Scientific Linux Live CD For Linux

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.

The Live CD/DVD edition of Scientific Linux can be downloaded via Softpedia 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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.