BleepingComputer.com: What Is Your Favorite Live Linux?

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!

This post has been edited by acklan: 31 May 2007 - 03:49 PM

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.

rowal5555, on May 31 2007, 02:34 PM, said:

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.