Knoppix

Knoppix, stylized KNOPPIX ( KNOP-iks), is an operating system based on Debian designed to be run directly from a CD or DVD (Live CD) or a USB flash drive (Live USB). It was first released in 2000 by German Linux consultant Klaus Knopper, and was one of the first popular live distributions. Knoppix is loaded from the removable medium and decompressed into a RAM drive. The decompression is transparent and on-the-fly. There are two main editions, available in both English and German: the traditional compact-disc (700 megabytes) edition and the DVD (4.7 gigabytes) "Maxi" edition. Knoppix mostly consists of free and open source software, but also includes some proprietary software, as long as it fulfills certain conditions. Knoppix can be used to copy files easily from hard drives with inaccessible operating systems. To quickly and more safely use Linux software, the Live CD can be used instead of installing another OS.