I'm fooling around with different Live CD distros right now, still getting a sense for what's what in Linux (WinXPPro user on a laptop here,) and it seems all the Live CDs I've found so far are Debian based, but espeically after readign the reviews of Slackware on this site, I am uber-curious about Slackware and would like to try it as a LiveCD. (I want to have a very solid grasp of Linux before I make ANY OS change.) Does anyone know of any good Slackware-based or Slackware-like LiveCD versions that I could try? Especially anything that would work well on a laptop is appreciated, and if I can boot it from a 512MB USB stick (I'm dreaming, aren't I?) then you're my new best friend.

Take care, and thanks!

Go for Slax. That's a Slack-based LiveCD.
http://slax.linux-live.org/

Or the second CD of the Slackware installation.

Though you would have to drop back to version 10. If I have the version number right in my mind, after that, there was no longer room for the LiveCD on CD 2.

SLAX is real nice

If you get a chance try the Slax Kill Bill edition, it's fast and fun and if you need to run any Windoze software it comes with a fully functioning version of Wine.

Alternatively you can also build your own Slax Live CD by adding different modules to your CD image.

Regards,

dkpw

Has anyone tried GoblinX? It's an interesting Slackware based distro. Has a different way of seeing things...

You can view a video of Slax here-might save you a download.
http://www.linuxdemos.com/product_in...products_id=48

is that some kind of publicity?

Tried Slax, and only the "Popcorn" version wanted to work for me. It seems my biggest problem with these LiveCDs is that about half of the ones I've tried can't find my network card or somehow otherwise mess up on the internet. (I remember one got stuck while I was logging into my e-mail and kept refreshing the same scren over and over again.

modprobe (your cards module)
dhcpd eth0 i think haven't had broadband for a long time.

I have a feeling if he's new to Linux, he probably doesn't know what module his card is using :P

Try and use a LiveCD that's worked in the past, and post the output of 'lsmod' (in the terminal) and maybe we can tell you what module you need to load for the other ones to work.

Probably, running dhcpcd eth0 as root would be sufficient, It is very likely to be reconized already.
But Yes Slax is brilliant. I hate the backgrounds, but it works great.

She. :P

I oculd probably look it up. Is there something I can punch in to just get a basic list of my hardware? (And will the Windows drivers work under Linux or is it not needed? I ask because I always seem to be reading questions about hardware problems in Linux.)

There is lspci. It will list all your pci device (not sure if there is a PCMCIA equivalent).

Do you know what your network card is? Look in windows device manager (under the manage items when you right click on MyComputer. It will give us an idea of what hardware you have.

You can also try to type ifconfig. it will list all your curently enable (as in drivers are available) network cards. If your card is in there, you might just be missing an ip adress or some coniguration.

Otherwise you are missing the module (drivers). BTW, windows drivers are not compatible with linux (or other oparating sytem for that matter.)
The hardware problem comes from the fact that few manifacturer release linux drivers or make info available on their hardware. So you are dependant on a developper, who is using the same harware as you, who has written a drivers for your device.

This may seem complex, but after the initial steep learning curve, things will get a lot easyer.
Hang in there and I hope this will help you get started!

Let's see.....*kicks open My Computer's Device Manager thingy*...
Under the "Network adapter" section is:
1394 Net Adapter
ADM851X USB to Fast Ethernet Adapter
Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN
Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC (and THIS is the one I'm most concerned about.)