About

This site was created to help sort through the many LiveCDs available to find the right one. It currently tracks LiveCDs, LiveDVDs, and LiveUSB operating systems.

If you see anything that needs to be updated or changed, please leave a comment on that project's page. Other comments can be left here, or you can email me at nick@frozentech.com.

-Nick

Rules
Each entry must have a web presence and an available download (or a means of purchase) for a CD, DVD, or USB Flash Drive image.

Key

Purpose
Desktops: provides a working GUI desktop environment with a collection of desktop programs, such as browsers and text editors. Many also include utilities for other purposes, such as home entertainment, but are only listed here because the additional functions are not their primary focus.
OS Replacement: provides an option to transfer the cd to the hard drive, or to install an OS in a different form
Education: provides a collection of educational programs, or was created to be used in the educational field
Rescue: provides tools needed for data recovery
Clustering: provides tools for making clusters
Security: contains network security tools
Home Entertainment: geared towards playing video and audio
Gaming: video games!
Medical: contains medical programs
Diagnostics: contains utilities for testing hardware
Firewalls: distributions created to be used as firewalls
Forensics: distributions containing forensic tools
Servers: distributions used for various server functions

Min/Max Size

The min size and max size refer to ISO sizes in mebibytes. Many distributions have different size images of their current release. Sizes over 700MiB may require overburning to be put onto a CD, or be a LiveDVD ISO. Many LiveCDs can also be copied onto and booted from USB drives.

Architectures
x86: AMD and Intel computers, could include optimizations from the 386 to the Pentium IV to the Athlon XP
x86-64: Computers with chips that use the x86 64-bit extensions, also known as AMD64, EM64T, Intel 64, or x64. These chips include the Athlon64, Opteron, Pentium 4 600 series, Pentium D, Core 2, Core i7 and modern Xeons
PPC: PowerPC chips, including the Apple G3, G4, and G5 (in 32-bit mode), possibly other IBM Power chips
PPC64: PowerPC 64-bit chips, including the Apple G5, possibly other IBM Power chips, such as the one used in the Playstation 3
Eden: LiveCDs specifically made for the VIA Eden platform. Because these are based on the x86 instruction set, x86 LiveCDs may work too.
Xbox: Made for the XBox, may require software or hardware mods to run
IA-64: Itanium and Itanium2 platforms
Sparc64: SUN Sparc 64-bit platform
Alpha: Alpha platform, once made by DEC, then Compaq, then HP
Mips: Some SGI platforms
HPPA: Also known as PA-RISC, made by HP

Status
Active: Project is being updated regularly
Inactive: Project is no longer being updated, but their website and download are still functional
Dead: The website may still exist, but downloads are no longer available (or the opposite, the downloads may exist, but the website disappeared)
Projects with no download and no website are removed from the list.

Comments

Please add these LiveUSB

Please add these LiveUSB projects:

http://liveusb-openbsd.sf.net
http://liveusb-xfce.sf.net
http://liveusb-finance.sf.net
http://liveusb-games.sf.net
http://liveusb-graphic.sf.net
http://liveusbmultimda.sf.net

Do you perhaps have an API of

Do you perhaps have an API of sorts? The data on this site is fantastic, and I'd wish to use it in a live USB/DVD creator tool I'm making, in which the user can search and select a PE right from the tool, and install it on a disk with one click :)
Ofcourse I'd properly credit you and stuff, it's gonna be free and opensource anyway.

Could you add Synergy Linux

Could you add Synergy Linux Live-CD?
Synergy Linux is a LiveCD that you can install of course, that's based on Fedora (has it's own RPM repos) for Desktop and small server use. SELinux has been taken off and is not offered.

Live CD: Synergy Linux
Web: http://www.synergy-linux.com
Purpose: Desktop; Home Server;
Arch: x86; x86-64;
Min Size – 640MB; Max Size – 700MB
Last Release: 3 (August 8 1012)
Status: Active

Could you add Lazesoft

Could you add Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition Live CD?
Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition is Free All-In-One Recovery Live CD for Data, Windows System, Password Recovery with ease-to-use graphical user interface. It combines CD and USB disk Burner.

