Let's keep the fairly simply. Those of use who use Live Linux verisons veruse Full featured distros have tried atleast a couple. In my case 6 different flavors. I want just one version listed, and what makes it your favorite.
Also provide a link for the free download, and to be live it must be able to run from the CD/DVD in RAM. If you have more than one verison or the same distrbution list them but explain what makes verison 1 different from verison two.


Distribution

Puppy Linux


Features

1)Can run from a 256mb RAM drive. Needs no hard drive.

2)Can run from RAM and save a preferences and data created back to the same CD\DVD if a burner is available. This is useful if your need to travel and have computers where you go that have burns and you don't want to leave your data on several coputers. This is called Multisession.

3)Can be ran from CD but the preferences are save to the hard drive. Puppy Linux can reside on a FAT32 partition within a Windows folder. This means you don't have to create a partition to install this Linux. There is a plugin that will allow Puppy to work on a NTSF partition also.

4)Can be install on the hard drive inside of a folder inside of windows. Once again no secondary partition.

5)Can be installed as a stand alone operating system. I have put the older verison an several P-I 200mhz with 64mb of RAM and it was faster than '95. I have not tested the current verison 1.0.7. Verison 1.0.4 works very well though.

I have given over 200 copies of puppy to people that want something other than windows. To date I know that 21 of tham have format over '9x and ar using just Puppy Linux. I gave away several computers over the Christmas holiday to kids that need a computer for school. All of the were P-III 450-500mhz with 128mb RAM and Chubby Puppy 1.0.7 (A variant} and not one of them requested windows once they used it for a while.
I currently use it on a P-II 333mhz w/256mb for my second computer. If you have seen me in chat I was on that computer.
Never having use this before you can go from computer off to online with DSL/Cable in 3 to 7 mins depending what setting you need. Chubby Puppy is the same as the standard, but it has Open Office intergraded into it.
Have not found a down side for me yet.
One last note. I switched my 75 year old mother to it from XP Home and she finds it far simplier. She did not touch a computer till 2 years ago. Late August she moved to Puppy Linux.


http://www.goosee.com/puppy/ (original site)

http://www.puppylinux.org/

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT6545156120.html

hiya acklan puppy is a nice live cd i have alot of them mandrakmove, slax, onebase Go, overclockix, damnsmall linux, luth, whoppix, whax, knoppix-STD, knoppix, the list goes on there all good but i gotta say knoppix out of em all,,
its the daddy of live linux cd's its a gr8 on the fly desktop or recovery tool it can be used from cd and ram to a poorman install where you still boot from cd but it will run off a knoppix file on a hard drive if you put the file there or you can full install it
iv fixed many trashed windows michines with it and recoverd data off of windows michines that could not be saved i have knopix installed on afew of my michines and ubuntu also along with uum (cough cough) windows,, i run ubuntu the most .
ubuntu also has a live cd too but for me if im gonna use a live cd it be knoppix

great question acklan. i've been dying to rave about all the great live distros i've been playing with lately. i'm glad to see other distros mentioned, i'll be sure and give those a try. it's hard to pick a favorite yet cause i'm still pretty new at linux and i might change my mind on the next one i try. each one is more amazing than the last. it's like getting a new computer everytime i pop one of these live cd's in, loool. so i'll say my current favorite is the one i just started using tonight. kanotix 2005 -04. i've tried puppy, dsl, ubuntu, kubuntu, mepis, linspire, pclos, suse, adios, slax, elive, pingwinek, knoppix, goblinx, and vector. i even have debian and fedora i can run inside vmplayer. sorry about the list. i know you said only one. but it's kind of an old joke around linux forums. when you ask for one favorite you get a thousand, looool. i hope you don't mind.

ok, my current favorite is kanotix 2005-04 live cd. released jan 1 2006. i like the number of programs i am finding in here. it also has a package client different from the normal package manager. it's called "klik". it's basically a website with a huge list of applications that download to a file on your live desktop. they do not install. they run from the compressed file. i downloaded the ace of penguins.

this version of kanotix comes with firefox 1.5 and i can usually install all my necessary extensions in a few minutes in any live version. of course you lose all your customizing when you reboot unless you save your configuration. i need to learn how to do that.

the desktop is KDE. icewm and twm environments are available. with KDE comes most of the KDE programs. i think i saw gnome in the klik client also.

some of the cool apps are; streamtuner, vlc, akregator, skype, kopete, an excellent help system, OOo, gimp, and many others i have no idea what they are. anything missing can probably be found thru klik. i'll need at least a week to browse everything, looooooool.

usually i go back to my windows xp after running these live cd's for a few hours but i'm gonna keep this one booted up for awhile. it looks pretty good.

http://distrowatch.com/index.php?distribut...th=all&year=all
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=kanotix
http://kanotix.com/index.php?&newlang=eng

wanna see a nice list of live cd's
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php

2 more live cd's were released just today per distrowatch news
http://distrowatch.com/

i hope it's ok to use image shack around here.

