View source for Installation/live-cd

{{DISPLAYTITLE: LiveCD}}{{TopicInstallation|float:right}}
Wikipedia dedicates an entire page describing what a Live CD is ([[wikipedia:Live_CD|Link]]). Have a quick read if you are not familiar what it is. In essence Live CD allows you to try the OS without actually installing it onto your computer.

To start Snakeoil as live CD, simply insert the bootable media into the machine and power it up. You would be presented with the following menu:
[[File:Grub.png|center|thumb|752x752px|Snakeoil Grub boot menu]]
Just select the first option. If you wait around 5 seconds the first option will be selected anyway. In due time a non-destructive working version of Snakeoil will start running. If you have a monitor connected you will see the following welcome screen.
[[File:01 - ubiquity 01.png|center|thumb|710x710px|Ubiquity - Try or Install]]
Simply select the "Try Ubuntu" and be on your merry way. Refer to your DNS server (your wifi router for most people) for the machine's IP address. Or press "alt-F1" and see the IP address displayed on the console. e.g. in the example below, the IP address of the machine is 10.138.138.102.
[[File:Console.png|center|thumb|283x283px|Snakeoil Console Login]]
From another computer that's connected to the same network as the machine running Snakeoil, start your favourite web browser, and type in <nowiki>http://10.138.138.102</nowiki> (or whatever number is shown). Notice the name just before the word login? If your router is configured properly that usually works too, so <nowiki>http://player</nowiki> would also work.
Refer to the [[Configuration|Configuration chapter]] for details on what the web pages do. Changes made in Live CD will be lost on reboot. It is recommended that you try Snakeoil in a live CD environment first before deciding whether to install it onto your machine. Snakeoil is not as feature rich as other CA distros out there and as such may not be suitable for your needs.

While Live CD mode is not an ideal solution for evaluation (the graphical environment uses up a fair bit of system resources), the flexibility of "non-destructive" use far outweighs that disadvantage. You can boot this Live CD media on any machine you have to see if any machine sounds better or not without actually installing them.

For more advanced users, the [[Advance-topics|Advanced Topics chapter]]  includes a section on how to modify the USB media you just created and allow you to make and save changes. This feature enables you try Snakeoil on any CA audiophile you visit. 

If your machine have loads of RAM, you can also try the option to load everything in RAM and see how it goes. This will take longer to boot up, but will be very responsive once everything is copied into RAM.

{{ManualNavigation|[[Installation]]|[[installation/preparing-your-computer|Preparing your computer]]|[[installation/installing-snakeoil|Installing Snakeoil]]}}