A review of povray-containing linux live CD's.

Edited post: found some more distros with povray, tried them in "Crusty."

Another edit: corrected mistake about testing DVD-based-distros on a laptop only with CD's

Needless to say, povray is my favorite 3D computer graphics application. Its joy or its bane is that it's all about typing in elements of a particular, C-like scene description language. Inability to draw a straight line with a mouse would not, per se, prevent one from making great artwork in povray. You could make art by "typing with one hand" or with the right keyboard I could use "My Left Foot". I've often imagined it would be a wonderful thing to teach to folks with sharp minds but are injured or paralyzed; another dream is to teach it to teens.

Live CD's are my favorite way of playing with linux, in that you can do it on practically any computer without making a commitment. You may be able to play with thousands of professional-quality programs, print and do wireless with a live CD. As a treasure trove of software is already there, you don't have the aggravations, which can be extreme, of having to figure out how to download programs in linux-- which is sometimes a MAJOR hassle.

Putting the two together-- povray and linux-- is not always easy. Klaus Knopper of Knoppix does not want to put povray on his creation. Some might ask exactly to what extent he understands the povray license, or if povray could have written a less cryptic one. Anyway, the enthusiast of live linux and povray has to look elsewhere.

The Crusty test

I tried several distros both on some Aptiva desktops, and an older, 2.0GHx Thinkpad R40, which I will call "Crusty" because it just doesn't seem to work with a lot of live CD's. Therefore, any distro that works with this particular laptop is in my opinion has acheived better competency with hardware detection and is better suited for dissemination into a class who might have varied PC's of all sorts of vintages. As a control, the distro CPX MINI, a derivative of kanotix, booted up well on this computer as did Knoppix Math, albeit neither of them let me see the data on a Cruzer Mini USB stick attached to Crusty.

Distros worth mentioning but DO NOT have povray:

• dyneBolic 1.4.1

  CRUSTY TEST: Squeaks by. Boots up but won't let me see the USB stick.
  FEATURES:
  • NO povray
  • Other graphic apps: Blender, gimp, a host of other graphic & multimedia apps.
  • USB Storage: worked on a desktop but failed with Crusty.

  Wolvix 1.02

  CRUSTY TEST: Squeaks by. Boots up but won't let me see the USB stick.
  FEATURES:
  • NO povray
  • Other graphic apps: Blender, gimp, a host of other graphic & multimedia apps.
  • USB Storage: worked on a desktop but failed with Crusty.

a list of live CD distros with povray

• ClusterKnoppix

  FEATURES:
  
  • No internet. When I plugged a (respectable, non-Crusty) laptop into an active ethernet connection, I couldn't access the web. For this distro, perhaps it's forgivable, given its purpose.
  • povray is Povray 3.02 w/o INI's. I actually wasn't able to do any render even after some tinkering. I don't know what the problem was.
  • Other graphic apps: blender,
  • Apps: average number of games.
  • It allowed read & write of a USB stick flawlessly



• Gentoo RR4

  CRUSTY TEST: It's a DVD-based distro, and Crusty only has a CD drive. :(
  FEATURES:
  • povray, including support files for include and ini-- even "icons" and a full set of example scenes!
  • Other graphic apps: has GIMP (just missing from the menu), has blender and OpenOffice.
  • Wireless: made easy connected to unencrypted wifi
  • USB storage: read and executed a povray file off the stick--works great.
  • Has Gparted on the desktop-- like, do we really want to tempt new users by leaving it out there to see??

• Parallel Knoppix

  CRUSTY TEST: Fails. Does not boot up on this laptop.
  
  FEATURES:
  • povray including the support files for include and ini
  • Other graphic apps: no blender, no GIMP, no Openoffice.
  • It allowed read & write of a USB stick flawlessly

Taprobane

FEATURES:
• povray, including the support files for include and ini
• Other graphic apps: no blender

PaiPix Linux 5.0

CRUSTY TEST: It's a DVD-based distro, and Crusty only has a CD drive. :(
FEATURES:
• Internet connection to an active ethernet cable worked fine
• has povray 3.5 which was working fine
• Other graphic apps:blender, k3d. More are listed at the bottom of this page.
• lots of games, which could be a distraction in a classroom experience
• USB storage: It never saw the USB stick

• Quantian Scientific Computing Environment 0.7.92

  CRUSTY TEST: It's a DVD-based distro, and Crusty only has a CD drive. :(
  
  FEATURES:
  • Internet connection to an active ethernet cable worked fine
  • has povray 3.5 which was working fine
  • Other graphic apps
  blender
  • Other apps: a moderate amount of games. Full list is here
  • USB stick worked with some permission haggling. Not necessarily a detriment

• MediainLinux 4-RC5

  CRUSTY TEST: Passes with distinction. Could see and access files on the Cruzer Mini USB stick.
  FEATURES:
  • Internet : ethernet connection worked. Wireless worked in a public wifi setting with a mere "pump -i eth0"
  • povray is 3.5 but comes without any includes. Consequently, use of #include "colors.inc" leads to an error unless you supply your own colors.inc
  • Other graphic apps: blender, k3d. Some are listed here
  • Other apps: plus side is no games. Having too many games could prove to be a distraction in a classroom setting.
  • USB stick allowed read & write flawlessly

And the hands-down winner is...

MediainLinux, for an audience where you don't know what kind of computers the folks have. Even though its povray installation has omissions (namely, includes), it shows the greatest technical competence when it comes to wireless and USB devices. Can you imagine an art class where you lose everything you've done at the end of every session? Alternatively, for your "own" use, or a setting where you can pre-screen compatibility with the hardware, I would recommend Gentoo RR4. One of my next tasks with be to remaster if possible a mediainlinux version with a healthy dose of includes.

Happy Computing!