Live CD: Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition Live CD
Web: http://www.lazesoft.com/lazesoft-recovery-suite-free.html
Purpose: Rescue; Data Recovery, Windows System Recovery, Windows Password Recovery, Disk Image, Disk Clone;
Arch: x86; x86-64;
Min Size – 70MB; Max Size – 230MB
Last Release: 2012.7
Status: Active

JonDo live-cd for anonymous

JonDo live-cd for anonymous websurfing:

Homepage: https://anonymous-proxy-server.net
Download: https://anonymous-proxy-servers.net/en/jondo-live-cd.html

Minimum Size: 622
Maximum Size: 629
Last Release: 0.9.1 (Dec 2011)

Purpose: Secure Desktop
Media: CDROM, USB (flash) drive
System Architecture: x86
Operating System: Linux (Debian)
Default Languages: English, German, French, Spanish
State: Active

Could you add Ikki Boot ?

Could you add Ikki Boot ?
Ikki Boot is a Live CD/Live USB multiboot which aims troubleshooting, disk partitioning, backup and restore data.
It contains : Parted Magic, RIPLinux, Toutou Linux, CDlinux, and a lot of tools like Darik's Boot and Nuke and Super Grub Disk

Primary Functions : Rescue
Min/Max Size : 520 Mo
Architectures : x86

Homepage : http://ikkiboot.tuxfamily.org/

Thanks :)

I have been downloading Linux

I have been downloading Linux images for testing for a long time.
Your site and layout is excellent..
Unfortunately distromania suddenly went defunct and there is no site other than you site where old images (or redirection to home site) archived and kept for downloading..
I was looking for pocketwriter a Slackware derivative but got redirected to GoDaady site.
Failed after several attempts..
Similarly I could not find an image of Musix 64 bits.
There is some problem with Porteus too (portable Linux).
What I want to thank you very much is for keeping the very old demoLinux (currently downloading version 3) with you.
i have had lot of problem with point to point downloads which get disconnected abruptly.
Now I use linxtracker and try to seed as much as possible..
It took 14 days to download absolute Linux (old version) and 10 days to download Fedora 13 even at Linux Tracker due to no seeders.
Keep up the good work.
We greatly appreciate your work for the Linux community and the rest..

Distribution: Lightweight

Distribution:
Lightweight Portable Security (LPS)

Developer:
The Department of Defense (DOD)
Air Force Research Laboratory

Primary Functions:
The idea behind the distribution is to give people a secure option for accessing firewall-protected networks and the Web from home or shared PCs or Macs, the military said.

"LPS-Public turns an untrusted system (such as a home computer) into a trusted network client," according to the DOD. "No trace of work activity (or malware) can be written to the local computer," nor is there any record of what users did on the PC during the session.
While a public image of LPS is available online for free download for anyone, the DOD may have created it with federal government teleworkers in mind.

In December, President Obama signed the Federal Telework Act of 2010 into law, codifying an activity the federal government already was beginning to embrace on a wider scale. Just this week, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released security guidelines for those teleworkers to ensure they are not exposing federal networks to vulnerabilities while working outside of the office.
The DOD also has released a quick-start guide to help people use the distribution.

LPS does not install any software onto a local machine, nor are administrator privileges required to use the software. Once users boot up LPS from an external storage source, they can use a computer for general Web browsing and connecting to a remote network.

The distribution includes a smart-card enabled Firefox browser supporting common access card (CAC) and personal identity verification (PIV) cards, a PDF and text viewer, Java, and Encryption Wizard-Public, according to the DOD.

LPS is different from other Linux distributions in several ways, the DOD said. Since it's designed to run from read-only media, it has no persistent storage and has no need to be continually patched. However, the software will be patched on at least a quarterly basis, and the DOD will release maintenance updates periodically, it said.

Even if malware infiltrates the OS it can only run within the session in which it infects LPS, the military said. To add even more security to LPS, users can reboot between sessions or before engaging in activity that's particularly sensitive or vulnerable.
For example, LPS developers suggest booting LPS immediately before performing online banking transactions, and after visiting risky websites or if they think the machine may have been infected with malware.

Min/Max Size:
Min 120MB
Max 140MB

Architectures:
Live CD x86

Homepage:
http://www.spi.dod.mil/lipose.htm

I am not sure what Light

I am not sure what Light Portable Linux is going to achieve.
If one needs to access web on TOR there are other distributions available.
Pollipix from Danes and Incognito from France.