This is great. It's kust what I wanted. I would have like everyone to fouce on one distro so that the new comers could get a first hand on the best features of the distro you emphysis but this is looking good.
Hopefully the newbies looking for a FREE '9X replacement will atleast try it.
Keep it rollig guys (and gals), and post a second if you forget something.

heres a good howto for knoppix its a quick guide on how to do first aid on a trashed michine

http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/

Well I have tried most of the "live" distros and found that
Knoppix did most of what I wanted. Until I installed it to my
hard drive on a laptop. Slow and sloppy.
Then I found PCLinuxOS and it worked flawlessly.
So good in fact that I installed it onto the laptop and everything just works.
Now I have it installed on my desktop.

What is PCLinuxOS?:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/whatis.html

Nice site about PCLOS:
http://www.denverlinux.com/myfirstlinux/

Downloads:(i downloaded pclinuxos-p92 and installed my own nvidia drivers
when i installed it,but you should download the one for your video card)
http://www.pclinuxos.com/download.html

acklan like you i refurb boxs from where i work that are getting the old heave ho! they go to those who need them. i came accross Puppy a few weeks ago and became completely excited about it.

i havn't given any boxs away with it on yet so im glad to read your feed back on it. i have a friend whos a guidence counciler for an inner city school system and he comes accross some very bright kids that really NEED them. and open office 2 is very cool for them to learn everything on. On a P-II 350 with 64 Meg it runs a bit faster than win98 (thats a clean install of win98) but it's every bit as up to date as XP and makes those old machines very usable. (i just threw some 200's away now i can kick myself.) with the linux system the users will have a hard time bogging the box down with spyware and viruses. unfortunatly it can't be used with aol AFAIK. not that im a big fan of aol but its popular with the kids. anybody know of a cheap dial-up for *nix?

but to add to the discussion:

i think SUSE live is really a nice live cd. and it can also be a complete (well basic complete) install to your hard drive if you like it. it doesn't require any additional configuration at all. at least in my experience on a dozen or so machines. open the browser and your online. no net config necessary. however like most "full" linux packages KDE needs memory so it really doesn't make a good replacement on a win98 box without adding memory. the processor is usually fine though.

My kids (the ones who receive the free computers) use local ISPs to connect without problems. Have you tried Juno. They have 10 hours free and the support Lindows. It might work with Puppy.

no ack i havn't. as i said i havn't given this os out yet. and aol or att installs with no problem on windows although im not around when this happens.

id like to know more about you local isp thing, if you dont mind. have you made a deal with them. i could probably get the schools to go for this if any action on there part was required. in the not too distant past i would include net zero which was free and would only run on windows because of the ads. they joined with juno and you might be right about supporting *nix...seem to remember that but its also 10 bucks now too. ill have to check. i also give them to shut-ins which for some reason have become rather hard to find lately but i fear thats going to change shortly.

Juno is free for the firt 10 hours. http://www.juno.com/ . Look under the second add. My local ISP charges $15/mo. No deal by any stretch.
You could try WINE in Linux.

http://www.winehq.com/
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/support_wine/?ad=21
http://mc1soft.com/linux/applications_tested.htm

Juno Platinum Internet service for Linux

Juno Platinum Internet service for the Linux operating system currently supports Linspire.

The minimum system requirements for your PC are:

* 90 MHz Pentium processor with 32 MB of RAM
* 12 MB of free disk space
* 28.8k modem
* SVGA monitor at 800x600 screen resolution.

