According to ATI's website they fall under the license of XFree so I see no reason why they can't be distributed or included on the live CD. So on ATI's part I see no problem.

In the case of nvidia there is a distro (I believe gnoppix) who have their drivers on their live CD (Game CD). So why should that be a problem for Knoppix if Gnoppix have them?

Sorry but I just don't understand this. Those Radeon9x00 cards are several YEARS on the market now and there is STILL no support for them in the XFree-drivers that are included with most distros? The same with nvidiadrivers.

So IF those linux ppl really want to target the desktop then they MUST look into this. Because video performance is the 2nd most important performance factor in the desktop. Can't they see this?

In the case of knoppix. IMHO It's no use to build a distro if it doesn't support the 2nd most important part of the hardware. Especially if you want to showcase linux to attract more users into the platform. In that respect I'd rather want ROX and/or Enlightenment included as well. Especially since e.g. the latest KDE has a lot of eyecandy and surely could benefit from improved H/W usage.

Regards,

Manu T