Swap files, LiveCDs

[Ai Haibara]

I'm using Knoppix 5 on what was originally an OEM WinME system (yeah, yeah - but it's the only system I can spare for testing ). Since it only has 128MB of RAM, I have to create a swapfile (the RAMdisk created by the LiveCDs generally takes 100MB or more of RAM).

I'd like to use/try Knoppix 6, even considering it's still beta/in flux, but I can't get it to recognize/use my existing swapfile, it doesn't have a way to easily create a new swapfile, and I'm not confident enough to try the methods I've seen for creating swapfiles, yet.

What I'm really asking, I guess, is are there any other LiveCD distros like Knoppix that are designed to work entirely from LiveCD (without necessarily installing to an HD), work with a Win9X/ME setup's worth of hardware, allow for easily creating a swapfile, and has most of the recent packages/software for web browsing, email, IM (Pidgin), and text editing?

[disturbed1]

I'd like to use/try Knoppix 6, even considering it's still beta/in flux, but I can't get it to recognize/use my existing swapfile, it doesn't have a way to easily create a new swapfile, and I'm not confident enough to try the methods I've seen for creating swapfiles, yet.

Are you sure the swap partition is still there? Knoppix should automount the swap as long as it is created correctly. Gparted is about the easiest way to edit your partitions. It is/was included with Knoppix (maybe qt-parted by now ) there is also a gparted live cd. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=271779

Besides Knoppix, take a look at antiX http://antix.mepis.org/index.php/Main_Page

[Ai Haibara]

The swapfile (knoppix.swp) is on /mnt/hda1, which in this case is an existing Windows FAT32 boot drive (not its own partition or a Linux drive, unfortunately). I created it in Knoppix 5.11 with the menu option (calls mkdosswap script), and Knoppix 5.11 and 5.31 both automatically recognize it and activate it on boot. 6.01 does neither (I've checked top, too).

Mepis? I've heard about it. I'll take a look, thanks.