Running Linux OS without a Hard-Drive

I've done a search in here- and there seems to be quite a few Linux flavours that run from a CD instead of a Hard Drive... Am I right in assuming that you don't need to have a HD AT ALL in my system to use them- I'm building a system and all I'm waiting for is a 2nd hand HD (which will be 2weeks or so until the guy gets back from holiday) but I'm getting inpatient- so I ordered a CD copy of 'Knoppix 3.1' earlier cos I'm on DialSuck, and I don't think waiting 32hours for a download will be a good idea.

I know I can't save (no floppy port- its a Via Mini-ITX) but can I do basic Internet stuff with it? This is my first venture into Linux and I'm not quite sure what to expect... Has anyone used Knoppix and has any suggestions or comments they can share?

I believe Knoppix can run with no hard drive, as long as you have enough RAM that you won't need any swap space. I know the Suse 8.1 Live Eval doesn't need a hard drive.

I would expect Knoppix to be capable of your average Internet stuff, but I'm not sure how many tools come with it. Probably has at least a browser and a email client. The Suse 8.1 live eval comes with a browser (I think more than one), email client, and an office suite. I would expect the same from Knoppix.

I don't know about an email clint, but Knoppix uses Konquerer for the browser from what I remember.
You shouldn't have a problem with no hard drive, and sytem req's are low

Q: What are the minimum system requirements?
A: Intel-compatible CPU (i486 or later), 16 MB of RAM for text mode, at least 96 MB for graphics mode with KDE (at least 128 MB of RAM is recommended to use the various office products), bootable CD-ROM drive, or a boot floppy and standard CD-ROM (IDE/ATAPI or SCSI), standard SVGA-compatible graphics card, serial or PS/2 standard mouse or IMPS/2-compatible USB-mouse.

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I've played around a bit in knoppix. On the machines at my school i booted up off the cd. It does have web browser, open office, plus email and graphics programs. The biggest thing with it is that everything must be read off the cd and decompressed, which greatly adds to the ammount of time needed to run apps. I would not make my primary os cd bootable. U can fit many distributions on small hard drives. You'll end up saving yourself a lot of time with the hard drive.

I'm not making this my primary OS- once my HD gets here it's going to have Win2k (or maybe XP Pro) installed on it- this is just to mess about with my new toys untill I can get it fully operational. But cheers for the info guys

There are billions of boot from CD distros out there. Knoppix is the most popular from what I have seen, but there is also Linux BBC, which I myself have used. It comes with a very minimalistic window manager, which still looks good though . It has a web browser (galeon I *think*), but I'm not sure about email and office software.

Uncompressed, Knoppix has over 2Gb of software at your disposal. That should give you lots of apps to play with.

SuSe Live Eval creates a swap file on your hard-drive, doesn't it?

Yes, if its finds a useable harddrive. It also saves a few settings there as well.

wooh, dam, where has this been all my life... thanx guys il be sure to download the ISO...

Wait a few more days and you can get the latest Knoppix 3.2. I found the 12-12-2002 v3.1 a very stable functioning live CD distro.

Audioaficionado said:

Wait a few more days and you can get the latest Knoppix 3.2. I found the 12-12-2002 v3.1 a very stable functioning live CD distro.

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NOW YOU TELL ME!!

The 3.1 works fine (I suppose), in my new system everything works fine- but in my current rig (one I'm using now) the sound isnt working... I'm looking for a code for it but with this being my first experience with Linux- I don't hold much hope

Maybe I can get a patch as I think my 3.1 is a beta version. but I'm currently playing with the games... and TONS of them at that

OK- so I've had a play with it and its looking good so far (still no joy with the sound though- its onboard sound so maybe it isnt detecting it or I need to flash my Bios to a newer one.

but my main peoblem is that I can't get online- I set-up a dial-up client but when i goto connect it says that the modem either isnt connected or its already busy. any idea what I can do to fix it?

I might post this problem in a thread of its own too- I'll see how it goes first.

im guessing it really is depending on ur hardware, but linux has been pretty dam good with me with finding all my hardware easily.. anyway dude what do u expect.. THIS IS A WHOLE OS OFF A CD!! i mean that in its own is a huge thing, trust me take it from a guy that has been there since the dos days... without a HD though u cant save anything, and ur ram is being eaten up... do u have maybe a small HD?