In any case it looks like it is the response to WiKiLeaks and bit too late for comfort..

I probably will use Puppy Browser (has better utilities) or Peppermint Live CD instead.

Here is a German Live Cd- Usb

Here is a German Live Cd- Usb Version. Not sure i rarly seen it anywhere but i am using it and its very nice.

Running since 11/2008
Latest release 05/2010
Name: Taneu-Os
Home: www.taneu.de
Arch: x86
Language: German

Size: from 400 Mb - to 2 gb
Purpose: Live Cd, Usb Cd, Education, Desktop, Os Installation.
DL Page: http://taneu.de/index.php?site=linux

Software
Slackware 12.2
Kde 3.5
Lots of addiotional software like peazip, unrar, guarddog,ect.

Its good for new commers its based on easy instruction and with its additional software it makes it easy to learn linux.

New LiveCD for children:

New LiveCD for children: DoudouLinux

Homepage: http://www.doudoulinux.org/
Download: http://download.doudoulinux.org/

Minimum Size: 650
Maximum Size: 720
Last Release: May 2010
Purpose: Education, gaming
Media: CDROM, USB (flash) drive
System Architecture: x86
Operating System: Linux (Debian)
Default Languages: Arabic, English, French, Spanish
State: Active

It would be nice to have

It would be nice to have LinuxAdvanced listed at livecdlist - even it is a pendrive linux ;-)

yours
gerhard

* RELEASE HISTORY
01/2008: LinuxAdvanced 8.0
03/2008: LinuxAdvanced 8.1
06/2008: LinuxAdvanced 8.2
10/2008: LinuxAdvanced 8.3
03/2009: LinuxAdvanced 9.0
07/2009: LinuxAdvanced 9.1
11/2009: LinuxAdvanced 9.2
LinuxAdvanced 10.0: stable version expected summer 2010 (beta already available)

* DESCRIPTION
Starting in 2007 LinuxAdvanced is developed with the goal to give pupils the possibility to work with free software at school and at home. The main focus was - and is still now - on the Live paradigma and with the spreading of pendrives now you can carry your operating-system an data with you and work everywhere with your software and your settings.
Although the distribution is developed for pupils in austrian schools it fits the needs for the common private usage very well. It has the principle of keeping things simple, only one application for a given use-case, low hardware requirements and a simple interface.
LinuxAdvanced is likely the most used live-distribution in austrian schools.

* BASIC INFO
Based on: Debian
Origin: Austria
Architecture: x386
Desktop: Xfce
Category: Desktop, Live Medium, Education, Netbooks
Status: active

* SUMMARY
Distribution: LinuxAdvanced
Home Page: http://www.linuxadvanced.at/
Mailing Lists: http://www.linuxadvanced.at/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/newsletter/
User Forums: http://www.linuxadvanced.at/forum/
Documentation: http://www.linuxadvanced.at/la_dokumentation.html
Screenshot: http://www.linuxadvanced.at/la_screenshots.html
Download Mirrors: http://www.linuxadvanced.at/la_download.html
Bugreports: (http://www.linuxadvanced.at/forum/)
Reports:
- http://futurezone.orf.at/stories/1603209/
- http://futurezone.orf.at/stories/1631757/
- http://www.linux-community.de/artikel/18662/
- http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=1241622623470
- http://www.osor.eu/news/at-education-ministry-no-longer-funds-proprietary-office-licenses
- [http://www.informatikserver.at/index.php/component/content/article/29/15933-linuxadvanced-usb-stick-edition
Where to buy: http://www.linuxadvanced.at/la_usb.html

* SPECIALS
Release date: 11/2009
Price (US$): Free
CDs: 1 DVD
Free Download: ISO
Installation: Graphical
Standard Desktop: Xfce
Paketmanagement: DEB
Office Suite: OO.o
Architecture: i386, i686
Journaling filesystems: ext3
Multilanguage: German only
Support for asian languages/locales: No

* SIZE
Minimum size: 1.5 GB
Prepared images for 4GB and 8GB pendrives
Maximum size: Size of the medium (depending on the size of your Data-Partition)

Live CD Linux distribution

Live CD Linux distribution with free IP PBX included

Distribution Name: FreeSentral
Website: http://www.freesentral.com
Download: http://freesentral.com/index.php/Download/Mirrors
Size: 447Mb

