XPost: sci.physics, comp.os.linux.advocacy
On 11/8/23 7:11 PM, Physfitfreak wrote:
I recently installed Linux Mint on an old computer. After going through issues with needed graphics card drivers and mouse issues that partially disabled it I fetched my old CD and floppies box to get my Knoppix CD
that I had made I think 15 years back. I had made that CD as a back up
tool to access my files on a Windows machine (probably WinXP) in case it wouldn't boot in Windows, cause it had started to give me issues.
What I feared happened eventually, and that CD saved my ass. The
computer had in it many newly-worked-on program files that I was
developing for inventory control for some Chinese electronics company.
Weeks of extremely careful work was saved in that way. I simply booted
the computer from DVD driver and Knoppix version of linux came up right
away, able to see, and copy any program on the hard drive to a USB flash drive.
This type of Windows failure happened one more time a few years later,
but when I used that Knoppix CD, this time it could not see the files on
hard drive. That old version could only see a certain type of file
system, and my new computer had a different type of file system on it.
So it failed me the second time.
I got that same CD last night to try and see how it compares with the
Linux Mint that I had installed on the hard drive. The knoppix came on
fast but again, although could sense the existence of a storage device
that was my hard drive, could not see the contents. The file system was different.
So I got online and download the iso file for the latest version (9.1)
and using one of the preinstalled Linux Mint apps ("USB Image Writer") created a bootable Knoppix on a 16 gb flash drive. In Windows also the process is as easy and similar. Then booted the computer via USB and a
much faster and nicer and extremely more tailor-made Knoppix jumped on
my screen, able to see and access everything on my hard drive and other
flash drives inserted.
The amount of preinstalled apps on it, and the ease with which it
installed, without giving any problems, made me aware that it was indeed
an OS targeting the general public.
Knoppix is very fast because after boot up the whole OS will exist
inside RAM memory.
Then after messing with it, while wondering how headache-less it was
compared to Windows (and macOS) it occurred to me that with a large
enough capacity flash drive you don't even have to have an HDD or SSD on
your system anymore! Computers become cheaper, coming without such
drives. Only the RAM must be high enough to contain the entire OS inside itself to run from there, probably as fast as SSDs. And the flash drive should have large capacity in case RAM capacity isn't large enough on
the computer.
I don't know how reliable a flash drive is, but you can always back up
your files in another flash drive :)
Knoppix has impressed me, cause it has important potentials. It might eventually destroy the general public market for Windows and macOS. Bye
bye perpetual "update" headaches that general public go through in their homes. Bye bye "activation" pile of crap. Bye bye "sudo this and sudo
that" type of nonsensical nitty gritty done at command level Linux,
stuff that only minions with a "computer science" degree should concern themselves with, not the general public who've got better things to do
in their lives.
With Knoppix you will never need to go to a terminal, although it's
there if you're adventurous or have the skills. And it can use DOS
software as well in its included DOS emulation.
Free, fast, and very simple and quick installation, and packed with
already installed apps for everything you might need. It even has Maxima
and Step ready to use for you (Linux Mint can have them too of course,
but they don't come preinstalled); these two apps are pure gold for scientists and students alike. High school as well as university level workhorses.
All Microsoft Office products have equivalents in the free LibreOffice collection of software which come preinstalled in Knoppix. There are
apps already installed that teach you various languages, anatomy, bones, history, vocabularies in various languages, all in the form of flash
cards that you can practice with. Also installed are a few apps for programming. A member of general public will almost never need to
install anything else on it.
It was developed in Germany by Klaus Knopper. So the big tech could not harass (or perhaps outright threaten) him for an OS that would make
Windows and macOS, together with HDD and SSD's in computers, obsolete
and unnecessary to have for the general public.
I intend to gradually migrate to totally doing away with Windows and
hard drives for my computers at home, and simply use Knoppix from then
on. If it turns out it's not made for compiling and executing computer programs, then I always have my old powerful S20 ThinkStation to go to
:) A couple of years back I tried installing Linux Mint on that one, but turned out it wouldn't work. I switched back to Windows, and I think for heavy programming and compiling and running, Windows is still the best
if you do that at home. At work, a Unix machine could handle that easily (they're really made with doing just that in mind). But Linux and
certainly Knoppix would not work well in that area. At least this is
what I suspect at this point. I have to try it myself to see.
At workplace, i.e., the business market, big tech rules because the
former need capabilities that only Windows and macOS (and Unix) have.
But at home, no matter who you are, Knoppix is all you need to use with
your computer. You will buy lots of cheap high capacity USB flash drives
and will max the RAM your computer can handle, and then you will remove
your obsolete HDD and SSD from your computer and keep them as curiosity
items from years gone by :)
Large capacity flash drives and RAM, and Knoppix OS, will free you from paying for and having Windows and macOS forever.
Right now, I am using knoppix to post this message, after disconnecting
my hard drive cables in my computer and booting into flash drive. Bios
let me know no HDD was detected but gave me option to continue ("F1").
And right away knoppix came on like King!
And I only have 4 g of RAM. The flash drive is 16 g. I will keep testing various programs on it to see if all of them are working for this
minimal arrangement.
No hard drives! :-)) It's a first for me.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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