[oclug] Newbie Question

[Dana Webber]

On Monday 11 April 2005 08:48, Stephen M. Webb wrote:
> On 08/04/05 21:04, michael ondrechak wrote:
> > On Apr 5, 2005 2:27 PM, Stephen M. Webb <stephenw at xandros.com> wrote:
> > <snip>
> >
> > > If you want to take the OS plunge, get yourself a copy of a modern Linux
> > > distribution and install it -- the good ones will create room on your
> > > hard drive for installation without harming your existing OS.  Some
> > > distributions offer a "live" CD, but those are actually poor
> > > demonstrations and I don't recommend them for your purposes.
> >
> > Can you explain why the live CD is a poor demonstration?
> 
> Perhaps "demontstration" was the wrong word.  "Evaluation installation" would 
> have been better.
> 
> If all you're doing is showing off a GUI to someone who won't have a chance to 
> use the input devices, live CDs are perfect.  If you're a reviewer without 
> the time to actually evaluate and use the system (which describes most 
> reviewers I've read), they're perfect.  For evaluating the system in a 
> meaningful way, they're dreck.
> 
> A live system runs out of a RAM disk.  Because you have no swap, your RAM disk 
> can't exceed the physical memory of your system, neither can the real RAM.  
> That means you can't do things like open a useful OOo document (or even start 
> up Eclipse, if you swing that way) on a typical PC.  You need to load all 
> files from CD (executable images, shared libraries, data), which is orders of 
> magnitude slower than typical hard drives.  You just can't get a true feel of 
> how the system responds under typical load if you're running off of a live 
> CD.
> 
> Also, given the sheer size of the 2.6 kernel and all the modules you'd need to 
> run under arbitrary hardware, and the size of modern applications including 
> all shared library dependencies, you can only fit a few choice morsels of 
> applications on a single CD.  Enough, perhaps, to briefly demonstrate the 
> appearance of the desktop, or perhaps to browse the internat, but that's not 
> much of an evaluation.
> 
> I keep live CDs around (usually an old Slackware 7 CD, after Slack you never 
> go back) as a rescue disk.  I've had to rescue Windows many times.  Live CDs 
> are a fine idea.  They're just no good for evaluating the software properly.
> 
> --
> Stephen M. Webb

I have found Knoppix very usefull for studying networking. It has Ethereal, snort, and many 
other programs and they work very well.  It also can play songs and movies. 

It can be run on a desktop that has Windows installed. This eliminates the chance
of windows getting a virus while surfing the net.


-- 
Dana Webber
dana at dunrobin.dyn.dhs.org
http://dunrobin.dyn.dhs.org

Getting a computer system to work is like banging your head against a brick wall until the wall falls down.