Purpose: Desktop, Server

_____________________________

_______________________________________________________

Completely Free Linux OS

Distribution Name: aLinux
Website: http://www.alinux.tv
Download: http://www.alinux.tv/linux-downloads.html

Purpose: Desktop, Home Entertainment, Server

_______________________________________________________

Could you add LFU Linux to

Could you add LFU Linux to the list?
Name: LFU
Web Site: http://learnfree.eu/
Download: http://learnfree.eu/archives/84
Wikipedia: http://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D0%A1%D0%A3
Min Size: 1181658 KB
Max Size: 2094368 KB
Purpose: Desktop, Education, Rescue
Latest Release: 2009.06
Next Release: 2010.02

This distribution is made in Bulgaria by me and my brother. Its name actually is "УСУ" (in cyrillic), abbreviation from the bulgarian "Учи Свободен с Убунту" (Learn Free with Ubuntu).
Version 3.0 is based on Ubuntu 9.04, but has a lot of customizations and additional software.
It has a lot of educational programs.
The goal of our project is to be useful in the educational sphere, and to be a starting platform for learning Linux.
It can run from DVD or Flash drive (and of course - can be installed on hdd).
There is also a netbook version

Live CD: MirOS BSD Web:

Live CD: MirOS BSD
Web: www.mirbsd.org
Purpose: Server
Arch: i386; Sparc
Min Size - 5mb; Max Size - 688mb
Last Release: 2009.10 (live snapshot)

Live CD: paldo Linux
Web: www.paldo.org
Purpose: Live CD Desktop; Installation
Arch: x86; x86_64 in stable, testing, and unstable branches
Min Size - 664mb; Max Size - 697mb
Last Release: 2009.11

Hi, i am the main maintainer

Hi,
i am the main maintainer of the shadowcircle linux live distribution. This is a fork of backtrack (so it is focused on security/ pentests like BT), which integrates a set a cool things.

ISO Size: 675MB
URL: http://www.shadowcircle.org
Latest stable Download: http://repos.shadowcircle.org/pub/shadowcircle/RELEASE/1.0/iso/shadowcircle_1.0_RC1.iso

Regards,

Can you please add pfSense,

Can you please add pfSense, found at www.pfsense.org?

This is an really fantastic firewall distribution based on FreeBSD, originally forked from m0n0wall. It includes a powerful pf-based firewall rule system, supports NAT and bridging, and has a polished web interface and a plug-in architecture allowing it to be expanded with extra features such as (for example) a web cache and proxy. It can run directly from a LiveCD or USB stick or can install itself to a hard drive if you're happy with it. The main project page is at www.pfsense.org and the download page is here: http://www.pfsense.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

I'm running it on a $200 low-power sub-micro PC, and it does everything which I used to do with a ton of custom scripts/firewall rules and installed packages on a full OpenBSD or FreeBSD install.

I noticed a hiccup of the

I noticed a hiccup of the boost module you're using on your site (Drupal 6.12, simply love it :)).
warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/www.livecdlist.com/htdocs/sites/all/modules/boost/boost.module on line 513.

Could you add Wires Cut

Could you add Wires Cut Linux? It's designed for developing software without Internet access. So it comes with GCC, Java, Ruby, Python, Lua, LISP, Haskell... It fits onto a CD and only needs 3 GB to install. Based on Xubuntu.

http://yellosoft.us/index.php?id=96

Thanks for your consideration.

That's a nice list indeed.

That's a nice list indeed. There appears to be some heavy JavaScript on the front page (with the list), though. Can it be removed or optimized? Also, is there really no way for registered users to submit entries? At least maybe to fill out a form with specific fields (for manual review/approval) rather than post a comment like I am doing now?

What I'd like added is Openwall GNU/*/Linux, or Owl:

http://www.openwall.com/Owl/

This is primarily a security-enhanced distro for servers (installable), but it is also a live CD. One of the unique properties of the live CD is that it includes a full set of development tools capable of rebuilding the whole system from source (yes, even while CD-booted), and the ISO includes the full source code too. (Of course, additional writable storage, such as a gigabyte of RAM for tmpfs or a hard disk, would be needed for the rebuild to succeed.) The CD is also convenient for rescue/forensics use, and it includes some security testing tools (John the Ripper, Nmap). The ISO sizes are 650-700 MB (x86, x86-64), the download sizes are around 450 MB (for .iso.gz).

