Knoppix is a Linux distribution that can be run from a cd-rom without having to be installed to a hard drive.
- It can be installed to a hard drive if desired. The install is amazingly easier than the regular Debian install process.
- It is based off the Debian distribution -- when installed to hard drive it becomes in all respects (except hardware detection?) a normal debian installation.
- It is reputed to have some of the best hardware detection of all of the Linux distributions.
- It is available for free download and is easily burned to cd-rom.
- It is also apparently reletively easy to modify to create special purpose versions or different collections of software packages
- It seems to be becoming quite popular.
The best English site for information about Knoppix seems to be http://www.knoppix.net
The official site for Knoppix is Klaus Knopper's website: http://www.knoppix.org