As with so many great open source projects, Knoppix started because Klaus Knopper had an itch to scratch. Klaus wanted to take many of his favorite open source tools with him so he could work wherever he went and on any computer he had access to. Because he didn't want the expense of a laptop or the worry of losing or damaging it, he created a bootable Linux CD distribution called Knoppix. With Knoppix, Klaus was able to go from computer to computer and get right to work with an operating system and environment he was familiar with, and without the need to install software on every computer he came in contact with. Many people only view Knoppix as a Linux demo disk, a job it does perform quite well, but even from the beginning, Knoppix was to be used to get real work done.

Klaus wanted to be able to work on any computer, regardless of the hardware in the system, so he continued to improve the hardware support for Knoppix until it was able to recognize and automatically configure much of the hardware it came in contact with. There are a lot of live Linux CDs, but Knoppix's excellent hardware support, combined with the general flexibility of the included software, has made Knoppix the most popular.

This book shows you how to use Knoppix to its full potential with steps to use it as your desktop distribution, your rescue CD, and a launching point for your own live CD. You will find ways to use Knoppix that you may have never considered, and you may even think of ways to use Knoppix beyond what this book covers. I started this book as a Knoppix fan, but once I starting writing down the sheer number of things it can do, I quickly became a Knoppix zealot. I hope you find this book and Knoppix itself as useful and indispensable as I have.