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Knoppix 3.6 running Konqueror and Netris
The popularity of Knoppix is due to many factors. Its extensive hardware detection allows the majority of systems to boot straight into a graphical environment without the need for manual configuration. It connects automatically to most kinds of networks, and includes software both for use as a computer system (notably web browsers, OpenOffice.org, and the GIMP) and for system repair. The complete graphical environment and networking make it much more comfortable than the previous generation of boot floppies for system administrators repairing systems whose hard drives won't boot.
Knoppix 3.6 was released on August 23, 2004, and features KDE 3.2.3, Linux kernel versions 2.4.27 and 2.6.7, OpenOffice.org 1.1.1, The GIMP 2.0 and improved hardware detection.
Knoppix has a wide variety of free softwareThis article refers to free software as defined by the Free Software Foundation. For software available free of charge, see Freeware. The term free software refers to software which, once obtained, can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed.. There are more than 900 software packages included. Up to 2 gigabyteA gigabyte (symbol GB is a unit of measurement in computers of one thousand million bytes (the same as one billion bytes in the short scale usage). However, because computers work on the binary system, rather than a gigabyte being 103 Megabytes (1000 MBs)s can be stored on the CD in compressedIn computer science, data compression is the process of encoding information using fewer bits, or information units, thanks to specific encoding schemes. For example, this article could be encoded with fewer bits if we accept the convention that the word form. When a program is used, it is decompressed into a RAM drive. The decompression is transparentIn human-computer interaction, computer transparency is an aspect of user friendliness which prevents the user from worrying about technical details (like installation, updating, downloading or device drivers). For instance, a program that automatically d and on-the-fly. Knoppix recommends at least 128 mb of RAM in order to accomodate this RAM drive.
Unlike most Linux distributions, it does not require a hard drive installation; the system can boot from a single 700 megabyte Compact disc. One needs a bootable CD or DVD-ROM drive to start Knoppix from a CD. In order to start the CD/DVD, it may be necessary to enter the BIOS Setup of your computer and select the CD drive before the hard drive or floppy drive in the boot order. Insert the CD and restart the computer.
Knoppix may also be installed on the hard drive using an installation script. However, the hard disk installation is recommended only for advanced users, since Knoppix is meant for use from the CD. The installation script is "knoppix-installer" or "knx2hd" from Knoppix 3.3 onward, or "knx-hdinstall" previously. Use caution since this may affect other disk partitions and requires enough advanced knowledge to create partition space for Linux and Linux-swap partitions.
As a LiveCD, any documents or settings a user creates disappear upon reboot. This lack of permanence for anything a user does is a strength of Knoppix in some areas, but makes it necessary to save any documents explicity to a hard drive partition or over the network. Another possibility to save data is to store a user's home directory on a removable medium, such as a USB thumbdrive. By carrying a Knoppix CD and a USB thumbdrive with them, a user can have the same environment, programs, settings, and data available on every computer they may use. However, this approach does not allow the installation of additional applications, which would require a hard drive installation.
There are different possible uses of the Knoppix live CD: