I've downloaded the last three Kubuntu desktop releases, incl the latest-and-greatest, Feisty. The Ubuntu family is routinely sited as a 1st-class Linux live-CD/distro. However I always put them aside after burning them to CD-R, bec of something strange that I always encounter. Right now, I'm typing this msg from Knoppix 5.1. I was immediately productive with it, in that I was able to work w/ the data on my multiple FAT32/NTFS partitions right away. With a few hours of work I was able to setup Knoppix as a wired/WiFi router for my two desktop PCs.
I can't do that w/ any of the rec Kubuntu releases, none of them even create mount points for my partitions. And I discover (to my profound disappointment) that even though NTFS-3g has had three production revs this year, Kubuntu doesn't support it by default ! It's sort of like Mercedes-Benz only offering a spare tire to customers in Germany. Since the beg of 2007, every live CD distro I've tried has added built-in NTFS-3g support. Granted, every distro author has the right to include/exclude whatever components they see fit, but NTFS partitions are found on tens of millions of PC worldwide. This omission suggests NTFS support isn't an important feature, to be supported by default.
Why ? I'm not trolling for a flame war, but I think this is a legitimate question. An another odd occurrence happened after I burned my new Feisty CD. I popped it into the drive looking for a change log and other docs. I got an installer for readily-available Windows apps ! I'm preparing to seriously evaluate a new Linux distro and I'm offered the rare opportunity to install run-of-the-mill Windows apps ! I just don't fathom the logic behind some of this stuff.
In the boot-time "help" file, there's a reference to the Kubuntu CD as a rescue disc. Yes, assuming that one has installed it (Kubuntu) one's hdrive. It could be a great live CD....
I can't do that w/ any of the rec Kubuntu releases, none of them even create mount points for my partitions. And I discover (to my profound disappointment) that even though NTFS-3g has had three production revs this year, Kubuntu doesn't support it by default ! It's sort of like Mercedes-Benz only offering a spare tire to customers in Germany. Since the beg of 2007, every live CD distro I've tried has added built-in NTFS-3g support. Granted, every distro author has the right to include/exclude whatever components they see fit, but NTFS partitions are found on tens of millions of PC worldwide. This omission suggests NTFS support isn't an important feature, to be supported by default.
Why ? I'm not trolling for a flame war, but I think this is a legitimate question. An another odd occurrence happened after I burned my new Feisty CD. I popped it into the drive looking for a change log and other docs. I got an installer for readily-available Windows apps ! I'm preparing to seriously evaluate a new Linux distro and I'm offered the rare opportunity to install run-of-the-mill Windows apps ! I just don't fathom the logic behind some of this stuff.
In the boot-time "help" file, there's a reference to the Kubuntu CD as a rescue disc. Yes, assuming that one has installed it (Kubuntu) one's hdrive. It could be a great live CD....
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