Live Distribution of the Year
 

The best Live Linux distribution.

--jeremy

That award is mostly for historical reasons, cause most distributions come as live CDs today. I liked parted magic the most from those i tried. grml will always be my favourite if i need something more complete than parted magic.

Most distributions do come with a live version, so it's possible this will be the last year for the "live" poll. A security distribution or under 50mb distribution might make more sense.

--jeremy

I always go back to knoppix if I need a reliable robust recovery CD. I like Slax for it's modularity and user friendly apps. I did test out a fedora live CD this year just to test out some apps that I couldnt get working on my CentOS desktop and ended up installing mythdora because of the success I had with the fedora live cd.

Linux Mint is missing here, I know its in the Desktop poll, but seems its a suggestive option here.

Knoppix was the first live distro I used, and it left me with a positive impression that few other live distros have been able to make. I primarily use it as a system recovery tool, or as a quick demo to friends of the capabilities of Linux.

I've never had problems with knoppix and hardware recognition.

I have chosen Wolvix, because it is nothing short of excellent.
Having said that, I also carry around a Slax on one of the little 200MB CDs - that one has rescued quite a few systems by now.

Security makes sense.
Rescue/recovery should be considered.
Why only 50MB (credit card CD)? What about 200MB distros designed for mini CD's?

Where is TRK?

Mepis
 

I always keep a Mepis CD around and install if I have an extra partition. I use Mepis as an All-in-one swiss army knife distro. It automounts partitions when using g-parted. You can repair grub easily. It has the best wireless connection script if I am using a laptop without drivers available, especially on the road and a wired connection is not possible. It has most of the software I use on my Debian system on the CD, and it loads and runs pretty darn fast for a KDE live distro. Another handy option is the ability to login as the root user when I am only using it for administrator needs. Not many distros allow that anymore, and it does make a difference not having to continually enter the administrator password for root priveledges. For the installed packages, and the apllications available from the Mepis repositories, I have had no crashes. The only problems arise when running testing packages from the Debian repositories. Absolutely the most stable LIVE distro....therefore, the best LIVE distro!

Mepis for me too.

Much the same reasons as wificraigs. Aside from what you have listed, the Mepis tools are one of its strongest points and it was one of the first (note, not the first) to include a utility to create a Live-USB that worked. Add to that the ability to remaster the Mepis Live-CD through a script, plus the AntiX project with the same benefits for older computers, I couldn't find a better solution that provides real ease of use for first time users, especially with the full manual on the desktop and the availability of a full toolset for advanced Linux enthusiasts, bundled in a rock solid, fast and stable kit with the fantastic debian packaging system. I used to like kde rpm based distros, but once I tasted the debian way and saw the speed with which it operates, rpm's just didn't taste so good any more. Tried Knoppix, very impressive, but a little heavy in the menu and I don't do German too well, Tried ubuntu and kubuntu, but too unstable and clunky, tried a few others, mini-cd, maxi-DVD's proprietary and free, nothing comes close to Mepis, though AntiX and Sidux do take a 2nd equal placing IMHO.

Mike P

MEPIS here, I mostly use Sid, but as a Live CD MEPIS is great, probably the fastest full-featured Live CD. BTW, Sidux is good too, but is not for newbies IMHO.

Other advantages:
- growing documentation, one of the few distros that come with a manual.
- great community on Mepislovers including a very responsive packaging team.

Oh, and for the few people who were complaining, MEPIS tools are now open source, I think under Apache license.

For old machines nothing beats antiX (couldn't find it in the list).

Mo' MEPIS
 

Thanks MikeP & wificraig.

I'm glad to hear others see MEPIS as repair/rescue CD. Last time I had to repair a commercial server, I took MEPIS & Knoppix & wound up using MEPIS -- because it had the tools I needed & in a layout I was familiar w/ (it was & still is my normal desktop).

