Is Knoppix becoming less popular??

[ku637]

Hi
Is it right that Knoppix users are going less in number??
Is Ubuntu better than knoppix ??

[tdjokic]

There is a nice site www.distrowatch.com with many usefull informations about Linux and some other free source OS's. There you can see Top-Pop list "Page Hit Ranking" with status for 100 distro's. Ubuntu is at the very first place because of its free CD's, not entirely because of his quality. Kubuntu is almoust the same distro, with KDE instead of GNOME, but at the moment NO free CD's and it is on 12-th place.

Is Ubuntu better than knoppix ??

They are diferent, imposible to compare.

[UnderScore]

They are diferent, imposible to compare.

Yes it is impossible to compare. Other using raw numbers from rankings on distrowatch, the number of registered users on forums, or the number of posts on the forums there is no way to evaluate a distro's popularity.

[maxIT]

Is Ubuntu better than knoppix ??

IMHO not for power-users/sysadmins, maybe for average users that are looking for a windows replacement.

[Cuddles]

Is it right that Knoppix users are going less in number??

Is Ubuntu better than knoppix ??

First of all, this all sounds like "loaded" questions, anyway, but...

Being a person who started from Knoppix, and then "moved" to Kanotix, I think the numbers of Knoppix "users" going down, if, in fact, they really are, is because "some" people have used Knoppix as a "stepping stone", within Linux. I expected to be using Knoppix for the rest of my life, but, with finding out that Knoppix just isnt that pleasant to run, if you, say, want to hard drive install it, I found another "Distro" that was, which is also "based" off, or is an off-shoot of, Knoppix. If the number of Knoppix users are, in fact, going down, it is probably due to the fact that they have found what I have found, that, I have "evolved" further than Knoppix could take me.

ANALOGY TIME:
* You can use a wrench as a hammer, but, when you find a hammer, it is better suited for the task. In other words, if you dont know, or have, a hammer, you CAN use a wrench to nail something together, but, when you get a hammer, it is better suited for nailing than a wrench is. "Wrench" = Knoppix, "Hammer" = Kanotix -=- in my case, and my analogy here.

If you only use the wrench for its "intended" purpose, and only "require" a hammer, once, then a wrench is the right tool, whereas, if you do more hammering of nails, and less needs for a wrench, then a hammer is what you should be using, not the wrench.

As for the Ubuntu issue, from what I hear, this Distro is best "suited" for the newbies, or the ones coming from a "Windows" background... If Ubuntu is gaining more "users", are they simply "new users", or "Linux users"? The question is, are "Knoppix" users flowing to Ubuntu, or are "Windows" users going to Ubuntu?

Never tried Ubuntu, so I cant say, anything, about, comparing the two of them, together. BUT. If Knoppix users are flowing over to Ubuntu, it might have to do with, the "intended" purpose of the Distro, or, its "target" group, in which it was meant to fulfill. Again, this can be placed into the "Wrench & Hammer" analogy above...

From what I have seen, Knoppix's, intended target, and from what I have heard, is, for a LiveCD, and, at most, a "Poor Mans" hard drive install, Distro. Which, by the facts of these things, makes Knoppix more of a Distro to be run as a "side" OS, not the "main" one. Ubuntu, as I have heard, is more geared toward a "target" group of users who what to run it as there "main" OS, as is Kanotix, as well. If YOUR intent, is not the same as the Distro's "intended" use, chances are, you will be looking for another Distro to fulfill your needs. Or, as I said earlier, you will, or might, be, using the Distro as a "stepping stone" to another. In my case, Knoppix was a "stepping stone" to Kanotix; Knoppix didnt, or wasnt, intended for the purpose "I" wanted to use it, so, I used it as much as I could, realized that it want intended for my OWN uses, and moved to another Distro that was intended for MY purposes.

With Knoppix's, and Kanotix's, background, and strong ties to Debian SID, many users of these two Distros, DO, move up to that Distro. Many threads in both the Knoppix and Kanotix forums, contain topics of people who have moved from either Knoppix or Kanotix, over to a "pure" Debian SID install. But, this is only because of "personal" taste, or preferance, and, in some cases, the "intended" purpose. Many, myself included, attempted to continue to use a Distro for more than its "intended" use, and, in my case, I realized this, after a short time, and then moved to a Distro that was more "intended" for my purposes.

My final take on this...

I think Knoppix is a great Distro, it gets your feet wet in Linux, lets you learn, and grow... If your intention of getting into Linux, is to remove, or get rid of, or replace, another OS, Knoppix makes a great "starter" OS Distro. If your intention is to still keep your other OS, and "dabble" or have a secondary OS, then Knoppix is a great "keeper".

If you want a Linux install, and are coming "fresh" from Windows, I think, IMHO, Ubuntu may be a better "starter" OS for you - whether you want to remove Windows, or not. From what I hear, it is more close to Windows, but, still being Linux, which, a newbie may see as being better, than some Distro that is more Linux, than Windows is.

If you start out with a "starter" OS Distro, say, Knoppix, and you find you "grasp" the Linux way of doing things, and seem to be "outgrowing" the Disto, you may look to anything that will fill that bill; Kanotix, Debian "pure", RedHat, SuSE, you name it... You may never have gone out with this idea, i.e. getting Knoppix to try it, use it, and then move on, but, as I said, personal preferances, and intended purpose, will come into play, on a persons road of enlightenment in Linux.

