Knoppix from CD-RW and have write access to the CD-RW?

[ghofmann]

Hello,

is there any possibility to run Knoppix from CD-RW and mount this CD-RW read / write, so changes like Desktop Icons would be directly saved to boot media instead of having to use home directories on floppy disks or hdd partitions?

I know there are "packet drivers" for Windows that make CD-RWs accessible like a hard disk partition. Is there something similar for Linux which could be used within Knoppix?

Regards
Gerhard

[ghofmann]

Really no opinios about this? Is it not possible at all?

Regards
Gerhard

[j.drake]

I'm certainly not the best person to say, because I haven't tried this, but what you propose would require editing scripts and remastering. When run from CD, Knoppix makes sure that you can't do anything to the CD. It's not just read/write, you can't even read or eject, as far as I can tell.

There may be some possibilities, though. I get the impression that what you are asking, and what you really want, are two different things.

Is the issue partitioning? If so, you can copy the Knoppix image to a portion of a non-NTFS hd, and run from it. Look at the "tohd" "fromhd" and "bootfrom" cheatcodes.

Is the issue hd space? You can create a persistent home and saved config on a USB key, so that nothing is written to the hd, but you have full functionality.

Is the issue one of just having fun doing it? If so, even if you were to remaster, you aren't going to have any room left to save anything on a CD-R, other than the Knoppix image. In fact, when 3.4 came out, people here spent weeks debating which applications needed to be cut to allow for the new features to fit. What you might want to consider, is that in the News section, Fabian Franz has just announced that the next version will have a remastering utility, which will allow you to free up space by ditching stuff you don't need, and maybe when you start editing scripts to allow the live disk to write to itself (sorry, but even the thought makes me cringe with the security and reliability implications), you can make it just the way you want it. Perhaps you could even remaster to DVD+RW, if you have a DVD+RW burner, and use the extra 4 gig or so for your home.

I sure wouldn't recommend this last option, and I don't even know if it's possible. OTOH, I suppose that with DVD+R and its successor technologies, there comes a point when their capacities are such that they are kind of analogous to small removable hard drives, and your proposal really isn't any less secure or reliable than a hd install. Perhaps if you come to terms with what it is that you are trying to accomplish, someone could help you reach your goals in another way. Interesting concept, though.

jd

[ghofmann]

My intention was to create demo CDs /CDRWs of applications that base on MySQL (or other databases) and only make sense when having write access to the databases.

Maybe I better should concentrate on remastering a Knoppix CD that contains the applications and databases prepared in a way that user can perform Knoppix's install-to-hdd scripts and then have OS + applications + databases read-to-run on his hard disk.

Regards
Gerhard

[j.drake]

That certainly sounds logical if you feel ready to take that on. Knoppix has a very diverse collection of programs and utilities. In a way, it sometimes suffers from trying to be all things to all people. With a specific focus in mind, you may be able to trim enough out to give some room. For example, you may be able to trim out all of the language support you don't need, or perhaps things like apache. That's not a lot, but perhaps it will all add up. You could free a lot of space if you didn't need OpenOffice, for example. I am curious to see what this new remastering utility offers, and can't wait for the next verson. I just hope that the more mundane bugs don't get forgotten in the process. From my own experience, and from reading the experiences of others, 3.4's wlan detection capabilities need A LOT of work.

jd

[A. Jorge Garcia]

I suggested something like this to the KNOPIPX DVD team some time ago. It would be like having a removable hdd on your CD-RW or DVD-RW (uncompressed rw fs). Then you don't have to install anything, everything runs like a hdinstall straight from the liveCD or liveDVD boot.

This would be great, however it seems that neither CD-RW nor DVD-RW drives are designed to do this. I think its a hardware limitation, not a driver problem. Maybe, one day, they'll make a new CD-RW2 or DVD-RW2 hardware spec for this? Then noone would need hdds or fdds or USB sticks..... Can you spell NIRVANA?

Regards,
AJG

[j.drake]

AJ, Which flavor of DVD were you looking at, because I think that this may be one of the advantages of the +RW format. DVD-R/RW was designed for ultimate compatibility with the DVD movie format, so whatever data capabilities it has are somewhat more limited. DVD-ROM is strictly data, and it behaves most like the removable drive, but can't do movies. DVD+R/RW was designed to do both, and IIRC, can append data to an already burned disk. However, it does not record data on the fly - you would have to somehow buffer the data, then burn what you want.

[OErjan]

hmmm, perhaps the toram cheatcode would work? but that requires 1Gram or more...