One great feature neither of you mentioned is the repair wizard ability. The MEPIS System Assistant has "Repair System Root" & "Repair Partition" tabs; the MEPIS User Assistant has a "Repair" tab, as does the MEPIS X-Window Assistant. The last copies a, presumably working, XConfig from one partition to another, whose XConfig is presumably broken. It's especially handy if you've trashed X on an installed system -- just boot a live CD & copy its XConfig to the drive.

BTW, the great thing about these poll threads is the "What is is." & "Why I like it" posts -- they give us a chance to broaden our views & knowledge. "I don't like ... because <rationale>" posts are useful too; what I can live w/o are the "Ubuntu looks like sh't -- it's brown" type sentiments.

I voted for sidux, one of the best if not the best imho, installed or live.
sidux is running on all my machines for almost a year now: homemade workstations, thinkpad x61 and even an old Dell Inspiron 8200.
Rock solid and really fast.

SimplyMEPIS, AntiX, and sidux
 

Three of the distributions mentioned so far are my three personal favorites, for more than three reasons:

1. SimplyMEPIS is my favorite easy to use distribution. I always keep lots of SimplyMEPIS CDs around because it is an extremely stable distribution, it handles wireless connections very well, it works well as a Live CD, and it provides all of the Debian stability in an easy to install and use package, plus it provides many easy to use tools. I also use it as a recovery CD.

2, I use AntiX as well for many of the same reasons, but when I want a smaller, faster image, somewhat more current software, yet sacrificing very little in stability, I go with the MEPIS derivative, AntiX. It is one of the smaller distributions that I still find to be a full featured system, just without the heavy desktop environment. AntiX can also morph itself (optionally) into a cutting edge system - you can change it to get its updates from Sid instead of testing and you can use sidux' smxi tools - if you want - to transform AntiX into whatever you want. Still solid and simple, but very easy to modify to your particular tastes - but only if you want to do so.

3. When I want to use cutting edge software, sidux is the way I choose to get an effective, very usable cutting edge system. It is incredible how you can get the latest software with sidux, yet still manage to have a working system. You might not want to bother if all that you want is a stable system - in which case, SimplyMEPIS is the way to go. If you want both, as I do, keep a version of both sidux and SimplyMEPIS around, or - as I do - versions of SimplyMEPIS, AntiX, and sidux, and in so doing, have a stable, easy to use desktop system (SimplyMEPIS), a fast, flexible system (AntiX), and a cutting edge system (sidux).

sidux here as it is leading edge, fast and reliable . . . what more could I want?

I like sidux in a number of ways --and it just keeps getting better every release. But as a LiveCD, one of the originals is still my favorite: MEPIS.
Running as a LiveCD I can get online with wifi using the Mepis Network Assistant that I couldn't successfully configure with sidux.

The post above that mentioned the on-disk User's Manual has a good point. For newbs, having a full manual right on the CD that includes everything from DL & burning ISO, installing, configuring scads of HW devices. . . it doesn't get better than this anywhere, AFAIK. GParted makes partitioning easy whether you want to install Mepis or just use it as a LiveCD toolkit, although it takes longer to boot than the GParted distro or PartedMagic, because of the full KDE.

I do use other LiveCds in the course of repairing computers. But I'd have to estimate I use Mepis as much or more than the rest put together.

I can't vote again... but I would like to ask the criterias to include these livecds?

BackTrack 3

@silverbear2006

In sidux, for network configuration, there is a great tool: Ceni

kmenu > internet > Ceni
or
in konsole, just type Ceni.

---
jyp

Knoppix/ Kanotix variant just gets all of my hardware.

What about NimbleX?

Puppy!

Innovation, speed, variety(derivatives), with terrific community support make Puppy number one.

KNOPPIX does the good.

Where is antiX?

Otherwise I'll vote for sidux.

Is there a Debian live?

I am currently a sidux user, and it is one fine distro for those who are not afraid of being on the leading (if not bleeding) edge of Linux.

