Knoppix Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools - review

by Stuart Yeates on 1 March 2005 , last updated

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Introduction

  • Author: Kyle Rankin
  • Publisher: O’Reilly
  • Year: 2005
  • ISBN: 0-596-00787-6

The Hacks series from O’Reilly is about getting the most out of a particular piece of hardware or a particular system. In this instance, it is Knoppix (the live CD Linux distribution most commonly used for fixing computers that are unable to boot) that is the focus of attention. The format of the books in this series is a little different from O’Reilly’s standard. Each consists of a series of numbered hacks or activities, starting with the obvious and technically trivial and progressing to the obscure and nifty. The reader goes from “Get Knoppix” and “Use Knoppix Cheat Codes” to “Fix the Windows Boot Selector” and “Restore Corrupted System Files”. The final set of hacks are all to do with how to make your own customized Knoppix.

I suspect the format has been designed with input from someone with a background in pædagogy. Every hack is a learning exercise, with

  • a motivation section that explains why you might be interested in doing this,
  • a step by step guide to the actual task that explains both the actions to be undertaken and their meaning (as well as how to overcome common issues), and finally
  • a forward-looking section on what to do next. This approach means that the early hacks are almost certain to be less useful to the technically adept reader. It guarantees, however, that since everything is completely explained, the market for the book ought to be broader than usual.

The version of Knoppix that comes with the book is necessarily dated. A task documenting downloading and burning a new ISO image of the latest Knoppix release offsets this apparent annoyance. Moreover, the close match of the book and the CD is probably more important for beginners than having a bleeding edge Knoppix.

A large number of the hacks are security or security-related hacks. A LiveCD is a versatile tool for security work. It allows administrators to boot an infected or compromised machine into a safe state without connecting to the network and potentially wreaking havoc on other machines. Administrators can then inspect the damage without risk, because the CD-ROM is read-only—the virus, worm or malware on the compromised machine cannot possibly infect the LiveCD. It allows administrators to update, modify, delete and undelete files, reformat partitions and repartition harddisks, i.e. get on with their business, without fuss or fear.

Many of these hacks are not, strictly speaking, Knoppix hacks. Many of them are achievable using any Linux or BSD based LiveCD. Some of them could be be done even with any Linux or BSD operating system, even a conventionally installed one. Given that Knoppix is the flavour du jour for this kind of work, however, that is where the book focuses.

The book is not a replacement for Google when it comes to diagnosing an unusual problem. For this reason it is somewhat disappointing that resolving issues through research on the Internet is not better discussed.

Knoppix Hacks looks like a great book for someone looking to increase their knowledge of Knoppix, Linux or POSIX systems. The modular approach means that while almost every reader will find they already know some of the hacks they will easily be able to find the hacks they are interested in. There should be something here for everyone.

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