Klaus Knopper, now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time.

That's a blast from the past. I remember repairing my main install from a minimal Knoppix on my 1GB USB drive... Good old times.

ha! This was my first distro :)

Knoppix was basically the dawn of mass-market Linux, and I think it goes unsung. Installing Linux on a fresh computer, or even worse setting up dual boot, was way too much of a commitment to try it out. Knoppix gave us live CDs, and everybody who had been making excuses for years could test drive to their hearts content and find out it wasn't so hard.

It was certainly my Linux start. I'd been embarrassingly defying friends for years and sticking to Windows because I'm a creature of habit - thank god I jumped ship before Vista, when all my habits would have changed by force.

I think the 1-2 punch of Knoppix and Vista might be responsible for a significant portion of current Linux usage, at least in a Butterfly Effect way. People who were trying out Linux when Vista came had an easy escape hatch, and wouldn't have felt any urge to turn back until Windows had reverted to usable again.

GD I didn't expect to get teary eyed this early in the day

Kanotix was even better. Kano built on top of knoppix.

Lateron I think this was renamed to sidux, based on debian sid.

Been quite a while since I last used either though. Nowadays most linux distribution .iso files work - they may not be as adjusted as knoppix or kanotix but my use cases have changed. I mostly use manjaro these days, it works quite well as base system (I modify it anyway, so what I am using has only little parts of manjaro left, mostly just the linux kernel and glibc, rest I already compiled anew from source).

man i thought the guy died when i saw the post. glad he seems well. also he is surprisingly young.

I've run it once

Wow, it's been a while since I heard that name.

Knoppix saved my bacon a couple of times, I remember using their live CD.

Omg great memories.