.
While waiting for the next upgrade of Knoppix, I tried out the latest similar Mint LiveUSB
on my Windows 7 dual cpu laptop with 4 Gb ram. This is a very nice OS, offering an interesting
alternative to Knoppix. Fairly compact, very attractive, responsive, intuitive; no bad habits.
Uses a single Fat32 partition for both OS and persistence. Persistence is via pre-formatted
squashfs rofs device implemented in manner similar to Knoppix 4 Gb cloop.

Noted several of Mint Xfce's following good qualities:
Contains Firefox, LibreOffice; Geany available, but not standard issue.
Has a late Linux kernel.
ALL my hardware recognized initially.
ALL hardware drivers except closed-source wifi correctly installed and operating initially
Nice desktop, including backgrounds; XFCE very similar to LXDE.
1.2 Gb rofs LiveUSB with 3.9 Gb persistence, online with browser in 69 seconds.

Noted the following minor difficulties:
1. Closed-source Broadcom internal wifi firmware not initially supported.
2. Touchpad causes errors in typing.
3. Peculiar EST desktop time ok on boot but resets to UTC on first ntp query.
4. No logout option initially on desktop.
5. Couldn't find or apt-get Leafpad text editor.
6. Occasional funny display problems using GEdit; may be touchpad interfence.

Made the following adjustments without much trouble:
1. Used NetGear external wifi to get online initially, downloaded b43 firmware & activated internal wifi.
2. Used Settings>Mouse... to disable touchpad while typing; nice GUI for this purpose
3a Added tzdata, then used sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata to get desktop to show local time correctly.
A very easy fix; would increase rofs only 483 Kb to include in basic system.
3b Noted desktop time now wrong at first, but ok after first ntp access.
4. Added a logout icon to panel.
5. Noted GEdit may be a slight improvement over Leafpad.
6. Disabling touchpad completely to see if this is necessary to avoid GEdit display upsets.
I can do this since I use a Logitech wireless mouse instead of the touchpad anyway.