What live cd distro can you advise to get with an option of installing it on hard drive? I think it's nice to have such nice thing for rescue like things and etc., yeah? =)

I recently read a lengthy thread over at FedoraForum.org abut this same question you may find interesting.

Knoppix is ok but is not as cutting edge as many.

PCLOS, Kanotix, and Mepis are my faves. Pclos and Mepis come with nvidia and/or ati drivers. Kanotix has a simple script to install drivers.

Thanks for replies guys! I don't know why but it's more valueable and effective to talk and to ask right here for such even simple questions than on our rus forums where such themes became flameable and nonconstructive..=)

IMO Knoppix is a top notch Live CD distribution. Every piece of it is taylor made to be useful and useable as a Live CD. It has gotten huge and now has a DVD version.
Damn Small Linux is the best "just what you need" Live CD. It is quick, snappy, and a small download.
I have done a DSL hard drive install, but not a Knoppix.
Generally speaking I would not install a Live CD version of Linux to my hard drive as my main use distribution. Things that make it useful as a Live CD (again IMO) detract from it being a good permanent hard drive choice and I consider attempts to make it so as wasting time continuing to maintain it as a top notch Live CD. It is nice that some Live CDs offer this choice, but...

I am by NO MEANS an expert...

but I downloaded and used the Mandriva 2006.0 Live CD and was very pleased with it's performance. It is the only one I have ever used, but it did everything I needed it to - booted up, detected and installed all of my hardware correctly except for my wireless card, loaded KDE, came with a decent set of applications, and was very stable. It will be very handy to have available, and it made it possible for me to recover my bootloader today.

Not sure if you have the option of installing it to your hard drive. I didn't see anything obvious, but it may be possible.

Mepis.
Simple as that.

Knoppix for diagnostics/recovery, but for a new user wanting to try out, then maybe install a Linux, Mepis is the go.
Especially for long-time Windoze users.

I did it for my lady, she hardly knew the difference. Now a Linux-only household (outside of work requirements).

One vote for Gentoo http://www.gentoo.org/ very very good live distro , Knoppix is another one tooo

I agree with 2damncommon: a live cd is a tool, either for rescue operations or for evaluation. For installation to the HD you should get the install version of the distro of your choice.

I install both types but mostly stay with live cds for the smaller download (adding software later is easy in most cases).

I dislike downloading three cds or more in order to try out a distro.

The only differences I can see is that livecds come with most of the software I need, everything usally works out of the box, nvidia driver support is often included in the livecds and the install procedures are quite painless and quick.

I have less trouble with live cd distros than I do with the conventionals. Must be just me.

Normally I would too, but I stand by what I said.
Mepis is an excellent distro once installed - DVD player, codecs, full list of repositories; not deficient in any way.
Well, it's too bloated for my taste, but it puts everything in place a new user might want.

I have recommended it to several new (to Linux) users, and haven't had to rescue even one of them.
Yet ...

Not just you. I have the same experience!

But it's not just the initial install... it's what happens after experimenting with a "conventional" for a few weeks. If I am actively trying out new stuff, strange things happen that are sometimes difficult to reverse. Backing up becomes a necessity - and it's a pain.

That's one of the reasons I love klik - it is easy and painless to try out new software.

Kanotix and PCLinuxOS are superior live distros. In particular, Kanotix offers klik, many boot options, and a super-convenient config save. PCLinuxOS can be downloaded with nVidia or ATI drivers and has scripts that makes it easy to create a custom live CD. Both offer an option of a persistent home w/o impacting whatever OS is on your hard drive - that is, no change to MBR.

(note: The PCLinuxOS process of making own custom live CD requires installation to hard drive, but the process is easy - and the result is your own live distro!)

Initially I installed Suse 10.0 on my notebook, then tried various live versions for my desktop. Overall PCLinuxOS has been great. What is included and what is available through their Synaptic software, everything is right there.

What I liked about PCLinuxOS is that you can try it out through the LiveCD and if it works and you like it, the hard drive install is only 2 clicks away.

Sort of off topic but I had my AMD64 up and running with a hard drive install, fully config1ured with the software I needed and was ripping a DVD in 2 hours. That included upgrading it to KDE 3.5. Simply awsome.

i believe ubuntu is a good choose, because the live cd give you tools for the things you need to do

Juan Carlos
Costa Rica
Cristo Vive

GoblinX comes with both ATI/Nvidia drivers in the same cdrom and it's a very nice liveCD... Try it.