I forgot to add that the authors of that book actually explain how to install Knoppix from the DVD though I have not tried to do so.
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I forgot to add that the authors of that book actually explain how to install Knoppix from the DVD though I have not tried to do so.
Perhaps we have confused you. I think when FatherBob said "less secure", he meant it as "not a known working system" as in "possibly unstable since I haven't used it before." When I say Knoppix HD install is not a good idea, I mean that it is hard to administrate. Most new users will have a difficult time add/removing/installing new programs. Furthermore, something usually breaks in a Knoppix HD install. That means that either networking or your optical drives may or may not work and getting them to work is almost certainly outside of your capacilities. This is not a bad thing if you _really_ want to learn how to fix a broken installation and are willing to put in hours of testing. If you do not want to be forced to become a junior sysadmin then a HD install of Knoppix is probably not for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by knoppixnovice
As for Mepis, I have heard that parts of Mepis non-Free or proprietary. Why would this matter? Well this comes from our personal beliefs on how we want openess & freedom. Some of us, myself included in many ways, feel that the freedom that is granted to us by using & distributing Knoppix (or other Free Software) is something to be cherished & defended. If we do not uphold the notion of Free Software then we are bound to proprietary software which is 100% out of our control. Ever take out a big loan or be in debt? The borrower is bound to the will of the lender. I have over $40,000 in college loans and if disobey by not making payments they will come after me and make my life miserable. If I want use proprietary software, the software's creator can make all sorts of requests (resonable & unreasonable) and if I want to legally use the software then I must adbide by the creator's requests. Most of us do not like losing freedom/openess and being forced into obeying anyone. This is why some people do not advocate the mixing of Free & non-Free software. This is why some feel that Mepis is not worthy of our attention. Mepis is based on Debian and you should check the "Debian Social Contract" to see what the Debian project views as its foundation.Quote:
Originally Posted by knoppixnovice
As for Ubuntu, they are fully & 100% Free Software. Some people have a personal issue with them as they take packaged programs from Debian (which is totally legal & encouraged) but bug fix or slightly change them to gain ease of use. Again this is all totally legal & encouraged. The downside of doing this is the duplication of effort since they must maintain a complete Ubuntu repository of packages outside of the Debian official repository. The other downside is possible incompatiblity because there are now 2 almost identical packages that behave differently. Ubuntu's official position to fix these problems is to release the changes they made back to the original programmers so that the changes can be re-incorporated back into the official package. I am OK with this and I feel Ubuntu is a great distro.
Great find on that book. If you are so inclined, there are other book recommendations in these forums. A search for books should turn up some hits.Quote:
Originally Posted by knoppixnovice
**EDIT**
added link to "Debian Social Contract"
> Perhaps we have confused you.
Not hard to do <grin>. But you are a very good explainer and very patient. It's clear now. Thanks for taking the time.
I have several Linux distros installed on Xbox drives in mobile racks and can quickly remove one and replace it with another. My preferences are with Xandros 3.0, Linspire 5.0, Fedora 4.0, and the latest Knoppix 4.0 that took me a full day to get downloaded via Azureus.
The one big plus in Knoppix 4.0 when it is installed to hard drive is the Internet access speed. It has proved so far to be a bit faster than Xandros, Linspire, XP, and Win2000 at no more than 2 seconds on a 1.5m ASDL. Fedora 4.0 has proved to be a bomb on Internet access with at least 13 seconds required. That is a big disappoinment because the distro is first class otherwise. I have found several dead shortcuts with Knoppix 4.0 though. Since I am not heavy on the accessories anyway, I do like what I see in Knoppix, albeit the lack of pure Debian may raise some bugs yet unseen. The new filing system is user friendly to Windows users also.
I noticed that Debian has a new release. Since I am fond of Linux "candy," I probably will give it a shot too. Who said you can't have your cake and eat it too? 8)