanotix

Kanotix: Out-Knoppixing Knoppix? Duel of the Distros There have been many recent reports of Kanotix out-knoppixing Knoppix . Users say that Kanotix has better hardware detection and a simpler hard disk install. In this article, a lead- ing Knoppix contributor gives his view on what Kanotix really does offer. BY FABIAN FRANZ www .photocase.de

he Kanotix [1] live distribution is “Thanks for Knoppix. I like it a lot, but to Kanotix as “Knoppix Unstable.” Many based on the well-known Knoppix I had to improve it :)”. Kano is well- of the drivers and programs tested in Tdistro and named after Kanotix’ known in the Knoppix Community and Kanotix find their way into the original creator, Jörg “Kano” Schirottke. Jörg con- on the Knoppix Forum [2]. He is also the Knoppix distro later. The current version tributed a number of patches and most active participant, having con- is Kanotix Bughunter 7A, and the current programs to the Knoppix distro but was tributed about 5,000 postings, and he developer version is Bughunter 8. To unhappy with the way development was has answered nearly every question compare features, I used Knoppix 3.4 progressing. It took too long for patches thrown at him. and Knoppix 3.6 “aKademy” edition. to make their way into the distribution, In contrast to Knoppix, Kanotix is and according to Jörg, the team was not based on the Debian Unstable/Sid Well-Dressed producing enough releases. But what branch. In other words, you could refer When they boot into Kanotix, users are bugged Jörg more treated to a GUI menu (see Figure 1) than anything else where they can select from several cheat was the fact that code combinations. (In the world of Knoppix is quite Knoppix, boot parameters are referred to happy to run on as cheat codes.) You can use cheat codes a 486er, but it to set some parameters at boot time. By is not optimized default, Kanotix enables ACPI and the for more modern ALSA soundsystem, in contrast to Knop- hardware. Kanotix pix. Instead of supplying parameters needs at least a such as lang=fr, or whatever, users can 586 machine. simply press function keys [F2] through To keep a long [F4] for the option they need. [F1] gives story short, Kano users help and guidelines on selecting Schirottke forked cheat codes. the project and Kanotix detected most of the hardware launched his own in my HP Compaq NX5000 laptop with- distribution. His Figure 1: In contrast to Knoppix, Kanotix has a GUI-based boot menu where out me needing to change anything; website says: users can select cheat codes. Table 1 shows a comparison with Knop-

