find out If distro is running in live mode using terminal based tools
 

Hi,

I searched and found several solution but those are distro specific. I need to find out if distro is running in live mode (from CD, USB) instead it's installed on hdisk. The solution should be independent of distribution.

Cheers

Prashant

I might have misunderstood you but what you are saying is a bit of a contradiction. You say you want a distro, but it should be independent of any distro?!

Perhaps, you'd like to clarify it.

How do yo find out if distro(ubuntu, fedora, opensuse, debian etc.) is running in live mode?

Before you download a distro, you can check on their website whether such a capability exists. Sometimes the installer disk has such an option. Sometimes you need to download a separate 'live' cd.

If you are asking about a current session - whether it's running from a live cd or from an installed system, I guess you should know whether you've installed it or not. Have a look at this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1597963
Alternativelly, I might be wrong but you could try df -h and see where the system directories are mounted. I haven't used a live cd for a long time, but it seems to be that most of the stuff there is mounted on some tmp filesystems. As I said, I might be wrong here.

I understand that you want a distro not just to see how it looks, but a live cd/dvd containing appications and tools to work with.

If so, I have to remark that older versions offered more applications that late ones. I remember Knoppix versions 4.x or Ubuntu around 7.x. They had a lot of software included, not just basic system tools.

As for Ubuntu dvd, it just contains the language packages, but no more applications than the cd.

Simple-- If you need the CD/DVD/USB stick to boot it, then it's not installed on the hard drive. It's also running "live" if you can unmount all the HDD partitions.

find out If distro is running in live mode using terminal based tools
 

Well guys I think you have completely misunderstood the title, partly my mistake. The title says "Is distro is running in live mode".
What I need to know is when distro is running in live mode, how do you find it using terminal based tools or similar.

Prashant

Sorry, I can't think of any other way I could understand: "Is a distro running in a live mode?"

Some suggestions were given in posts #4 and #6.