T.Toy said:

OK- so I've had a play with it and its looking good so far (still no joy with the sound though- its onboard sound so maybe it isnt detecting it or I need to flash my Bios to a newer one.

but my main peoblem is that I can't get online- I set-up a dial-up client but when i goto connect it says that the modem either isnt connected or its already busy. any idea what I can do to fix it?

I might post this problem in a thread of its own too- I'll see how it goes first.

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Sorry to hear it's not working for you. It auto detects everything on my old box including my SBL5.1 sound card and cheap realtek NIC. Dial up seems more problematic with Knoppix. Apparently so does on board sound chips.

Try the Knoppix forums as they have some pretty knowlegeable folks over there that might be able to help you out. Also try the 3.2 version when it comes out in the next few days.

lol yeah im kicking myself for wasting a cdr on burning 3.1 but who cares i have cable and can DL in any OS in like a hour TOPS and im talking about a 3 to 5 disk OS and CDRs are really cheap anyway.. just feel bad throughing away a good cd.. oh well maybe il "donate" it to my school lol

Audioaficionado said:

Sorry to hear it's not working for you. It auto detects everything on my old box including my SBL5.1 sound card and cheap realtek NIC. Dial up seems more problematic with Knoppix. Apparently so does on board sound chips.

Try the Knoppix forums as they have some pretty knowlegeable folks over there that might be able to help you out. Also try the 3.2 version when it comes out in the next few days.

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I had a look at Knoppix.net forum (think thats where it was), I even did a quick search- didn't find anything immediatly but I didn't have time to search everywhere... it was getting late.

As for your remark about "they have some pretty knowlegeable folks over there"... I saw a person calling himself 'Audioaficionado', his pic had a scary beard j/k (about the beard)

Originally posted by Ozzman
im guessing it really is depending on ur hardware, but linux has been pretty dam good with me with finding all my hardware easily.. anyway dude what do u expect.. THIS IS A WHOLE OS OFF A CD!! i mean that in its own is a huge thing, trust me take it from a guy that has been there since the dos days... without a HD though u cant save anything, and ur ram is being eaten up... do u have maybe a small HD?

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Did you read my original post? I'm waiting for a HD to come but the guy I'm buying it of is on holiday, Knoppix is just to play with until I get his HD (only a 12gig but it's only a MP3/Surfer/Folder).

On my current rig (the big one) Everything else works- with the exeption of sound and Dial-up (but my board&modem are both OEM Dell-ish crap anway so I'm not surprised).

On my new rig (still in development- needs HD & case) evrything works fine- Graphics, sound- the lot and everything is on board in the new one (havn't checked my modem yet though).

But for those who havn't got it- I so recommend it just for the games I've been playing asteroids all day (ahh- takes me back to my youth and the days of my Spectrum +3).

But I think I'm getting the HD this time next week.... Time to go case building :gulp:

EDIT Took another look at Knoppix.net, looks like they have problem's with WinModems , I should have guessed really

i just unpluged my 2 HDs from power and put the cd in... all i have to say is WOOH, they did a awsome freaking job, it found my sound card (even if it was my internal and not my sb 5.1 but still works good) nic card, vid card everything, booted up in the same time 98 would.. and runs great fast stable... im listening to a mp3 from my secound CD rom right now, and its working great... and omg its even running fold, now this may not be a big deal to most of u but this mean folders can basicly make a system with a vid card and a cdrom and be set... im going to post about this on the fold forum soon... overall i love this cd, i think the german guys did a great job... and thanx for showing me this.. **** it runs as fast as my RH system in the other room. lol

T.Toy said:

As for your remark about "they have some pretty knowlegeable folks over there"... I saw a person calling himself 'Audioaficionado', his pic had a scary beard j/k (about the beard)

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If you think that pic is scary, you should see it up close in a mirror every day LOL

Definatly good news- while I am unable to connect to the internet (lack of WinModem support) which is a pain in the butt, I have managed to find my problem with the onboard sound- I started up in Expert Mode (type Expert in the boot screen) and I was given the option to maualy configr my Sound... and it showed me what it THOUGHT was my output- My UBS webcam (Logitech)- So I unplugged it and everything is running groovy (no need for expert mode either).

And I found a few Ogg Vorbis tracks on the CD too= a couple of cheesy ones but a nice track called Open Source (seriously)- Time to D/l an Ogg-MP3 player/converter methinks