Houdinix

Houdinix is a great GNU/Linux live-cd designed especially for young computer science students pursuing their education in our university. The Linux distribution is incredibly user-friendly and straightforward, providing beginners with all the essential tools they need. The software is packed with over 2 gigabytes of data, which is an incredibly impressive feat for a single 700Mb CD.

Moreover, the installer, Houdinstall, makes it incredibly easy to install the Linux distribution on a local hard drive. Houdinix features a Squashfs compressed file system that can accommodate 2.4Gb of data. The graphical environment in the Linux distribution is KDE 3.2, which is great for beginners.

Another great feature of Houdinix is the compilers and interpreters for several programming languages, including Basic, C, C++, Caml (ocaml), Cobol, Delphi, Fortran, Guile, Java (JDK1.4.2), Lisp (GNU clisp), Pascal, Perl (modules Gtk, Tk, Mail, ...), Prolog (gplc, gprolog), Python, Scheme (umb-scheme), Smalltalk, Tcl. The Linux distribution also includes scientific tools like gnuplot, scilab, and mupad. Houdinix is bundled with OpenOffice.org 1.1.3, Gimp 2, and various network support and tools like telnet, ssh, nmap, nslookup, etc.

Houdinix also includes popular internet tools like Firefox, Thunderbird, Kmail, Kopete, and Konqueror. The software recognizes file systems like ext2, ext3, vfat, iso9660 (ro), squashfs (ro), jfs, minix, ufs, reiserfs, ntfs (ro) and eases the process of installation on hard disk with Houdinstall. Houdinix is also equipped with a swap detection software, Houdiswap.

However, users should note that the software requirements for Houdinix include a 400Mhz Intel compatible CPU and 64Mb of RAM. A bootable CD-ROM drive (>8x) is also required. Overall, Houdinix is a highly recommended software for beginners and students looking to learn about programming languages and scientific tools without any complications.