[luau] DemoLinux: A painless way to try Linux

[Warren Togami]

It has been more than a year since I've tried DemoLinux, but it seems to be
a very good CD bootable Linux demonstration for people too afraid to do the
install on their own computer.  I copied a similar German DemoLinux called
Knoppix to Videl server at ftp://videl.ics.hawaii.edu/mirrors/knoppix/.
Knoppix seems fairly good with KDE 2.2.x and OpenOffice, but parts of it
weren't translated from Germans so it may be confusing.  This DemoLinux
described below has a full English translated version.

http://newsforge.com/newsforge/02/03/26/0312228.shtml?tid=23

Do you remember the first time you used Linux? If you are like many folks,
you have vivid and perhaps painful memories of the installation. Maybe you
used FIPS or Partition Magic to make room on your hard disk. Maybe you felt
anxious over the idea that if you did something wrong, you might destroy the
system on your hard drive. And you needed to do all this just to try an
operating system you probably knew very little about. Now, there is a better
way to test drive Linux.

It's DemoLinux. First offered at Linux Expo Paris in February 2000,
DemoLinux allows people to test drive Linux without installing the operating
system. Just boot it from the CD. No hard drive partitioning. No lengthy
installation process. No up-front work at all.

DemoLinux version 1.0 was based on Mandrake 5.3, while version 2.0 switched
to a pre-release of Debian "Potato." DemoLinux is developed largely by three
people from Paris VII University in France. Until now, relatively few people
in the United States have known of its existence or importance. Now at
version 3.01, DemoLinux tries to create a pleasant user experience that
works on most modern PCs. It does a pretty good job at it, too.
(continued in article)