Hi utu,

Thanks for letting me know a new Knoppix was out. I've been busy playing with Debian and thinking I'll get back to Knoppix when a new release came out. Of course I wasn't looking when it did.

I read the thread http://www.knoppix.net/forum/threads...noppix-V6.7.0? with interest until it wandered way off topic. You raised a number of questions I felt where not answered. No point in replying there.

So, 6.7.0 is not all that different from 6.4.4. People sounded disappointed. Is that because it's 6.7.0 and not 6.4.7 ? I think the Open Source community are trying to standardise the significance of version numbers. Under that scheme 6.4.7 would be bug fixes only and that, I guess, is not true. I guess Knoppix 7 will be based on Debian Wheezy.

Yes, there's probably all the bugs fixes between Debian 6.0.0 and 6.0.2.

Yes, there's a new kernel (2.6.39.3 instead of 2.6.37) but I don't know what that means. There is one new kernel cheatcode on the bootline (hpsa.hpsa_allow_anty=1) but I don't know what that means either.

Yes, there's a new X server (1.10.2 instead of 1.9.4 RC 1) but the experimental nouveau driver hasn't got a version bump. Maybe folks with Nvidia drivers will notice an improvement since the Knoppix releases notes don't really warn about this any more.

Firewire has reappeared in the kernel configuration. There used to be two firewire implementations in the kernel. Knoppix stuck to the old one until it was withdrawn in 2.6.37 and along with it went the Knoppix support. I don't have any firewire devices so I can't report that it is working.

The majority of changes in knoppix-autoconfig are beefing up of the recognition of the graphic and sound 'cards'. I also saw the comment:

Code:
# For now, it is OK to start network-manager before udev is complete
So that's why your system starts quicker. For now.

I note also the keyboard has been fixed for those who use a UK keyboard. I don't but I tried it anyway and the cheat code lang=uk doesn't lock up the keyboard the way it did with Knoppix 6.4.4.

The cheatcodes ? Well, lang=uk wasn't documented and it still isn't. I checked the EN edition, CD and DVD. I downloaded both using the torrent. Along with the iso file, the torrent also downloads a copy of the cheatcodes. This file still lists home= so it has not been updated. Oops. However, when you get into the iso file, the copy in the KNOPPIX subdirectory was updated in February. There is no description of home= but the description of bootfrom=, which isn't in Knoppix 6.4.4 either, is still there. Hmmm ... so I still would not trust the file.

However, it isn't all bad ...

The changes in init are almost all labelled GvR. The biggest is an implementation of bootfrom= Hurray !

The withdrawal of home= and bootfrom= made Knoppix 6 so much less flexible than Knoppix 5 and other Live CDs that I've wondered if it was a deliberate attempt to make Knoppix unfashionable.

What's the big deal ?

OK. I download the Knoppix iso. I want to do a USB install but with Knoppix 6.4.4 and earlier I have to burn the iso to CD/DVD first. The first thing I'm going to do is remaster the USB. I'm never going to use the CD/DVD again - not without a home= cheatcode - so it's a waste.

The bootfrom= cheatcode allows one to boot the iso directly without burning a CD using what is called a loopback.cfg (see http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/Loopback.cfg). The loopback.cfg are what those folks who try to put 100 distributions on a single disk use.

So, using my Debian installation, I copied the Knoppix 6.7.0 CD iso file to the root directory of a disk partition with enough space - it happened to be /dev/sda9. I added the following to my menu.cfg file:

Code:
menuentry 'Knoppix 6.7.0cd' {
        set root='(hd0,msdos9)'
        loopback loop /debian/KNOPPIX_V6.7.0CD-2011-08-01-EN.iso
        echo    'Loading Knoppix 6.7.0 ...'
        linux   (loop)/boot/isolinux/linux bootfrom=/dev/sda9/KNOPPIX_V6.7.0CD-2011-08-01-EN.iso [other cheat codes from the syslinux bootline for knoppix]
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  (loop)/boot/isolinux/minirt.gz
}
I reboot and select Knoppix from the grub boot menu and Knoppix booted. From there I could install the USB flash as normal.

Neat, if you run a proper Linux: I used the grub2 bootloader. I don't think you can do this with the syslinux bootloader used by the Knoppix LiveCd or LiveUSB and I know you can't do this with what is now called 'grub legacy'. Oops. Even Knoppix 6.7.0 still uses 'grub legacy' so if all you've got is Windoze and Knoppix installed on your hard drive this won't work for you.

Perhaps Knoppix uses 'legacy grub' because the install to HDD script needs it and no one wants to upgrade that old script. I tried removing 'legacy grub' and installing grub2 but Knoppix wasn't having it. Oh well.

The obvious change in 6.7.0 among the applications is the withdrawal of the browser and e-mail client I've used for 10 years now ever since their first beta and my first dial-up internet connection. That's progress I suppose.

I still think Knoppix is a good distribution considering how much effort goes into it.

Ciao.