
It's easy to grow increasingly cynical the more you follow "innovation" in operating systems and software. New releases often turn out to be nothing more than reinventing, or repackaging, the wheel, with new icons and steeper system requirements. Yet every now and then persistence pays off and that lengthy download or poorly written web site delivers something truly amazing and faith in the future of computing is, albeit temporarily, restored. I experienced such a sensation a couple of months ago when I downloaded the CD-ROM based, Linux distribution known as
Knoppix.
I just downloaded, installed, and am using it now. Knoppix is excellent, detected all my hardware (except my scanner, not a big deal) and works perfectly. Includes a nice set of applications. Really impressed.
Now I can carry around a linux distro in my backpack wherever I go =).