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DVD version and Knoppix 4.0 plans & "call for software"



Dear Klaus,
I have just released our version 3.8 of PaiPix (based on your knoppix 3.8.1) that is on DVD and supports several languages. Our idea is to focus on the technical/scientific part but I guess that the students also asked for more gaming. These resulted in the applications that are on the page http://aamorimsrv.fis.fc.ul.pt/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=PaiPix_EN What I have seen during the past releases is that in the DVD version opens up a series of new opportunities: 1 - One very nice thing is the afs file system that allows organizations to have centralized accounts with home directories for everyone in a way that is not expensive for the network. I can just boot PaiPix with "knoppix afs=cern.ch afsuser=aamorim" and it just boots my PC at home (normal ADSL) using my afs account at CERN in a very comfortable manner. All applications are on the DVD but my files are managed centrally. The AFS caching mechanisms really helps. This would be even much better inside an organization. No more need for "local" nfs servers. 2 - Our 1.7 G image on the DVD amounts to more than 5 Gb for a disk installation. This is OK but one feels like a better way to do version upgrading in the disk installed version is needed. The debian "apt-get upgrade" is nice but the turnover for the debian "testing" for this number of applications is maybe several GB per month. One also needs to upgrade kernel versions and special kernel modules. I was thinking that something like upgrade but keeping your /home/ directories, the new users in the passwd and shadow files, and some tunable parts of the /var/ directories might help the user in the upgrade procedure. Specially since he can test before upgrading using the live version. 3 - I have used the unionfs, that you have included in knoppix, to install proprietary drivers automatically (ATI and NVIDIA) by using a boot option (ex: knoppix install=ati ). Since one has space on the DVD to have the debian files for these packages out of the compressed file system, this relatively easy once mkxf86config and knoppix-autoconfig are tunned. This could apply to several other packages. 4 - Lets suppose that one is traveling with no network access and wants to do some work. I still have more that 2.5 G out of the compressed file system to include knowledge ( not necessarily applications ) some examples could be: a dump of the wikipedia; the world scenery files for FlightGear; gpsdrive maps; scientific or technical databases and so on.

Hope this helps the discussion.

All the best,
Antonio Amorim

PS: I am considering to go to LinuxTag. Since I have never been there before, I am trying to understand if it is mainly in German and if there is a forum there where one could present and discuss these kind of problems?

Klaus Knopper wrote:

Dear debian-knoppix list,

as some of you may already know, I've long been planning to split the
Knoppix project, starting from version 4.0, into two parallel releases,
namely the

- Knoppix DVD Maxi edition, with everthing that's useful and exciting in
 GNU/Linux (including more supported languages), and the

- Knoppix "Light" CD edition, which contains as much "Desktop"-Software
 as possible, but only a limited amount of developement stuff (if it
 still fits).

This should eliminate the "running out of space problem", that has always been
there, for a while.

For the first regular DVD edition of Knoppix 4.0, I'm planning to press
a limited amount of manufactured DVDs again soon, hopefully in time for
LinuxTag 2005 (23-25. June 2005), which should contain the upcoming
Knoppix 3.9 stuff plus a lot of more GNU/Linux software.

A few weeks later (giving the CD distributors some time to get ahold of
a few copies), the DVD image will also be available on selected mirrors
(at least the ones that can afford holding and distributing a 4.5 GB iso
image).

Therefore, here comes the

REQUEST FOR SOFTWARE TO INCLUDE IN THE KNOPPIX 4.0 DVD EDITION
--------------------------------------------------------------

Do you know of software you always wanted to see on a Live CD/DVD
system, yet it was always too large to fit on a remastered Knoppix CD,
like eclipse or mono, or vegastrike? Here is your opportunity to make a
suggestion for Knoppix 4.0!

Conditions sine qua non:

1. Your recommended software must be "freely distributable for
non-commercial as well as commercial use". Restrictions such as "free
for educational purposes only", or "must not be sold in a PC magazine",
or "may be distributed in binary form, but each user must register
himself at xyz and further distribution is not allowed", or "must not be
used on fridays 13th by a blonde person" are NOT allowed for Knoppix.
GPL/OpenSource compatible licenses are preferred, of course, because
they cause the least trouble for inclusion. So-called "freeware" that is
available at various places for "free (of cost) download", usually has
an insufficient license for free REdistribution.

2. The recommended software must exist as a prepackaged Debian package,
ready for installation, and, in case of GPL/OpenSource software, the
accompanying source archives must be available for archival, to fulfill
the GPL.

3. The sofware must be suitable for children of all ages. No violent
games.

4. The software must run under Debian GNU/Linux, i386 compatible.

5. The software must not be export-restricted or violate copyrights or
trademarks or patents of third parties.

INSTRUCTIONS:

In order to make a software recommendation compliant with the
aforementioned conditions for Knoppix 4.0, please reply to:

      knoppix-request at knopper.net

I will collect and review all recommendations and see if it's possible
in each individual case.

If you get an automatic reply that basically says that I don't exist or
there was a kind of "permission denied by rule" mail error, you have
probably used a header or keyword sequence that's present in my spam
filter, which has to cope with about 20000 mails per day. Don't worry,
just resend your mail and try to modify it so that it does not look like
spam anymore. ;-)

With kind regards
-Klaus Knopper
------------------------------------------------------------------------

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