A New Bootable-from-CD Linux

Zeebra Linux recently announced the
availability of the Zeebra
Linux CD--a version of Linux that runs from CD, without
requiring a hard disk installation.The CD includes applications for word processing, audio,
video, graphics, Internet (browser, mail client etc.), and
compilers and editors for development.The target audience embraces new Linux users who want to
experiment before actually installing Linux on their hard drives
and those who can benefit from a portable version of Linux, such as
schools, where the same hardware might be required to run other
operating systems.Zeebra is not the first to develop a bootable, complete Linux
distribution on CD. Linux Journal readers may
remember an article by Jordi
Bataller, a Spanish university professor. Professor Bataller also
developed a bootable Linux CD, called Maragda, motivated by the
desire to use Linux in his university on hardware that was carted
around to different classrooms for a variety of purposes and needed
to retain its original OS.The latest version of Maragda is based on Debian 2.2r2 and
can be downloaded
here. An
earlier Red Hat 6.2 version is also still available. As Professor
Bataller's article explains, the Maragda CD includes:the base system, printer support, the X Window
System, the VGA16 and framebuffer X servers, GNOME (or you can edit
.xinitrc and uncomment the line for the window manager you like the
most), network server workstation, authoring and publishing tools
(LaTeX, etc.), Emacs, development tools (make, egcs, etc.),
DOS/Windows connectivity, mail, WWW and news tools, and other
packages such as rhide, ssh support and the JDK 1.2.If anyone has experience with both the Maragda CD and Zeebra,
or with Maragda but would be interested in experimenting with the
Zeebra CD, we'd like to hear from you.Richard Vernon is Editor in
Chief of Linux Journal.

email: richard@ssc.com