The Knoppix distribution barely needs an introduction. It was the first popular distribution to provide a live CD; in other words, a bootable CD-ROM that runs a turn-key Linux system with no requirement for a hard-disk — any system already installed on the machine will be left untouched. Automatic detection of available devices allows this distribution to work in most hardware configurations. The CD-ROM includes almost 1 GB of (compressed) software, and the DVD-ROM version has around 4.5 GB.

结合这个CD-ROM 和一个可以存储文件的 U 盘，你就可以在任何电脑上不留痕迹的工作了——记住一点这个发行版一点也不使用硬盘的。Knoppix 大多出是基于 LXDE（一个轻量级的图形桌面），但是 DVD 版本还包括 GNOME 和 Plasma。许多其他的发行版提供了其它桌面组件和软件包组合。这样的使用部分归功于live-build，Debian 软件包使得可以相对容易的制作一个 live CD。

Note that Knoppix also provides an installer: you can first try the distribution as a live CD, then install it on a hard-disk to get better performance.