14 DAY TRIAL // Ryan Finnie released Finnix 93.0 a while ago, a small bootable Linux distribution that caters to system administrators. Based on Debian's testing branch, this version features an updated Linux kernel, version 2.6.30-5, which is only patched to add UnionFS, since SquashFS support is now included in Debian by default.
The other notable changes are the fact that all the packages have been synchronized with the upstream, with fixes applied to them to enable LiveCD functionality, Memtest86+ version 2.11 is now included, the main menu has been reordered, and the evms, unionfs-tools, cramfsprogs and ftp packages have been removed. The evms and cramfsprogs packages aren't widely used and the operating system itself doesn't need them; unionfs-tools is incompatible with the current UnionFS version that Finnix uses and the ftp program can be replaced with lftp, which is included on the CD.
The developer states in the release announcement that "Finnix 93.0 itself is a maintenance release, but due to the length of time between Finnix 92.1 and 93.0, the time between Debian upstream updates warranted a major version number bump". This version is considered to be one of the largest up to date, with the x86 ISO weighing in at about 120MB.
Finnix 93.0, codename "Neenah," is available in two editions: x86, which features both 32-bit and 64-bit processor support, and PowerPC, which mainly supports older Apple computers (NewWorld G3 or G4 processors are officially supported, OldWorld G3 and G5 are not, but they may work). Also, the x86 version supports virtualization and can be run as a UML (User Mode Linux) or Xen guest operating system, or even as a UML host for itself.
About Finnix:
It is a bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators. You can mount and manipulate hard drives and partitions, recover data from them, probe networks, install other operating systems and much more. Above all, Finnix is small; currently the entire distribution fits on a mini-CD. Finnix is not intended for the average desktop user and does not include any graphical desktops, office tools or sound support, in order to keep distribution size low.
Download Finnix 93.0 right now from Softpedia.