Several months ago my second book came out, Hacking Knoppix. Prior to that, O'Reilly released a (good) book on the same subject titled Knoppix Hacks. Yup, the two sure sound alike. On the CWE-LUG list, JT asked a good question: "What is the differentiators between the books? Do they have core themes or do they just deal with different hacks?" Robert - who was the tech editor for Hacking Knoppix and also wrote an appendix, had this to say as an answer. He nailed it, IMHO. <begin Robert> Here's my take: Knoppix Hacks: a large collection of small hacks Hacking Knoppix: a small collection of large hacks So, Hacking Knoppix goes into more depth on a fewer hacks, with a fair amount of emphasis on remastering. I think the two books complement each other well. But perhaps I'm biased. :) <end Robert> (Check out all of our posts on Knoppix.) ...

I'm cleaning out my bookmarks, Bloglines clippings, & del.icio.us links, & here are a bunch on Knoppix. Enjoy! TechBookReport: Knoppix Hacks Kyle Rankin wrote a really good book for O'Reilly a while back: Knoppix Hacks. Now, granted, I've got a book coming out soon about Knoppix (Hacking Knoppix), but I've got to give props to Kyle - his book is really good. For a short review of the book, check out TechBookReport's look. Hint: they like it. Fun with Knoppix Another look at Kyle Rankin's Knoppix Hacks, this time from the awesomely geeky folks at Ars Technica. It includes an interview with Kyle, as well as some good info on the book and Knoppix. It's not hugely in depth, but it's a quick read, and you'll probably learn a little sumpin' sumpin'. Download Knoppix 4.0.2 Hey, it'd be silly of me to talk about Knoppix without telling you how to go get it for yourself! There are now 2 versions of Knoppix: a maxi version that comes on ...

Knoppix is awesome, but books about Knoppix act as icing upon the already delicious cake. The O'Reilly book Knoppix Hacks is great, & my upcoming book Hacking Knoppix is going to be wonderful, but there's another book that you really ought to check out about the coolest Live CD in the world: Knowing Knoppix, a 134-page FREE ebook. And when I say free, I mean both in terms of cost and the fact that the text is released under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. Available as both PDF and OpenOffice.org 1.1.1 SXW formats. So, get Knowing Knoppix now, buy Kyle Rankin's book soon after, & then buy my book when it comes out sometime in the near future. Do that, & you'll know everything there is to know about Knoppix. Everything! (Check out all of our posts on Knoppix.) ...

I'm such a dork - I forgot to tell you guys that my new book is out, or actually has been out for a few months now. Titled Hacking Knoppix (not Hacking Knoppix, which is also a good book, btw), here's the description I wrote: Knoppix is one of the great innovations in open source software in the last few years. Everyone that sees it wants to use it, since it is that rarest of software tools: the true Swiss Army Knife, capable of use by unsophisticated, experienced, and wizardly users, able to perform any of several hundred (if not thousand) tasks in an efficient and powerful way. Best of all, it’s super easy to employ, ultra-portable, and platform- and hardware-agnostic. Knoppix camps on your system without canceling out your regular installation or messing with your files. And it's really fun to play with. Hacking Knoppix provides all kinds of ways to customize Knoppix for your particular needs, plus the scoop on various Knoppix distros. Learn to build a Knoppix first-aid kit for repairing cranky ...

Recently on a mailing list I'm on, Alice suggested to Bob that he install Knoppix on his hard drive. I responded thusly: <begin quotation> I really really really caution against installing Knoppix on the hard drive. I'm writing a book right now on Knoppix for Wiley & Sons (almost done, thank {diety}), & we strongly urge people not to do that. It just doesn't work very well. Knoppix is totally awesome as a Live CD, but it's not very good for actual installs. Instead, you really should use Kanotix, which is specifically designed to be installed on a machine. I've used it for months, & it's fabulous. http://kanotix.com/info/index.php Trust me: use Kanotix for hard drive installs, not Knoppix. <end quotation> (Check out all of my posts on Knoppix & Kanotix.) ...

