Knoppix -- a towering achievement

Even if you've never run Linux before in your life -- or if you've been using it daily for a decade -- you need Knoppix, the best usable live-CD OS out there.

I confess. It was my first. My first Linux, that is. And that same version, 5.1.1, is still current (developer Klaus Knopper is very methodical in his work).

Besides being a great system to use -- and to use as a rescue disk when things are broken -- Knoppix lets you see what a Debian Linux system can do (and in this case, a Debian system running the KDE desktop and packed with apps). For even more software, get or burn the Knoppix DVD. I have a DVD-ROM but not a burner, and I'm thinking of ordering a DVD. And just as you can run Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux in RAM (if you've got 128 MB for the former, 256 MB for the latter -- though those are just my estimates), Knoppix can be booted to run in RAM (with the toram boot command) on systems with ... is it 1 GB, or 512 MB, I can't remember.

Right now Knoppix 5.2 is starting to float around. It was released in a German magazine in July, and was supposed to be out this summer.

There are some great Knoppix tips in Carla Schroder's Linux Cookbook, as well as books that apply specifically to Knoppix.

I recommend "Knoppix Hacks," by Kyle Rankin. A new edition is forthcoming.