OVERCLOCKIX OVERVIEW
Distributed Computing - Folding@Home 4.0, Seti@Home, and Prime95. Overclockix features a system of shell scripts to make using these DC clients simple and automated. In addition to Distributed Computing, there are other burn-in applications such as Memtest and cpuburn for torturing your hardware to prove stability. Put simply, the CD can be used to run Distributed Computing clients or stress-testers on machines without hard disks. This is great for those who '"OVERCLOCK" their computers, hence the name of the distro. These applications enhance the distro's usefullness for system builders and hardware enthusiasts, making it a more versatile utility disk. Distributed Computing contributes to scientific research without impacting your computer's performance by using idle cpu time and the internet to create a worldwide distributed supercomputer to crunch complex data.
Advanced Tools for Resuce/Recovery - For the Linux-saavy, a Live CD makes and excellent test bed and rescue environment. Even casual users can perform tasks such as imaging hard drives or partitions with dd, resizing partitions without data loss with qtparted, repairing unbootable operating systems, and recoverying files from failing drives. Linux distros network well in a mixed OS environment and support a wide range of filesystems. Quite the swiss army-knife for any geek.
Custom look - This is what sets Overclockix apart from many other custom Knoppix CD's. KDE, Gnome, Fluxbox, and IceWM desktops have all been customized for things like transperancy, png icons, and flashy background screens. While other WM's have been left at default settings for a lean, mean, and, efficient work environment.
Desktop use - Included are thousands of GNU applications, from webservers to office suites, to image manipulation software and ftp/p2p clients, to media players, web browsers and chat programs... More than 1000 executables in all. Overclockix is a pre-rolled desktop OS you can carry around anywhere you go and is great way to get a taste for the capabilites of Linux.
Install-on-demand scripts - Some things such as 3d video card drivers and f-prot (a virus scanner) can be installed into ram while booted from the CD. Thanks, talented members of the Knoppix community, for all your hard work!
Nforce2/KT400/Canterwood/Via onboard LAN driver support - Most Knoppix variants don't include drivers for these onboard network cards- Nvidia Nforce2, sk98lin, Via 6105C, but Overclockix does at least in the 2.4 kernel, though I have only tested Nforce2.
Easy Debian and Knoppix style installation scripts - /usr/local/bin/knx-hdinstall and also newer /sbin/knoppix-installer have been reworked slightly to function with Overclockix 3.4. The original Knoppix 3.4 Cebit CD requires adding these installers and their templates. But they are included and ready to go in Overclockix 3.4. Some minor tweaking is required to use both kernels after installing, and instructions for doing so are provided on the CD.
Hard Drive installation requires about 2GB for the root filesystem but I recommend more, and a 128mb+ swap partition is optional. Some minor tweaking is suggested post-install to make the OS more secure and to fix some minor Knoppix-specific quirks. These scripts use the Lilo bootloader and are dual-boot friendly with an existing Windows installation.
