Knoppix 6.2.1

KNOPPIX is a bootable Live system on CD, consisting of a representative collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a productive Linux system for the desktop, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it.

Microknoppix

"Microknoppix" is a complete rewrite of the KNOPPIX boot system with the following features:

• High compatibility with its Debian base: Aside from configuration files, nothing gets changed in Debians standard installation.
• Accellerated boot procedure: Multiple tasks of system initialization are run in parallel, so that interactive desktops are reached very fast. Start time is reduced to about half compared to versions 5.x.
• LXDE is used as graphical environment, which is a very slim and fast desktop with extremely short starttime and low resource requirements. Because of its GTK2 base, LXDE works together nicely with screenreader Orca.
• Amount of installed software has been greatly reduced in this first CD-version, so that custom remasters based on CD are possible again. In general, there are much fewer dependencies for the KNOPPIX-specific components, so that even small remasters, 256MB and less, can be created (hence the "Micro" part).
• Network configuration is being handled by NetworkManager with nm-applet in graphics mode, and textual GUIs in textmode (compatible to Debians /etc/network/interfaces specification, but without ifup/ifdown).
• A persistent image for saving personal settings and additionally installed programs, KNOPPIX/knoppix-data.img, is supported on the boot device. That way, even the boot system and startup scripts can be changed in the persistent image.