Kanotix
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (January 2010) |
 Kanotix-2007 screenshot |
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| Company / developer | Jörg Schirottke (Aka. Kano) |
|---|---|
| OS family | Unix-like |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source |
| Latest stable release | 2007-Thorhammer / December 31, 2007 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic |
| Default user interface | KDE |
| License | Various |
| Website | www.kanotix.org |
Kanotix, also referred to as KANOTIX, is an operating system Live CD based on Debian, with advanced hardware detection.[1] [2] It can run from an optical disc drive without using a hard disk drive.
Kanotix uses KDE as the default desktop environment. GNOME and other window managers can be downloaded using APT. The name "Kanotix" is derived from the founder's nickname "Kano". Kanotix's mascot is a fangtooth.
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[edit] Content
Kanotix is based on Debian stable, (the "Thorhammer"-Release on Debian-"Etch", the current version "Excalibur" on Debian-"Lenny" [3] ). It contains also own packages and scripts and many backports[citation needed][4]. Kanotix also provides the newest kernel (from Ubuntu) with modifications and some patches.
Kanotix includes about 1,200 software packages:
- KDE, the default desktop environment, including the Konqueror, IceWM, Beryl (in Thorhammer allows access to a 3D desktop environment).
- Amarok, Video Disk Recorder
- Internet access software, including the KPPP dialer, ISDN utilities, Wireless LAN-driver[clarification needed] and NdisWrapper
- Iceweasel-web browser, Icedove Mail/News Client, Pidgin instant messenger
- K3b, for CD (and DVD) authoring and backup
- GIMP, an image-manipulation program
- Gparted and other tools for data rescue and system repair
- Network analysis and administration tools
- OpenOffice.org, an office suite
- Programming and development tools
- NTFS-3G used by default
- Automatic installation of graphic-drivers with nvidia and fglrx options[citation needed]
[edit] Usage
Kanotix is designed for multiple-purpose usage so that it can be used in live mode on different types of media (CD, hard disk, USB-stick) and includes an installation tool for installing Kanotix to the hard drive. With an improved hardware detection system, Kanotix is an ideal tool for testing, data rescue, or for working and safe surfing and mailing on different machines e.g. in an Internet cafe.
[edit] Live mode
The live mode allows it to work without any installation. As Kanotix comes with unionfs and aufs-support one can "install" additional packages by using APT (Internet connection assumed). So a customized live-mode can be used for working. With Kanotix it is also possible to set up a "persistent home directory", where documents or settings are written to the user's home directory. The data file (kanotix.img) on the hard drive or removable medium, such as a USB flash drive, can be automatically mounted on bootup. The Kanotix.iso can be booted with the cheatcode "fromiso=/(path)/" from harddisk (or USB flash drive when supported by BIOS), which is of course much faster than booting from CD.
[edit] Installation
Kanotix can be installed to the hard disk using the (graphical) acritoxinstaller, which, depending on optical drive, hard disk and processor speed, can take around 10 - 20 minutes. The acritoxinstaller is a KDE/Qt frontend and a bash backend and comes with a user-friendly interface and several advanced features: e.g. LVM support, dmraid support, automatic partitioning (including ntfsresize-support), installation to USB-HDDs and update-installation of existing installations.
[edit] Versions
[edit] History
In 2003 Jörg Schirottke was known with the nickname "Kano" in the former Knoppix-Forum (no longer available). The distribution derived from "Kano's Scriptpage for Knoppix" . He wrote about Knoppix: "I like it much, but I had to improve it :)".[5] One of the main differences from Knoppix was the support of hard disk installation. The first "Kanotix"-preview was released at 24 December 2003 "KANOTIX XMAS 2003 PREVIEW". In 2004 and 2005 KANOTIX was a popular distribution ranking in the "top 20" of "distrowatch.com" [6]. [7]. In 2004 the releases were named "Bug Hunter" (Bug Hunter-01-2004 - X-2004). After problems with the stability in 2006 Jörg "Kano" Schirottke decided to move from Debian Sid to a less volatile basis.[8] In October 2006 the main Kanotix co-developer (and most of Kanotix's other developers) left the project, to start sidux, another distribution based on Debian sid. The last Kanotix release based on Debian Sid was 2006-01-RC4.
[edit] Kanotix-Thorhammer-Release 2007
In 2007 Kanotix rebased from Debian Sid to Debian Etch. After the Debian-Etch-Release in April 2007 Kanotix was no longer compatible with Debian Sid. So a Howto was given "Steps to update right": [9], to move a KANOTIX-installation to the new base by dist-upgrade.
After 3 months of development and several beta Releases the new Kanotix-2007-Thorhammer-RC6 [10] was publicly available for download. The last published version is Kanotix-2007-Thorhammer-RC7.
The development in 2008 featured continuously kernel-updates (kernel) and a lot of backports in the Thorhammer-repository. Some of the additional packages were adaptations for netbooks and notebooks. A highlighted additional backport in 2008 was OpenOffice.org 3. Currently the Thorhammer-Release with upgrades is still supported as "stable" Release.
[edit] Kanotix-Excalibur 2009
The current Kanotix-Excalibur is based on Debian 5 ("Lenny") and has compared to Thorhammer some basic changes (based on Debian-Live, bootloader Grub2). Furthermore Kanotix-Excalibur is available for i686 or x86-64 architecture using the most up-to-date kernels (2.6.31 and 2.6.32) with special patches. [11], [12], [13]
| Version | Date | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2009-12-27 | Excalibur (Preview) |
| 2007 | 2007-12-31 | Thorhammer (RC7) |
| 2007 | 2007-09-15 | Thorhammer (RC6) |
| 01-2006 | 2006-10-02 | 2006-01 (RC4) |
| 2006 | 2006-05-14 | 2006-VDR (RC6) |
| 2006 | 2006-05-14 | 2006-Easter (RC4) |
| 2006 | 2006-03-11 | 2006-CeBit (RC3) |
| 2005-04 | 2005-12-31 | |
| 2005-03 | 2005-06-06 | |
| 2005-02 | 2005-04-10 | |
| 2005-01 | 2005-02-12 | |
| 10-2004 | 2004-11-28 | Bug Hunter X |
| 09-2004 | 2004-10-17 | Bug Hunter 09 |
| 08-2004 | 2004-09-20 | Bug Hunter 08 |
| 07-2004 | 2004-07-29 | Bug Hunter 07 |
| 06-2004 | 2004-07-01 | Bug Hunter 06 |
| 05-2004 | 2004-04-23 | Bug Hunter 05 |
| 04-2004 | 2004-03-19 | Bug Hunter 04 |
| 03-2004 | 2004-03-02 | Bug Hunter 03 |
| 02-2004 | 2004-02-07 | Bug Hunter 02 |
| 01-2004 | 2004-02-03 | Bug Hunter 01 |
| 01-2003 | 2003-12-24 | XMAS Preview |
[edit] References
- ^ Kanotix Introduction
- ^ Thorhammer Beta-Review on tuxmachines.org, July 2007 (author: eco2geek)
- ^ [1]
- ^ Kanotix backports
- ^ Kano about "Knoppix""
- ^ Popularity: Ranking in distrowatch year 2005
- ^ Review "KANOTIX - Putting the Pizzazz on Debian"
- ^ Codeveloper leaves Kanotix
- ^ Steps to update right (after Thorhammer-Release outdated)
- ^ Kanotix-2007-ThorhammerRC6 2007-09-15
- ^ Kanotix-Excalibur-files
- ^ Hints to Kanotix-Excalibur
- ^ News about Kanotix-Excalibur Preview
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kanotix |
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