We recommend:

* 200 MHz Pentium MMX processor with 32 MB of RAM
* At least 20 MB of free disk space
* 56K modem
* SVGA monitor at 800x600 screen resolution
* Sound card and speakers


@9.95 a month that doesn't sound like a bad deal. aol with an emulator would really knock these numbers up

I was looking at the free service. It may not work with linux though.

i use ispwest for dialup it works with linux and its cheep

http://www.ispwest.com/

If they don't make you use software like AOL or Juno does it should. Download Puppy and try yo connect.

no it dont use any software iv been with ISPWest now for over 3 years with no problems i get out gr8 on linux with an exturnel hardware modem hopefully il get cable or dsl here some day to far out in the sticks with to many trees dialups it for me here ..... for now

GarenaSix have you tried Puppy Linux?

yes iv tryed most of the live cd,s out there they are all gr8 puppys nice rite now iv got ubuntu installed on all my michines along with windows
when i goto my daughters house she has highspeed so i take my laptop with me and download alota stuff there then when i get home i burn it and mass around with em.. on highspeed i can dl a 700mb distro in like 18 min
but if i do it home on dialup it takes up to 40 hours ROFL with a download loader program with resume support like fresh downloader or free download manager.. if you download stuff that big on dialup you need something like that so you can download it alittle bit at a time
but now i just goto her house and do it

My current favorite would be Damn Small Linux(2.3) ,Why? Because it works ...
Fluxbox takes alittle getting used to but kinda grows on you.

Their Site
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

have used both
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/damnsmall/
http://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/damnsmall/

this is a good one if you're on dial-up as it's only 50mb
and has still got all you basicly need for average surfing plus some.
Comes w/Firefox and being a Knoppix derivative connects pretty easy
Its expandable to what ever size you pretty much want through MyDSL
although I haven't got that all figured out yet.

My favorite live distro is Mepis. It comes with everything you need, a nice package manager, and runs quite smoothly.

Site:
http://www.mepis.org/

Pretty good rescue cd and very good to install. Great for newbies and experienced users.

Ubuntu live cd
Everything non proprietary works out of the box

runs on RAM memory (512mb recommended)

Request free cds here:
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/login

Ubuntu live cd
Everything non proprietary works out of the box

runs on RAM memory (512mb recommended)

Request free cds here:
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/login

wolvix http://wiki.wolvix.org/HomePage then dsl or kanotix

I like PCLinuxOS, but I'll probably end up changing my mind sooner or later.

For Live Cds, I have tried an OLD version on Puppy linux, slax, suse, backtrack 2, and a couple others. My preference is backtack 2 because of all the integrated networking tools.

If you like command line tools you should look at PHLAK
http://www.phlak.org/modules/news/
And if you are in need of some rescue tools look at Trinity Rescue Kit
http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=1&front_id=12
Both are excellent Live CD's but they are not aimed at home use (per se)
They do what they were designed to do very well.

I tried a couple more distros and still think PCLOS is the best live distro. Has anyone tried PCLOS 2007 release? I want to know if it is any good.

Linux and BC addict---- never will there be a cure for me.

-Steve

Ive tried Puppy Linux and it's amazing!Though,loaded with too many applications still can run smoothly.

pclos 2007 ive tried and its good.currently im using sidux,it deb etch based. sidux was formed by some devlopers that worked for kanotix. www.sidux.com.

Amen to that. I hope they never come up with a cure. I enjoy my "sickness".

Has anyone tried "Musix" it is a Knoppix based Live CD that includes all kinds of music recording/editing and graphical editing tools. Its only main downfall is that the translation from Spanish (its native language) to English.

I just tried PCLOS 2007 and it is nice.

-Steve

Debian.

It makes all of those *buntus look like a broken kids toy.

I've never tried Debian, is it as good as they say?

-Steve

Better. You can put it on an old machine or on a new machine. That's the entire basis of the distro. It has the single best philosophy concerning "free" and "open". Each distro is fully developed before making it a "stable". The versions are much slower to realease as a result. So, you don't really have to play the "get the newest vdistro" game. It's as easy as Ubuntu as versatile as Redhat/FC or Suse, and as powerfull as knoppix/gnoppix. It is in my opinion, one of the most overlooked distros. But, I am biased.

ACKLAN

This is a great idea for a topic, BUT, I'm still no further ahead in deciding what to try. LOL. At the moment I am leaning towards Debian or your Puppy Linux. I know it would be crazy to ask for recommendations.

Why not both? Run Puppy from a CD till you know if you like it. Use the Multi-session Puppy so you can save your setting to the OS CD.


EDIT:

BTW Congratulations on the big 1000 posts!

Thank you for that. I've been toying with idea of trying Linux for a while but my first two attempts were not good so gave up on the idea. Must be time to try again. LOL.

1000 Posts - Yeah. Knew I must be getting close, but didn't realise I'd actually got there.

Cheers

Hay there rowal5555
I have only used Debian based distros so far --Knoppix, DSL, Linspire-- and up to Linspire I had only used Linux in Live CD form, a great way to see if you (and your machine) like it. once I get a few problems fixed (cdrw won't cdrw) I want to try PCLinuxOS as I've heard nothing but good stuff about it. If I ever get ambitious, will try the "full on" Debian as well.

