Scientific Linux Live CD

Scientific Linux Live CD 6 is the official Live CD/DVD edition of the Scientific Linux 6 branch, an open source distribution of Linux based on the public source of the 6th branch of the powerful Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system.

Distributed as 32-bit and 64-bit Live CDs, Live DVDs and Live Mini CDs

The Live CD/DVD edition of Scientific Linux can be downloaded via Softoware or directly from the project’s official homepage as Live CD, Live DVD and Live Mini CD ISO images, designed to work on either 32-bit (i386) or 64-bit (x86_64) hardware platforms.

Comprehensive boot menu

The boot menu on all three Live ISO images is identical and quite comprehensive, allowing the user to start the live environment with default boot options, in text mode, with basic video drivers or by verifying the integrity of the disc (only if using a CD media).

In addition, it is possible to start the installer in graphical or text mode, perform a system memory diagnostic test, as well as to boot an existing operating system from the first disk drive.

Traditional graphical desktop environment powered by GNOME 2

Being based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the distribution uses GNOME 2 as its default and only desktop environment on the Live CD and DVD editions, which uses a traditional and productive two-panel layout. The Live Mini CD users the minimal IceWM window manager with a single-panel layout and fewer apps.

The Live CD includes a minimal set of open source applications

To our surprise, the Live CD doesn’t contain any scientific applications. It also provides users with the Gedit text editor, gThumb image viewer, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Mozilla Thunderbird email and news client, TigerVNC VNC viewer, Disks disk utility, Baobab disk usage analyzer, GParted partition editor, Totem movie player, Cheese webcam viewer, and Terminal Server Client. On the other hand, the Live DVD includes three times as much applications as the Live CD version.

Bottom line

Summing up, the Live CD/DVD edition of Scientific Linux is the best way for new users to get a glimpse of what this open source and Red Hat Enterprise Linux based operating system has to offer in terms of science and technology.

What is new in this release:

• Linux kernel 2.6.32-431.1.2.el6
• GNOME 2.28
• Firefox 24.3.0
• Thunderbird 24.3.0
• IceWM 1.2.37 (LiveMiniCD)
• LibreOffice 4.0.4.2 (only on LiveDVD)
• KDE 4.3.4 (only on LiveDVD)

What is new in version 6.6 / 7.0 Beta 1:

• Linux kernel 2.6.32-431.1.2.el6
• GNOME 2.28
• Firefox 24.3.0
• Thunderbird 24.3.0
• IceWM 1.2.37 (LiveMiniCD)
• LibreOffice 4.0.4.2 (only on LiveDVD)
• KDE 4.3.4 (only on LiveDVD)

What is new in version 6.4:

• Linux kernel 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6
• XOrg 1.13.0
• GNOME 2.28
• Firefox 17.0.5
• Thunderbird 17.0.5
• Icewm 1.2.37 (LiveMiniCD)
• LibreOffice 3.4.5.2 (only on LiveDVD)
• KDE 4.3.4 (only on LiveDVD)

What is new in version 6.3:

• Software was added from rpmforge, epel and elrepo (see EXTRA SOFTWARE) to include additional filesystem support (ntfs, reiserfs), secure network connection (openvpn, vpnc, pptp), filesystem tools (dd_rescue, ddrescue, gparted, gdisk), and better multimedia support (gstreamer-ffmpeg, flash-plugin).

What is new in version 6.2:

• software based on SL6.2
• build with Fedora livecd-tools 13.4
• kmod-ndiswrapper removed
• system-config-printer added
• gdisk added
• flash-plugin installed per default