<s>
Finnix	B-Application
is	O
a	O
Debian-based	O
Live	O
CD	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
developed	O
by	O
Ryan	B-Application
Finnie	I-Application
and	O
intended	O
for	O
system	B-Application
administrators	I-Application
for	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
filesystem	O
recovery	O
,	O
network	O
monitoring	O
and	O
OS	O
installation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
is	O
a	O
relatively	O
small	O
distribution	O
,	O
with	O
an	O
ISO	O
download	O
size	O
of	O
approximately	O
100MiB	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
available	O
for	O
the	O
x86	B-Operating_System
and	O
PowerPC	B-Architecture
architectures	O
,	O
and	O
paravirtualized	O
(	O
User	B-Application
Mode	I-Application
Linux	I-Application
and	O
Xen	B-Operating_System
)	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
can	O
be	O
run	O
off	O
a	O
bootable	O
CD	O
,	O
a	O
USB	O
flash	O
drive	O
,	O
a	O
hard	O
drive	O
,	O
or	O
network	O
boot	O
(	O
PXE	B-Device
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
development	O
first	O
began	O
in	O
1999	O
,	O
making	O
it	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
oldest	O
distributions	O
released	O
with	O
the	O
intent	O
of	O
being	O
run	O
completely	O
from	O
a	O
bootable	O
CD	O
(	O
the	O
other	O
Live	O
CD	O
around	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
was	O
the	O
Linuxcare	O
Bootable	O
Business	O
Card	O
CD	O
,	O
first	O
released	O
in	O
1999	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
0.01	O
was	O
based	O
on	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
6.0	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
created	O
to	O
help	O
with	O
administration	O
and	O
recovery	O
of	O
other	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
workstations	O
around	O
Finnie	O
's	O
office	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
public	O
release	O
of	O
Finnix	B-Application
was	O
0.03	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
early	O
2000	O
,	O
based	O
on	O
an	O
updated	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
6.1	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Despite	O
its	O
300MiB	O
ISO	O
size	O
and	O
requirement	O
of	O
32MiB	O
RAM	O
(	O
which	O
,	O
given	O
RAM	O
prices	O
and	O
lack	O
of	O
high-speed	O
Internet	O
proliferation	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
was	O
prohibitive	O
for	O
many	O
)	O
,	O
Finnix	B-Application
enjoyed	O
moderate	O
success	O
,	O
with	O
over	O
10,000	O
downloads	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
version	O
0.03	O
,	O
development	O
ceased	O
,	O
and	O
Finnix	B-Application
was	O
left	O
unmaintained	O
until	O
2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
23	O
October	O
2005	O
,	O
Finnix	B-Application
86.0	O
was	O
released	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Earlier	O
unreleased	O
versions	O
(	O
84	O
,	O
and	O
85.0	O
through	O
85.3	O
)	O
were	O
"	O
Knoppix	O
remasters	O
"	O
,	O
with	O
support	O
for	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
LVM	B-Application
and	O
dm-crypt	O
being	O
the	O
main	O
reason	O
for	O
creation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
is	O
released	O
as	O
a	O
small	O
bootable	O
CD	O
ISO	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
user	O
can	O
download	O
the	O
ISO	O
,	O
burn	O
the	O
image	O
to	O
CD	O
,	O
and	O
boot	O
into	O
a	O
text	O
mode	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
requires	O
at	O
least	O
32MiB	O
RAM	O
to	O
run	O
properly	O
,	O
but	O
can	O
use	O
more	O
if	O
present	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
user	O
can	O
modify	O
files	O
nearly	O
anywhere	O
on	O
the	O
running	O
CD	O
via	O
a	O
union	B-Application
mount	I-Application
filesystem	O
(	O
UnionFS	B-Application
or	O
AUFS	B-Application
,	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
Finnix	B-Application
release	O
)	O
,	O
stacking	O
a	O
read-write	O
filesystem	O
(	O
in	O
this	O
case	O
,	O
a	O
dynamic	B-Application
ramdisk	I-Application
)	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
a	O
read-only	O
filesystem	O
(	O
the	O
CD	O
media	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Any	O
changes	O
made	O
during	O
the	O
Finnix	B-Application
session	O
are	O
transparently	O
written	O
to	O
RAM	O
and	O
discarded	O
upon	O
shutdown	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
Finnix	B-Application
uses	O
SquashFS	B-Application
to	O
keep	O
distribution	O
size	O
low	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
can	O
be	O
run	O
completely	O
within	O
RAM	O
,	O
provided	O
the	O
system	O
has	O
at	O
least	O
192MiB	O
RAM	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
a	O
"	O
toram	O
"	O
option	O
is	O
passed	O
to	O
Finnix	B-Application
,	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
contents	O
of	O
the	O
CD	O
are	O
copied	O
to	O
a	O
RAM	B-Application
disk	I-Application
,	O
and	O
the	O
CD	O
is	O
ejected	O
,	O
freeing	O
the	O
CD-ROM	O
drive	O
for	O
other	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
can	O
also	O
be	O
placed	O
on	O
a	O
bootable	O
USB	O
thumb	O
drive	O
,	O
or	O
installed	O
permanently	O
on	O
a	O
hard	O
drive	O
(	O
though	O
still	O
functioning	O
as	O
if	O
it	O
were	O
a	O
LiveCD	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finnix	B-Application
is	O
available	O
for	O
several	O
processor	O
architectures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
primary	O
architecture	O
is	O
x86	B-Operating_System
,	O
with	O
an	O
additional	O
x86-64	B-Device
kernel	B-Operating_System
included	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PowerPC	B-Architecture
support	O
is	O
available	O
with	O
most	O
releases	O
as	O
a	O
separate	O
CD	O
,	O
released	O
concurrently	O
with	O
its	O
x86	B-Operating_System
counterpart	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
Finnix	B-Application
is	O
aware	O
of	O
both	O
the	O
User	B-Application
Mode	I-Application
Linux	I-Application
and	O
Xen	B-Operating_System
virtualization	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
UML	B-Application
and	O
Xen	B-Operating_System
Virtual	B-General_Concept
private	I-General_Concept
server	I-General_Concept
providers	O
such	O
as	O
Linode	B-General_Concept
can	O
provide	O
Finnix	B-Application
as	O
a	O
recovery/maintenance	O
distribution	O
to	O
their	O
customers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
New	O
versions	O
of	O
Finnix	B-Application
are	O
released	O
every	O
3	O
months	O
on	O
average	O
,	O
with	O
updated	O
software	O
from	O
the	O
Debian	O
"	O
testing	O
"	O
tree	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
new	O
Finnix-specific	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Versions	O
86.0	O
through	O
93.0	O
used	O
a	O
major/minor	O
versioning	O
scheme	O
,	O
with	O
major	O
releases	O
usually	O
including	O
major	O
functionality	O
changes	O
,	O
and	O
minor	O
releases	O
including	O
minor	O
fixes	O
and	O
Debian	O
updates	O
to	O
bring	O
Finnix	B-Application
's	O
packages	O
up	O
to	O
date	O
with	O
Debian	O
's	O
"	O
testing	O
"	O
tree	O
.	O
</s>
