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LiveDistro is a generic term for an operating system distribution that is executed upon boot, without installation on a hard drive. Typically, it is stored on bootable media such as a CD-ROM (Live CD), DVD (Live DVD), USB flash drive (Live USB), among others.
The term "live" derives from the fact that it does not reside on a hard drive. Rather, it is "brought to life" upon boot without having to be physically installed onto a hard drive.
A LiveDistro does not alter the current operating system or files unless the user specifically requests it. The system returns to its previous state when the LiveDistro is ejected and the computer is rebooted. It does this by placing the files that typically would be stored on a hard drive into temporary memory, such as a ram disk. In fact, a hard drive is not needed at all. However, this does cut down on the RAM available to applications, reducing performance somewhat. At least 256 MB of RAM is recommended, but some LiveDistros do fine with less.
It is often said LiveDistros are a good way to demo or preview an operating system without having to install it to a hard drive.
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Common traits
Some LiveDistros come with an installation utility launchable from a desktop icon that can optionally install the system on a hard drive or USB keydrive. Most LiveDistros can access the information on internal and/or external hard drives, diskettes and USB Flash drives.
Most LiveDistros are based on Linux, but there are also LiveDistros based on other operating systems, such as Mac OS, Mac OS X, Solaris, BeOS, ReactOS, FreeBSD, Minix, NetBSD, Plan 9 from Bell Labs, MSDOS or Microsoft Windows. The legal status of LiveDistros based on Windows code is dubious. The first OS to support LiveDistro operations appears to have been Mac OS 7 on a CD and any other user-created Macintosh CD with a System Folder, which could be brought to a full desktop from a CD-ROM, in 1991.
The syslinux utility is used to boot Linux based LiveDistros as well as Linux floppies. On a PC, a bootable CD generally conforms to the El Torito specification which treats a special file on the disc (possibly hidden) as a floppy diskette image. Many Linux based LiveDistros use a compressed filesystem image, often with the cloop compressed loopback driver, or squashfs compressed filesystem, generally doubling effective storage capacity, although slowing application start up. The resulting environment can be quite rich: typical Knoppix systems include around 1,200 separate software packages.
LiveDistros have a reputation for supporting advanced auto-configuration and plug-and-play functionality. This is necessary so as to avoid requiring the user to configure the system each time it boots, and to make them easily usable by those who are new to the operating system.
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Emulation
There are number of emulators (the article virtual machine also contains a list of them) on the market that can be used to try a LiveDistro without the need to install it on a medium or burn it to a CD or boot it on the computer. The most widely supported i386 emulator is VMware. Others include QEMU, PearPC and Bochs which can all also emulate the x86 and/or PowerPC platforms, although due to their software emulation methods, they are slower than the hardware alternatives. Another emulator that has turned from commercial to freeware is Microsoft Virtual PC.
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Linux-based
APODIO is geared towards audio work
Arudius - A Zenwalk derivative for information assurance, modular and easy to remaster like SLAX.
Ark Linux Live is a Live CD version of Ark Linux
CryptoBox, a Samba fileserver which can store data on an encrypted partition
Damn Small Linux (also known as DSL) - Light-weight Knoppix cut down to 50MB for a business card-sized CD or USB pendrive.
DemoLinux - one of the very first LiveCDs (distribution independent, Mandrake/Debian...)
EDU-Nix Dual Mode CD - A Linux Live Distro designed for U.S. Public Schools that includes installers for OpenOffice.org 2 and the Tux series of programs for Windows. Open Source Schoolware - Free Software for Public Schools
Feraga.com: Creating a privacy optimized Debian GNU/Linux installation for USB Flash drives and other removable media.
Finnix: a small system administration LiveCD. A PowerPC version is available.
Gentoo - "Gentoo is a free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need. Extreme configurability, performance and a top-notch user and developer community are all hallmarks of the Gentoo experience."
grml, especially for users of texttools and system administrators
IBLS, a modular mini server distribution
Kanotix - based on Debian-Sid, for 32 Bit i586 and for AMD 64, HD installable.
Kurumin A Very popular brazilian LiveDistro.
LinspireLive (formerly LindowsLive) is a trial version of Linspire
MCNLive - Mandriva based, mid-sized (300M) multimedia LiveDistro, also for USB pendrive.
Olive was built mostly as demonstration of various unusual technologies.
Sauver - A simple to use and very useful for recovering deleted files & perform various other day to day activities. Includes GUI tools for Installing Wi-fi Drivers, Creating SWAP Files, Recovering Deleted files, Partition Manager and various others.
SLAX - A Slackware derivative, modular and very easy to remaster.
Tom's Root Boot - A small distribution available on a single floppy disc (1.44 MB disc reformatted to a larger capacity). Tomsrtbt claims to be "The most GNU/Linux on one floppy disk".
UHU-Linux LiveCD derived from UHU 1.1.1 created by Emerson. Can boot from CD or can be copied to a hard drive.
WOMP!, a 15-30 MB small multimedia LiveCD.
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Apple Computer|Apple Apple Macintosh|Macintosh Mac OS|OS-based
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Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD-based
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Microsoft Windows-based
BartPE (Windows XP/2003): Allows the creation of a bootable CD from Windows-install files.
WinBuilder - Free project developing 14~38Mb Windows(tm) XP/2003 environments
Microsoft representatives have described third-party efforts at producing LiveDistros as being “improperly licensed” uses of Windows. The Microsoft sanctioned MS WinPE product is linked above, but not available for retail sale or use.
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MS-DOS Compatible
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OpenSolaris-based
BeleniX is the most advanced and feature rich LiveDistro distribution
Nexenta is a LiveDistro based on the OpenSolaris kernel and GNU Utilities
SchilliX is the first OpenSolaris LiveDistro distribution.
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GNU Hurd-based
See also GNU Hurd#GNU/Hurd-based distributions
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Other operating systems
BeOS - all BeOS discs can be run in LiveDistro mode, although PowerPC versions need to be kickstarted from Mac OS 8
OpenVMS the installation CD is a bootable LiveDistro, which boots to an installation /plan9dist/download.html
ReactOS - Free software/open source operating system that is binary-compatible with Microsoft Windows applications.
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Rescue and Repair LiveDistros
911 Rescue CD Based on DOS with tools for Windows repairs (not technically a LiveDistro)
g4u - Harddisk Image Cloning for PCs
SystemRescueCd is a Linux- based CD with tools for Windows and Linux repairs. Based on the 2.6 kernel.
treehel‘s FreeSTAR Free UBCD based bootcd with a huge collection of free and open software for windows on it for addition and Russian and English windows-interface...
UBCD Free boot CD - ultimate boot CD (DOS/Linux)
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See also
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