Knoppix is a "Major Linux Distro" - according to d

http://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

According to Distrowatch, Knoppix is one of 10 major distros. But to me it makes sense, it is a really really good distro - combine the power of debian with Klaus's magic and you have something special.

Also, being a CD based distro it is much more likely to be on the cover of a PC magazine than another distro like redhat because it can be safely "trialed".

It's hard to judge a distro's popularity ( definatly NOT by page hit rankings on distrowatch.com ! ;) ) but I think Knoppix is up there in new users, i.e. out of every 100 new linux users this week x% will use Knoppix.

If forum traffic is any indication, then I think you are right. I don't have hard numbers but it seems like the forums have been getting a LOT busier. eadz, do you know what sort of increase in traffic knoppix.net has seen over the past several weeks and months?

Even cooler is that if you take the combined total of Debian and Knoppix clicks it's bigger than #1 on the list (Mandrake). I think niches are slowly starting to develop among the distros. Mandrake / RedHat for newbies, Debian / Knoppix for the rest (and people testing out Linux), and RedHat for corporate.