[nmfisher]

This is a blast from the past. Knoppix saved my life a few times, it was the easiest way to mount a drive with a broken partition table or something else went that haywire with a dual-boot system. It was also the safest option for doing something on a public computer without leaving a trace (though back then NIC drivers were always a bit finicky).

My first Knoppix CD may have actually come by way of the front cover of Linux Magazine.

[anthk]

Same there. The huge amount of software and geeky toys that came with it was impressive. From Emacs itself to the BB demo, libre games and whatnot.

You could install it to a hard disk and get a ready to use Debian Testing install with one of the best hardware autodetection settings ever.

[sdoering]

I can second this. Very similar experience. Was a blast to see this pop up here.