History (2003–2006) The distribution derived from "Kano's Scriptpage for Knoppix". He wrote about Knoppix: "I like it much, but I had to improve it :)". One of the main differences from Knoppix was the support of hard disk installation. The first "Kanotix"-preview was released at 24 December 2003 "KANOTIX XMAS 2003 PREVIEW". In 2004 and 2005 KANOTIX was a popular distribution ranking in the top 20 of distrowatch.com. In 2004 the releases were named "Bug Hunter" (Bug Hunter-01-2004 - X-2004). After problems with the stability in 2006 Jörg "Kano" Schirottke decided to move from Debian Sid to a less volatile basis. The co-developer and other of the Kanotix-Team wanted to stay with Debian-Sid and left the project, to start
sidux, a new distribution based on
Debian sid. The last Kanotix release based on Debian Sid was 2006-01-RC4.
Versions based on Debian stable (2007–current) Kanotix-Thorhammer-Release 2007 The first Release based on Debian-stable was the Kanotix-Thorhammer in 2007. After the Debian-
Etch-Release in April 2007 Kanotix was no longer compatible with Debian Sid. So a Howto was given, "Steps to update right", to move a KANOTIX-installation to the new base by dist-upgrade. After 3 months of development and several beta Releases the new
Kanotix-2007-Thorhammer-RC6 was publicly available for download. The last published version was
Kanotix-2007-Thorhammer-RC7. The
development in 2008 featured continuously kernel-updates and a lot of backports in the Thorhammer-repository. Some of the additional packages were adaptations for
netbooks and
notebooks. A highlighted additional backport was OpenOffice.org 3.2.x
Kanotix-Excalibur-2010 The (old) stable Release 2010
Kanotix-Excalibur was based on Debian 5 ("Lenny") and had compared to Thorhammer some basic changes (based on Debian-Live, bootloader
Grub2). Furthermore, Kanotix-Excalibur was available for 32-Bit and 64-Bit architecture and a 2in1 iso with both. Additionally there are Kanotix Excalibur 2010 KDE4 (KDE SC 4.3.2) versions available and an "all-in-one"-DVD.iso. Kanotix-Excalibur contains the more up-to-date Ubuntu-kernels 2.6.32-BFS with special patches. During the development most of the Kanotix-Excalibur-test.iso were not published but accessible to the community. A first "Preview"-Version was published on December 27, 2009. The final
Kanotix-Excalibur-2010 was released on 8 June 2010, just in time for
LinuxTag 2010.
Kanotix-Hellfire-2011-2012 The next stable version, code-name
Kanotix-Hellfire is based on Debian 6 ("Squeeze"). It ships with
KDE Software Compilation 4 for 32-Bit and 64-Bit architecture and a complete new branding stuff, new kernel (2.6.38), LibreOffice 3.3.2 and more. An updated version
Kanotix-Hellfire 2011-05 was released with the project's presentation at LinuxTag 2011 in Berlin and again with version
Kanotix-Hellfire 2012-05 one year later during the LinuxTag 2012 With the so-called "GFX overlays" that enables to use
Nvidia or
ATI 3D graphics driver in live mode, Kanotix-Hellfire provides this new feature first time.
Kanotix-Dragonfire-2012-2014 This version, ("old stable") code-name
Kanotix-Dragonfire is based on Debian 7 ("Wheezy"). A Preview of this Kanotix-Version was offered at LinuxTag 2012 in several versions in 32 and 64 bit. Also a new repository for Kanotix-Dragonfire was added with backported KDE4.8 packages (amd64 and i386). New features in Kanotix-Dragonfire are: booting from/with DVD, USB, UEFI (PCs, Intel Macs), an embedded USB-Stick ImageWriter for Mac OS X and the USB-Stick with Hybrid-ISO can now be made persistent from the live-system. A preview of the current release "Kanotix-acritox-trialshot" was announced on 14 February 2013. A special "
CeBIT" edition was released "as a Technology Demonstration" on 8 March 2013. A new official Kanotix-Dragonfire was announced from LinuxTag 2013 in Berlin. Beside KDE as default desktop environment the new release ships with
LXDE as a second lightweight desktop environment. In the KDE-Special version the extra 3D graphics drivers from
nvidia and
AMD and the
Steam-client are already preinstalled. An updated release of the stable Kanotix was presented at LinuxTag 2014 in Berlin.
Kanotix-Spitfire-2014-2016 Kanotix Spitfire is based on Debian 8 ("Jessie"). Several Kanotix-LinuxTag images for 32 and 64 bit were offered for download. After the Release of Debian GNU/Linux 8.0 (2015-04-26) a reset of the "
nightly builds" with the official Debian kernel-version 3.16.7 started
Kanotix-Spitfire as a "
rolling release" of the current stable
Kanotix. The Images are maintained by developer Kano and offered for download "Kanotix Downloads" and on kanotix.acritox.com The latest Kanotix modification of
Kanotix-Spitfire has been presented at OpenRheinRuhr 2015 in Oberhausen.
Kanotix-Steelfire-2017-2019 Kanotix Steelfire is based on current stable Debian 9 ("Stretch"). Two months after the Release of Debian GNU/Linux 9.0 (2017-06-17) the first iso-images of Kanotix-steelfire-nightly-LXDE were released. The KDE-modification of
Kanotix-Spitfire was releast and presented later at OpenRheinRuhr 2017 in Oberhausen. (2017-11-4/5) All Images of "Kanotix-Steelfire" are available as KDE and LXDE versions in 32 and 64 bit.
Kanotix-Silverfire-2019-2020 Kanotix-Silverfire is based on Debian 10 ("Buster"). Just like its Debian base Kanotix-Silverfire was in the "testing"-mode. Some "previews" with KDE and LXDE in 32- and 64-bit variants are linked on the homepage. With the Release of Debian-10 (Buster), Kanotix-Silverfire became stable too.
Kanotix-Slowfire-2024 Kanotix-Slowfire is a edition based on Debian 12 ("Bookworm"). Just like the earlier Kanotix-Images the Nightly-Builds are released in 5 versions: The KDE and LXDE desktop environment, both in 64 and 32 Bit and the small Kanotix-Image -eeepc4G. In the KANOTIX tradition of rolling-release the Nightly-builds are automated builds every night of the latest development and the latest packages from the repositories. New is the Calamares-Installer (now in test version), wayland, refind, the current LibreOffice and a new kernel (6.6-13.1).
Kanotix-Towelfire-2025 Kanotix-Towelfire is a preview-edition based on Debian 13 ("Trixie"). The first preview was releast on
Towel Day 25-05-2025. The Nightly-Builds are released in 3 versions: The KDE and LXDE desktop environment, in 64 bit versions and the small Kanotix-Image -eeepc4G. In the KANOTIX tradition of rolling-release the Nightly-builds are automated builds every night of the latest development and the latest packages from the repositories. The Calamares-Installer (in test version), wayland, refind, the current LibreOffice and a new kernel (6.12-27).
Release timeline == See also ==