There's a new Knoppix in town, & this is the best one yet! Knoppix 3.8.1 dropped a few days ago, and you can download the 700 MB ISO from a variety of places (PLEASE use BitTorrent!). New stuff includes: kernel 2.6.11 (no more 2.4), write support for all virtual directories using UNIONFS so you can install software even without writable file systems (!), support for Centrino2 wireless (awesome!), the ability to create a permanent /home on a hard drive (even if it's formatted as NTFS), KDE 3.3.2, Gimp 2.2.4, & OpenOffice 1.1.4. That's quite an upgrade! I've been using it for over a week, & it's really nice. A nice review of the new Knoppix can be found at O'Reilly. Kyle Rankin's "Knoppix 3.8 and UnionFS. Wow. Just Wow." focuses on, uh, UNIONFS. It's a good piece. Read it. (Check out all my previous posts on Knoppix.) ...

Someone posted a comment yesterday after I blogged about Knoppix 3.8.1 a few days ago. They wanted to know more about UnionFS. The best explanation I've seen for UnionFS was written by Kyle Rankin, author of the very good Knoppix Hacks, in an article he wrote for O'Reilly Network called "Knoppix 3.8 and UnionFS. Wow. Just Wow.". If you want a quick, easy-to-understand explanation of UnionFS and why it's so exciting for Linux, and especially Knoppix (and all other Live CDs, by extension), go read Kyle's piece. (Check out all my posts on Knoppix.) ...

Earlier today I told you about the latest release of Knoppix 3.8.1. Now let me tell you about a Live CD that may be even better. Kanotix is based on Knoppix, but it tries to be a bit more bleeding edge in its packages. In addition - and this is important - Kanotix acts a bit better than Knoppix if you actually go ahead and install it on a hard drive (yes, I know you can install Knoppix, but it's really not meant to be installed, and I've always had it flake out on me when I did so). I've installed Kanotix on one of my machines, and it's working great. You really ought to download Kanotix (using BitTorrent, of course)and have it in your toolkit, whether you simply use it as a Live CD or actually take the plunge and install it (and if you're interested, here's the package list). (Check out all my previous posts on Kanotix.) ...

I'm busy right now writing a book on Knoppix (more on that later), but one of my favorite Knoppix variants has just released a new version: Kanotix 2005-03. Knoppix is a Live CD, as is Kanotix, but where Knoppix just won't run well if you actually install it (sure, you can, but I wouldn't), Kanotix is an excellent Live CD AND an excellent installed OS. Just make sure you follow the instructions for installing it found in "KANOTIX - Putting the Pizzazz on Debian". New features in the latest Kanotix release: kernel 2.6.11.11 (with patches), ACPI & DMA enabled by default, Unionfs support, KDE 3.4.1, OpenOffice.org 1.9.104, ALSA 1.0.8, & much more. Read the release announcement. Downloads are available via FTP, HTTP, & BitTorrent. It's a 700 MB ISO. Use BitTorrent if you can - on a cable modem connection, this thing downloaded in about 1 half hour! (Check out all my postings on Kanotix.) ...

Catix is a Live CD, based on Knoppix, and designed for the Catalan language. 64 screenshots of Catix are now available from the great people over at O'Reilly's OSDir. IndLinux is for those who speak languages spoken in India: Hindi (KDE), Tamil (KDE), Punjabi (GNOME), and Bengali (GNOME). 51 screenshots of IndLinux can be seen at OSDir. Thanks for the tip, Chris! ...

