Knoppix 7.0.1-Update
Brand new Knoppix Live DVD is out and I could not wait till I tested it to write a few lines.
But I have some complaints too.
First the compliments.
It looks fresh and it has 4 desktops.
1. LXDE
2.Gnome
3.KDE
4.LarsWM--Light Weight Window Manager
On a live session one can switch from one desktop to the other in a flash.
Its has GPRS capability.
Compis is there and graphic features are fantastic.
Cheese the Web camera is much improved with very clear pictures.One can have root password.
One needs to change it after installing.
Detect hardware in a breeze.
Orcas works well and tell you the keyboard shortcuts, which is handy for a blind person.
Now the complaints.
It is slow to boot up but understandable with the amount of software packed into one DVD.
It is very slow to install for the aforementioned reason.
Even though, there is warning not to remove the DVD it can be removed.
Installation does not go on smoothly.
It hangs up without reading the DVD in LXDE and Gnome modes.
With LXDE after several attempts, I wanted to give up (in my laptop with big hard disk and plenty of RAM).
I tried the brand hew Gnome desktop and could not figure out where the applications were but when finally I tried installing it to hard disk it failed to continue.
It also did not read the DVD.
It also did not read the DVD.
It could not fetch the installation files from the DVD.
Then finally as a last resort I tried the KDE, which is the Debian desktop and it worked but it took a very long time.
My guess is, because I had lot of RAM, once the files were in the RAM, the DVD went to sleep mode.
I could take it without a problem, in spite of the warning.
I could take it without a problem, in spite of the warning.
Gnome is brand new and looks appealing to the newbies. but it has some teething problems as far as the installation is concerned.
Since KDE is heavy and graphic intensive, all the files were not mounted on RAM and the DVD was in active mode and missing files (installation script probably) were fetched, after a little pause.
My biggest complaint is that it did not detect my other Linux distributions but only windows.
The GRUB needs to be updated to detect Linux distributions.
I will have to install AntiX on a little partition, it takes less than 3 GiB and it has one of the best GruB files and detect multiple distributions (everything installed) without any hassle.
It is my savior!
In the good old days it was Redhat and even Fedora Grub is not up to date.
Overall it is one of my favorite ( the shear number of software) Live distributions, only second to Puppy.
The Gnome desktop looks pretty impressive and I am slowly becoming addicted to it more than the KDE.
Its tablet like feeling and look to the desktop can lure any newbie.
Well done Boys and Girls.
Coming from Germany it has very neat and tidy look.
Not being able to install in a FLASH, gave me some time to explore the inner working of it.
That was a blessing in disguise.
This DVD is included in the Linux April Magazine and if you are lazy to download, order a copy of the April magazine before it goes out of stock.
Mind you downloading took nearly two days due to lack of seeders.
If you download it with torrent, please keep your computer running to build up a seed farm of Knoppix 7.0.
I keep my computer running as a seeder for the next couple of weeks.
Hurry up and download or order a April Linux magazine with the DVD.