38 December 2004 www.linux-magazine.com Kanotix REVIEWS

is typically all it takes to get these Table 1: Detected Hardware (HP Compaq NX5000) devices running. Hardware component Kanotix BH 7 Kanotix BH 8 Knoppix 3.4 Knoppix 3.6 Kanotix claims to have the latest soft- Network card Yes Yes No Yes ware. If a program from Debian unstable Centrino Wireless card No Yes (ndiswrapper) No Yes (ndiswrapper becomes too old, the author just com- + download Windows driver) piles a package from the latest sources, i810 Graphics card (GLX and XV) Yes Yes Yes Yes as was the case with the SIM instant i810 Sound card Yes Yes Yes Yes messaging tool. PCMCIA,USB,Firewire Yes Yes Yes Yes ACPI Yes Yes Yes Yes Installation If you decide to make Kanotix perma- pix. Although the mouse was detected as Thanks to Debian unstable, Kanotix nent on your hard disk, simply type sudo a “PC Speaker” (maybe they meant PC has the latest software. Bughunter 8 has kanotix-installer in a terminal window. squeaker), it still worked. Kanotix KDE 3.3, whereas Knoppix 3.6 is still at You may be familiar with the installation detected a whole bunch of devices that KDE 3.2. Kanotix also integrates devel- tool from Knoppix, but the standard Knoppix does not support. For example, oper tools like Quanta and Kommander, filesystem is ReiserFS. Select Create con- Kanotix configured a AVM Fritz! Card although you will not find KDevelop in figuration, then choose a free partition, DSL with no trouble at all. And it set up the Kanotix package. Another interesting type your username and password, and a Broadcom NIC that Knoppix wanted features is the QEmu emulation soft- select Start Installation. After you com- nothing to do with. ware. QEmu emulates a PC, in a vein plete the install, you have access to a When Kanotix launches the GUI desk- similar to VMWare, and allows users to number of scripts that automatically top, users get to see the Kanotix mascot, launch complete operating systems configure a number of programs. Table 2 a fish. The Fish menu is located right under Linux. shows you some of these configuration next to the KDE logo, in the bottom left Kanotix was one of the first distribu- scripts, and there is a complete list of corner of the screen. From here, users tions to provide full support for the scripts at [3]. can launch Kanotix programs, launch newly-released Reiser 4 filesystem. And But be careful: the installed system services, and set up hardware. One of if you are missing an application, the live may be newer than Knoppix, but Debian Kanotix’s outstanding features is the fact installation feature enables you to install unstable packages can break and take that it supports so called Win modems, that application while the system is run- your system down. If you are which otherwise require proprietary dri- ning. For example, users can download experiencing difficulty with Kanotix and vers. Nvidia drivers off the Internet via the need some advice on what to do, check fish menu and install the drivers in a out [4] for an extremely active com- Package Selections unified process. munity that is only too happy to help. The menu also has tools for ISDN, The Klik software warehouse makes it Don’t be surprised if you bump into Apache, and even the Guarddog firewall. really easy to integrate new software Kano himself. ■ Just like Knoppix, Kanotix uses “Cap- with your Kanotix system; just select the tive” to mount NTFS partitions, Partition Klik button with your browser. Kanotix INFO Image, and QTParted to create and save uses Ndiswrapper, just like Knoppix 3.6, [1] Kanotix: partitions. On the downside, Kanotix but the Kanotix Ndiswrapper comes http://www.kanotix.com/ does not integrate the Debian menu but complete with configurations for a few [2] Knoppix Forum (inactive at time of writ- adds a separate menu. Windows drivers. modprobe ndiswrapper ing):http://www.linuxtag.org/forum/ [3] Kanotix scripts: Table 2: Useful Post-Install Scripts http://www.kanotix.com/files/ install-nvidia-VERSION-debian.sh Installs version VERSION of NVidia graphics card driver. [4] Kanotix Forum: http://kanotix.mipooh.net/ install-nvidia-debian.sh Installs compatible version of Nvidia graphics card driver. install-radeon-VERSION-debian.sh Installs version VERSION of Radeon graphics card driver,Radeon 8500 or later. install-radeon-debian.sh Installs compatible version VERSION of Radeon graphics card driver,Radeon 8500 or Fabian Franz is studying Computer Sci- later. ence at the University of Karlsruhe, fix-fonts.sh Regenerates fonts. Fonts below /usr/share/fonts/ttf are added. Germany.He has been actively involved fix-5b-mouse.sh Enables side keys on 7 button mouse,and sets their function to forward/backward. in development at the Knoppix project since 2003. Fabian contributed Knoppix fix-time.sh In case of time problems, this script resets the timezone. HOR hard disk installation routines,and has fix-ssh.sh Creates unique SSH keys. T done research work on various aspects apache-start.bash Launches the Apache web server. of Live CD technology.He presented a dvb-nexus load Enables Nexus DVB card,providing DVB support in Xine:xine dvb:// prototype of Knoppix for the Macin-

dvb-pctvsat load Enables PCTV Sat DVB card,providing DVB support in Xine:xine dvb:// THE AU tosh at the last Linuxtag,and kanotix-irc.sh Launches a text mode chat client.This is particularly useful if the GUI does not launch. developed a live installer that can smbconfig.sh Creates a basic Samba configuration and launches the Samba server. Configuration install programs and drivers into a run- can be finalized using the Control Center. ning Knoppix CD boot version.