The other day I noticed a colleague apparently installing Linux on a PC in the labs. This was a cause of some concern, because I had been using the same system to test some hardware, and didn't want the disk contents or partitions changing in any way. He must have seen the look on my face. "Don't worry," he said, "it's only running from the CD."

I pointed at what looked very much like an install progress bar on the screen, but my colleague assured me that my data was safe. The version of Linux he was installing was called Knoppix - see web address below - and it apparently sets itself up on a virtual disk it creates in the computer's RAM, leaving the hard disk untouched.

By now I was intrigued, so I decided to try it out myself on another PC at home. After a quick change in the Bios firmware to enable booting from CD, I sat and watched as it dutifully loaded the kernel and various associated files in about three minutes, and brought up a KDE shell, before finally displaying a readme file in the bundled Konqueror web browser. Knoppix had managed to configure almost all my hardware, including the USB ports. More impressively, it found that I had a broadband internet link via a set-top box and Ethernet - and it configured itself to use them, a process that Windows XP had needed me to guide it through.

Let me be clear that I'm not talking about something akin to a DOS boot floppy that gives you a few command line utilities and little else. Neither is Knoppix one of the many minimalist Linux distributions that fit on a floppy disk. This is a fully-fledged operating system with a full graphical user interface that puts Windows to shame in many respects, plus a bundled office suite from OpenOffice.org, and lots of other utilities.

My hard disk and DVD drives were accessible, but you can't write to NTFS disks - you can only access all the files in read-only mode. You even get a multimedia player that plays audio CDs, MP3 and MPEG video, plus about 900 other Linux software utilities. Knoppix uses compression to cram up to 2GB of data onto a standard CD-ROM.

Apart from the novelty, think of the potential uses. It's great for people who just want to see what Linux can do, but without having to do anything intrusive on an existing PC. And you can't really break anything in the installation; if you get a problem, simply reboot. It's also a great way of downloading drivers for a PC before you install a new operating system.

IT managers could distribute it to mobile workers as a "lifesaver" system, in case their laptop installation of Windows dies while they are out on the road. I'm sure readers can think of many more uses, but for me it's been a valuable introduction to the world of Linux. I had never got round to playing with Linux, due to fears of accidentally trashing my system, but now I can play with it with impunity whenever I feel like it.

Now, wouldn't it be marvellous if there were a version of Windows distributed in the same format?

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