Would it be possible to add

Would it be possible to add FireballISO? This is a Firewall-type distro that is built/customized with a Gentoo VMWare virtual machine; it may fit in Servers as well, since it provides network services too. http://fireballiso.sourceforge.net

Nice page. Could you possibly

Nice page.

Could you possibly provide a better way of download links from your various mirrors?

I usually download my CDs or DVD's with wget or DownThemAll as these allow resumes of
aborted downloads due to system and/or provider stream failures.

I'd therefore prefer a link that I can copy that points to a download mirror with
complete path and possibly filename or a list of possible mirrors with complete path.

This way, I can choose a mirror close to my place or a fast mirror or what other
decisions I may make, depending on where I am and what specific needs and download
speeds (bandwidth) are available.

Also, with full mirror links, I can generate a list of downloads I would like to
run over night with wget or other special download software that my operating
system supports.

Examples:
Gentoo x86 minimal install-CD:
ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/gentoo/releases/x86/current/install-x86-minimal-20090422.iso
Gentoo x86 livecd i686:
ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/gentoo/releases/x86/2008.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2008.0-r1.iso
Knoppix V6.01 CD EN:
ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V6.0.1-ADRIANE_V1.1CD-2009-02-08-EN.iso
Knoppix V6.01 CD DE:
ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V6.0.1-ADRIANE_V1.1CD-2009-02-08-DE.iso
Newest linux kernel v2.6:
ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/kernel.org/v2.6/linux-2.6.29.1.tar.bz2

Thanks,

linux4all

I guess that will have to do

I guess that will have to do meanwhile and help out. I know it's quite an effort to maintain your existing list that even I wouldn't have the time to manage that, so I'll just fill you in on my ideas.

Of course, as this is your list, you decide if, when and at what priority and extent you get my ideas working ;-)
Hey, maybe other users of your site may want to comment on my ideas or help you get your list completed?

##

My next idea is an optical usage enhancement request to ease scrolling your list with appropriate mouse/trackball hardware, for example mouse spinning wheel, an in the meantime standard hardware feature. Could you provide an extra link for us scroll wheel users or reconfigure your list to use just one long page to scroll up and down?

The current setting doesn't fit on one screen page anyway, so why did you split the list in the first case? Another bad side-effect of your split list is that it's hard to guess where to refind a once used link, so I'd probably have to go through all 4 pages again to find it.

##

Another idea would be tripple-featured, to append info to the list on "minimum RAM" and "minimum CPU" required for distro's resulting in: "Name, Ratings, Average Rating, Min Size, Max Size, Min RAM, Min CPU, Purpose, Last Release".

This info is very important, as many distros have minimum requirements which are interesting for people like me also installing many linux derivates on slower CPU's like 286, 386, 486 with very low memory down to as little as 2mb to 4mb on x86 and other hardware. There's a lot of old hardware in the world that's still worth of running with linux, even though not efficient enough anymore for Windows and some specialized huge Unix systems.

Also, some distro's like Puppylinux have minimum requirements that may be underrun if it does not matter that speed suffers and more swapping occurs. Example: I got Puppy v4.00-v4.12 running on a Pentium I-133 with 64mb RAM and 256mb swap-partition even though the distro requires a minimum of 128mb officially, showing a potential user which distro may suit his/her hardware resource needs, chances for running into trouble due to hardware restriction testing or straining. Some distro's are friendly with "min RAM" not being enough, other are tricky or die when trying. It's up to the user to test it then. But it would be good to know about the minimum requirements prior to download.

Missing out on the tripple-feature? Here it is:
To ease things for you, you might update the features as time comes, so that the distro's lists "min RAM" and "min CPU" data fields can be left free or an asterisk (*) for distro's you or your users haven't researched yet, letting the user know the asterisk means research has to be done.
And, you could encourage your users to send you an email of their researched distro's minimum RAM and CPU specs as a user response, and additionally perhaps in two extra fields when they rate the linux version.

Mark the one's researched by you in green colour, the one's reported by users in red colour and eventually turn them green when you stumble across that website and have verified it yourself. I guess you'll have to manage access to the new fields in your list that when you have reviewed linux distro's fields green that nobody can turn them red again without your notice.

Hope you manage to add these ideas some time soon ;-)

Be well.