comparison against ubuntu?

[kieranmullen]

sorry if this is the wrong place.

which has been out longer? what are the main differences between each?

I have run knoppix before but I have not run ubuntu. However I thought that I read that the latter was more popular? Does anyone have any outside links to other sources to confirm/dispute this?

I am looking at setting htis up for a few older people and I figure we can put firefox, thunderbird and open office on there.

I am just wondering about a live update feature which ubuntu seems to have, a firewall , virus & spyware detector. (which I didnt see but may have missed) I would like the firewall program to ask permission for all outgoing connections made, a bit like zonealarm.

Finally sometime in the future (after I use it much more) is it possible to remote suport via a gui interface for either one?

Thanks!

KieranMullen

[malaire]

which has been out longer?


According to http://distrowatch.com/ Knoppix has been around since 2003 (version 3.1 at 2003/01/19) and Ubuntu has been around since 2004 (version 4.10 at 2004/10/20), so Knoppix has been out a bit longer.



what are the main differences between each?


Knoppix is meant to be a LiveCD which can also be installed but it hasn't been recommended.
Ubuntu is meant to be installed, but also has a LiveCD.

So if you want to install Linux, I suggest Ubuntu. If you only want to use Linux as LiveCD, I suggest Knoppix.



I have run knoppix before but I have not run ubuntu. However I thought that I read that the latter was more popular? Does anyone have any outside links to other sources to confirm/dispute this?


According to http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php Knoppix is more popular than Ubuntu -- but that only counts them as LiveCDs.

According to http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major Ubuntu is 1st and Knoppix is 6th in "Top 10 Distributions", but Knoppix is 1st and Ubuntu is not mentioned in "Top 5 Live CDs".



I am looking at sett ng htis up for a few older people and I figure we can put firefox, thunderbird and open office on there.

I am just wondering about a live update feature which ubuntu seems to have, a firewall , virus & spyware detector. (which I didnt see but may have missed) I would like the firewall program to ask permission for all outgoing connections made, a bit like zonealarm.


I don't know about firewall-programs for Linux.

ps. It seems that you want to install this, so Ubuntu would be my recommendation for that over Knoppix.



Finally sometime in the future (after I use it much more) is it possible to remote suport via a gui interface for either one?


If VNC (Virtual Network Computing) programs are good enough for you, then there are many available as debian-packages.
As both Knoppix and Ubuntu are based on Debian, I'd guess that they have pretty much same VNC-programs available for them.
I've used e.g. http://www.realvnc.com/ which is available as debian-package vnc4

If you want something else, then I can't help here.

[Harry Kuhman]

Knoppix has ben around longer, and I suspect may have more users, at least casual users.

Knoppix is a Live CD. Although some people have been able to force it to install to a hard disk, I don't recommend doing that, and I have not heard any good argument for doing so rather than just installing Debian, the distro that Knoppix is based on. There is a lot of good stuff on the Live CD though and even more on the Live DVD.

Ubuntu does run as a Live CD, but is mainly a distro intended for installing on hard disk. In fact I found the Live CD rather lacking in many packages. Stranger yet, I couldn't see a difference between the Live CD and the Live DVD in terms of what the live environment offered.

Knoppix uses the KDE GUI. Ubuntu uses Gnome. Kubuntu is a version of Ubuntu that uses KDE.

Ununtu is also based on Debian, so there will be many things that are alike.

Ubuntu does have good hardware support, and may have better support for some devices like wireless NICs than Knoppix.

There are lots of different distros to evaluate, and in general there is no "best" distro, it depends on the application and the users and to some extent is a personal choice. I usually recommend to anyone talking about installing Linux that they look at the Knoppix Live CD or DVD and if they like what they see then give a Debian install a try (it is easy enough to evaluate and then remove it and try something else). But, other than being underwhelmed with the Live Ubuntu disks, I have nothing negative to say about Ubuntu.

[Capt. Cautious]

Good to see more folks in the forum, welcome. I have been using Knoppix since 3.3 and while Ubuntu has some neat features, I get much more use from Knoppix as I use it for files and data recovery, systems work, and yes it does have a desktop remore connection ( VNC-like ) that works much like SuSE and every bit as clean. it is a simple GUI and has realy saved my tail once or twice when I needed help and couldn't explain to my programmer friend ( I are not one :) )what was wrong. It actually worked once when I couldn't get VNC to come up. From what I know at this point in my admitedly incomplete education, Ubuntu is definitely more biased towards install and not live CD. I gve away the live CD I had. I still keep the install so when I want to try something in VM I don't have to risk the system. It sounds like you want an install, so I recommend you look at Kubuntu as well as the regular Ubuntu. Good Fortune.

I Remain ~ In Service & In Health,
Captain Cautious