Well, I recommend Puppy for people with no Linux or much computer background (thanks to Acklan ). I downloaded an older version and had a problem with the display which I couldn't fix, so I did that test and downloaded Freespire, which threw up a very strange and confusing licence agreement. I couldn't understand why I was being presented with this for a free program, couldn't be bothered wading through 3 licence agreements to find out, and backed out. I then downloaded Ubuntu, but couldn't figure out how to fill in the details to get my internet working (yes, really).
Then I searched and got a working link to a newer version of Puppy, downloaded that, and it works perfectly.
Here's why I like it: Puppy tells you what it's doing while it's loading (so you don't freak out at "not found" type messages), the basic things are easy to find and understand AND it loads much much more quickly than the others. IMO the live versions of Freespire or Ubuntu are more evaluation versions to see if you like them before installing - I wouldn't want to sit there everyday waiting for them to load, but Puppy loads pretty snappily. Obviously, the considerations may be different for tech-savvy people, but for a total newb who only wants it to "just work" (ie lazy ), Puppy seems to fit the bill.

Hurrah for Puppy. I've been trying to by pass Mepis with a live CD and couldn't do
it, even with Ubuntu....I have Mepis downloaded to my harddrive (another story)
Today, just for the heck of it, I put in the Puppy 1.16 live CD and bingo it booted
up perfectly....The great part is, I did a re-master on that CD and now when I put
it in any computer that looks at CD's first, up hops Puppy with all my bookmarks
etc. I didn't even have to fool around getting on line, I just hit the browser icon
and there I was..well, am...............I'm a happy 76 year old yuppie today. Hats off
to Puppy....Thanks for all the hints along the way acklan....

Well I have been using Kanotix the last couple days and I like it alot. both Flash(after downloading plugin) and sound worked right off the bat. And then there is "Zenwalk" , to quote a "Bush" song, "Everything Zen ? I Don't Think So ! " just didn't like it . got it to more or less look how I wanted , but nothing "felt right" . but nobody said I had to like it as I'm sure alot of folks like margaritas... of which I can't stand (have tried a number of "different" ones , Give me a Beam and Coke any day ) and it goes to my total lack of appreciation for the stuff called Tequila. I'm sure lots of people like both ( Zenwalk and the T-word ). and then there's this Ubuntu disk that keeps looking at me , the people on the cover all look so "happy" (I find that disturbing in it self) i have this weird dream where I use Ubuntu and I get sucked into a weird mind controll experiment where "They" tell me "You like Ubuntu , you want all your friends to try Ubuntu , you will pester Dell into installing Ubuntu on their new computers " (would account for it's popularity don't you think ?) then Charlton Heston stands up and yells "SOYLENT GREEN IS UBUNTU ! " weird dream huh........ I suppose I should try it...... just to see.........

The brainwashing doesn't start until you visit their forums no one. It has it's issues but i converted from Fedora and havent even thought of going back.

One thing that is a must have (at least for me): Automatix2, makes finding things like Clam AV (which is out of date), and all the codecs very easy

Hay There BlackSpyder
ever heard of QtFprot ? Seems to update ok, I use it for MyDoc's "file/directory/whatever" you want to call it. Don't know it it's any better or not.

I'm using AVG now (actually I just switched to Fedora 7) which works well under Gnome and KDE

I'm running Debian 4.0 now. It's great.

Also, as far as the best distro for a beginner? Well, that's kinda broad. If the person is determined and wants to learn linux, then that easily makes slackware the best.

A lot of places I go, when a newb comes in and asks "what should I use", there tends to be so many people trying to force thier favorite on them, rather than presenting the options and letting them decide. That causes this newcomer to miss one of the most important aspects of using linux. Having a million distro's is a bonus, not disadvantage. Each one is unique in it's own way. And, there is one tthat is right for any person. Each distro has it's strengths and weaknesses.

So, Debian is my favorite. But, I recomend you try as many distros as you can get your burner to make.

I agree Joedude. there are a few favorites that I prefer to offer new users:

Puppy: Great multi session Live CD although downloading the one you want is a little confusing
Ubuntu (and kin): Great desktop oriented distro Live CD with install capabiltiy
PCLinuxOS : I just like it
Mepis: Ubuntu based Live CD

there are some that i used to tote as beginner friendly but they arent as friendly anymore:
Knoppix
Fedora (Core)

Grml.

Better.