Some of these are a bit long in the tooth at this point (the article is from January), but this is still a neat overview of 18 (count 'em, 18) different Live CD distros of Linux, including the following: Basilisk (based on Fedora), BeatrIX (based on Debian/Knoppix/Ubuntu), Berry Linux (based on Fedora), Damn Small Linux (based on Debian), FreeSBIE (based on Free BSD), Gnoppix (Knoppix/Debian plus Gnome, now merged with Ubuntu), Kanotix (modified Knoppix/Debian), Knoppix (the first big live CD, based on Debian), Luit (Debian/Xfce, rox filing system), Mandrake Move (based on Mandrake), Mepis (Debian), Morphix (modular Debian), PCLinuxOS Preview (a Mandrake fork), Sam (Mandrake/Xfce), SLAX (Slackware), Suse 9.1 and 9.2 (rpm-based), Ubuntu Live (Debian), & Xfld (Debian/Damn Small Linux and Xfce). Whew! Now,don't expect anything in-depth. Instead, this of this article like a tapas bar: you get a sampler of each distro, & not much more. He does do a good job categorizing distros by ...

Most of you reading this know that deleting a file actually does nothing, really - you can still get to that file. And formatting a disk or partition doesn't necessarily remove data either. No, to really get rid of the stuff on a drive, you have to securely wipe it. Sure, there are tools to do that - heck, you could use Knoppix - but here's a thing that's built to do one thing only: securely wipe an entire hard drive. It's Darik's Boot and Nuke, and you can put it on a bootable floppy or CD. Boot with it, and bang! your data's gone. Works for Windows, Linux, and now Mac OS X! Just be freakin' careful with this thing, OK? If you use it, your data is gone. So don't come whinin' back to me that you accidentally deleted your girlfriend's emails. That's your problem, buddy, not mine. (Check out all my postings on Knoppix and security.) ...

Yes, I'm cleaning out all the stuff I've saved about Linux reviews. I like reviews, almost every Linux user I know likes reviews, and even the non-Linux folks should read these reviews so that they can better appreciate their own OS choices. So now I've got 2 on Linspire. "What Linspire Has Going For It" is a few months old, but it's still worth your time. Basically, he focuses on the Linspire Click-N-Run Warehouse, praises it, & offers some suggestions. I've been playing with something similar for the last few days as I've been delving into Knoppix deeply; namely, the klik site, where you can "run thousands of debian applications without installation". Most of the time, it really works (some apps on Knoppix just don't install, like OpenOffice.org 2.0 preview, for instance). klik supports these distros: Kanotix BH 8-X, Knoppix 3.7 2004-12-08, Simply MEPIS 2004.4, and Linspire 5 (although it apparently works with some other distros as well - gad, more evidence of the innovations ...

I'm really proud to announce that my 3rd book is now out & available for purchase: Linux Phrasebook. My first book - Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox - was for general readers (really!) who wanted to learn how to move to and use the fantastic Firefox web browser. I included a lot of great information for more technical users as well, but the focus was your average Joe. My second book - Hacking Knoppix - was for the more advanced user who wanted to take advantage of Knoppix, a version of Linux that runs entirely off of a CD. You don't need to be super-technical to use and enjoy Hacking Knoppix, but the more technical you are, the more you'll enjoy the book. Linux Phrasebook is all about the Linux command line, and it's perfect for both Linux newbies and experienced users. In fact, when I was asked to write the book, I responded, "Write it? I can't wait to buy it!" The idea behind Linux Phrasebook is to give practical examples of Linux commands and their myriad options, with examples for ...

I write a lot about Knoppix, since it's the most widely used Live CD, full of a gazillion different software titles designed to do just about any ol' thing. However, sometimes you don't need all that firepower. Sometimes you just need a Live CD that will rescue your system. In those cases, you need the … SystemRescueCd! It includes Parted (change & create disk partitions), PartImage (clone your hard drive), sfdisk (backup & restore partition tables), Clam A/V (anti-virus), and much, much more. Best of all - it's only a smidge over 100 MB! Woohoo! Download it (guys - where's the BitTorrent? Huh?), read about it, read the list of software included. This is a good one to keep around, lemme tell ya. ...