I am not "dissing" Knoppix here, I am just stating what "I" did, and what Knoppix "DID" for me... It helped me get rid of Windows, learn Linux, grow, and have three systems, now, completely Linux, not one Windows thing is either attached as hardware, or OS, or running program, is Windows, and KNOPPIX is the credit to all of this! I may be running Kanotix now, but, I would have never been running Kanotix, if it wasnt for Knoppix, and what it did for me. Linux has a lot of Distro's, it encompasses many "flavors", but, they are all Linux. I chose Kanotix because it was "close to" Knoppix, which, is, probably, why I didnt flood over to Ubuntu. I liked Knoppix, its look and feel, its "Linux" flavor, and, from what I hear, Ubuntu is more "close to" Windows, not Knoppix.

Some, in my thinking, may be going to Ubuntu, because it "is" more close to Windows, cause Knoppix, and for that matter, Kanotix, isnt. Knoppix, and Kanotix, have strong "roots" firmly tied into Linux, and that may not be attractive to someone who wants a "Linux" "Windows" alternative OS. People will decide as they learn, grow, and find, another Distro. Which is why a lot of threads are showing up, on people finding another, or trying another, Distro, and reporting what they like, and dont like, about it... I "found" Knoppix, and thought it was the greatest... It just didnt do what "I" wanted it to do, so, I went with another Distro, that did, thats all.

Oh well, thats my take on this,
Ms. Cuddles

[ku637]

Hi,
I didnt mean to hurt anybody..
But as a student knoppix really helped me much , as a newbie i tried several distros and found knoppix most friendly and i keep close to it till today
It even helped me to convert a great no of my friends in a third world country like mine with no broadband connections, to linux coz of it ready to use structure with wide support to soundcards,vedio(even old pcs with less RAM runs it),built in players,and nice looking (even MS XP cannot match).But when Ubuntu came coz of its freecds many peoples are going after it and to my despair their number continues to go high.Thatz y I asked this qtn to know if its a global trend

[chris-harry]

I didnt mean to hurt anybody..

then why did you have to punch me??

[PlatinumPlus]

There is a nice site www.distrowatch.com with many usefull informations about Linux and some other free source OS's. There you can see Top-Pop list "Page Hit Ranking" with status for 100 distro's.

IMHO Page Hit Rankings isn't the best way to compare distros now is??? Does it include visits to forums etc??? Hence a distro with many issues will have users logging on more frequently to QnA then one that justs starts and goes. Some distros have updates more frequently then others so it will "automatically" have more visits then one that updates once in a long while.

Is Ubuntu better than knoppix ??

They are diferent, imposible to compare.

There could be specific points that could be compared I would like to believe like hardware detection, applications, ease of installation(if for HD Install) etc Are we saying we cannot come up with a list of has/hasnot, can/cannot, easy/hard, simple/complex etc that can guide newbies like myself to make an informed decision on what to get

[foamrotreturns]

I also believe that Knoppix is a stepping stone into Linux. It's built as a LiveCD - Klaus Knopper even says this. It's not suited for use as a production server or workstation. It can be installed to a hard disk in a pinch, but that is not what it is designed to do. It also breaks if you try to do a systemwide upgrade with "apt-get upgrade"
Knoppix is cobbled together from stable, unstable, and testing binaries and libraries. Klaus tests them all together extensively to make sure they'll work well together, but once you start upgrading them, stuff breaks. It's a great LiveCD, but it should not be used for long term hard disk installs. For a very similar and comparable distro that can be installed to the hard disk, try Kanotix as Cuddles mentioned. It's my main install now. I still keep knoppix around on DVD because it has a lot more software to choose from if I ever need to boot up a secure terminal in a computer lab or something.

[mAU]

Hi everybody, first

the question was " Is it right that Knoppix users are going less in number?? " and my reply goes like this:
"afaik Knoppix users are increased by one. me!"

well, no kidding... right two weeks ago a hard disk (of three) was messed up for power loss AND most: windows
I'm a persistent user of windows since the 3.1. After this last incident I felt it was really enough. Even thought my
very first aim was rescue the data. Harsh, for windows while reading IT WRITES. And any DOS boot floppy (I mean
any DOS version higher than the 6.22) won't help either. So what to do when almost 60 Gb FAT32 are gone?
I'll try to keep it short: I was told by a friend that Knoppix would help. Didn't even know of its existence.
My stars were at the right place when my girlfriend phoned me telling that she found a magazine dated March
2005 with included the KNOPPIX 3.7 cd!
Although I never learned C++ before (well deep in asm x86 and more, but C), looking for a tool that could clone
my faulty disk and discovered ddrescue (by A.Diaz). I was able to compile and link it, run it and... well perhaps I
was lucky again! Since the first Knoppix run the rescue process goes on (it's two weeks now) unsuccesfully but...
my positive impression about KNOPPIX is evolving to the point: "won't get back to that sh... er... to windows".
I humbly keep on digging into Knoppix (or should I say Linux?) to know it better.
I'm glad to be a +1 to the Knoppix users

Someone posted before about "the right choice depends on what you really need". Always true.
In my case I feel the choice both right and best.

mAU