Klaus Knopper has released version 6.7 of his Debian-based live-CD Linux distro. Again employing the LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment), it is also said to include version 3.3.3 of the LibreOffice suite, the Chromium 12 web browser, and a new version of ADRIANE (Audio Desktoop Reference Implementation And Network Environment) for partially-sighted users.

Knoppix was developed back in 2001 by Klaus Knopper to avoid having to lug a laptop to his various tech projects. He made a bootable Linux CD distribution so he could take his favorite open source tools with him anywhere, without needing to install software on every new computer. Eventually, he improved the hardware support so that Knoppix could recognize and automatically configure much of the hardware it encountered.

While Knoppix is now available in both CD and DVD versions, both use on-the-fly compression, allowing the distro to come with more applications than you might expect. The CD version, for instance, packs about 2GB of data and boots in under a mniute.

And, while other distros now perform similar tricks, and may also be installed onto USB sticks for portable computing, Knoppix makes the process particularly simple. The program flash-knoppix (below) can be started from a running Knoppix system, and then installs all needed Knoppix files onto a FAT-formatted flashdisk and creates a boot record for it. Existing files on the medium stay intact, since no repartitioning or formatting needs to be done, according to Knopper.

Installing Knoppix onto a USB stick
(Click to enlarge)

We last checked in with Knoppix in November 2009, when version 6.2 was released. That version was said to offer a complete rewrite of the Knoppix boot system, the LXDE desktop, the NetworkManager configuration tool, and version 1.2 of ADRIANE, among other improvements.

The Knoppix 6.7 desktop
(Click to enlarge)

Release notes for version 6.7 hadn't appeared yet at the time of writing. According to an Aug. 5 item on The H, however, the distro now includes the Chromium 12 web browser, version 3.3.3 of the LibreOffice suite, and yet another upgrade to Adriane.

Further information

A table illustrating many of the differences between Knoppix 6.7 and previous versions may be found on DistroWatch.com.

Knoppix 6.7 is downloadable now from the Knoppix website.

Jonathan Angel can be reached at [email protected] and followed at www.twitter.com/gadgetsense.

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