Many are good, but sidux really rocks in every department!
My vote goes for sidux.

Mepis just if you want multimedia out of the box (=> for newbies)

I would vote for Backtrack 3, but it's not on the list.

You are correct, it's more like who Doesn't have a Live CD these days ? http://www.livecdlist.com/
Security or Utility Live Distro would be a good way for this to move.

From that respect, My vote would be for Backtrack3 as well.

Hey Novell Suse is not here

For those who are interested, BackTrack: home page, at Wikipedia & DistroWatch.

It sounds pretty cool -- worth trying.

this

SLAX: easy, simple and modular.

Let's face it - no distro has done what Puppy has done. Very light, cool, fast and what not :p It's really my darling distro (even my Fiancee loves a lot!) :x (some day I'll roll out my own PuppyARM Embedded out of the box distro).

Other live distro (heavy) - PCLinuxOS 2007 & openSuSE 2008.11 KDE x86

Waiting for PCLinuxOS 2009 ... :)

Well it seems I will choose Ubuntu this year. If openSuse would have been included I would have chose that insted. The support for the rtl 8185/8187 wireless and 2wire wireless have been the best so far. Ubuntu has not the support that is satisfactory. Allthough it does work out of the box my signal strength is least to be admired compaired with openSuse.

Damn Small Linux is my favorite because it works on my old laptops with low ram.As a matter of fact if it wasn't for DSL I would have never tried and used linux at all.

Mandriva Flash
 

I think you miss Mandriva Flash... it runs from a memory stick

This feature is awesome

Knoppix has save me from my own ignorance many times. She may be ugly, but she never says "No"

the first live i used was knoppix, and it was really a thrilling and exciting as well. i must apprceate the effort those guys did put to make knoppix one of the best linux live. thanks a lot guys. now you can easily find a liveCD version of your favorite distro, but the one which work without too much hassle is obviously the best one, and its knoppix [at least for me]

Puppy..its small, fast, robust
and allows to create own spin-off.

SLAX and Knopix is also good but not best for me

mandriva

Elive. It recognized all hardware. It set up media playback. It allows me to modify the installed system. It looks great!

Another vote for Mepis, it does what it say on the tin

Tim

Where is Linux Mint ? Knoppix is dying out fast because they tried to include all useless eye-candy which are unwanted in a supposedly <lightweight> and bloatless swiss knife of a distro.

I guess Mint wins because it can do all basic stuff and is easy enough for non-linux people to use.

Puppy!
 

Knoppix is fabulous, use it regularly, but most often the 5.1.1 rather than the latest 5.3.1 beast which overloads some of our ancient PCs - most of which lack DVD capability. So it is hardly this year's fave.

SliTaz is wonderful - but suits us best as an HD installation on old machines with tiny RAM - and the <cooking> or unstable branch is well superior to the stable release, imho.

DSL is grand, too, and highly praiseworthy, but no longer a top favourite since we discovered......

*Puppy* - it is the clear winner for us - the combination of hardware recognition, a user-oriented interface with a stack of dedicated GUI tools (HD mount, Netwk, Firewall, WiFi..... etc). Runs on ancient hardware with a style and cheeky ability that has our rellies ditching old Windows installations on PCs that could not carry Ubuntu.

Permanent installations, USB with a few clicks, and above all *Live* with real speed and flexibility. Amazing piece of work.

All this and more makes it a firm favourite here - without even mentioning some of the cheeky Mac-alike, you-name-it-alike and plain original Puplets - loads of them.

If anyone here has yet to try Puppy, you have something really good to look forward to!:)

Musix

System Rescue Cd is missing. I use it for recovery system admin and other things like learning about a computers hardware to aide in my installation of GNU/Linux.

There Website is: http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

Puppy Power
 

I like Puppy for live disc use. It's amazing at picking up hardware and working right out of the "box".

Mans best friend, Puppy.

No backtrack?