The goal is having them in very good shape for Squeeze, that will ship with some point release of 4.4. The doubt is which point release will be: 4.4.2? 4.4.3 ? The schedule for the point releases has not been made yet, so it makes a bit harder trying to predict it.

Knoppix 6.0 also boots twice as fast as Knoppix 5, and comes with fewer applications preloaded, which helps keep the size down. While the main disk image weighs in at 645MB, it can be remastered to use 256MB or less.

The Desque technology aims to let schools with older PCs or inexpensive thin clients access modern Debian/KDE desktops running at a remote, centralized location. The desktops in the pilot program are hosted in Hamburg, Germany, on quad-core Xeon-based servers partitioned into multiple virtual machines using the open-source XEN hypervisor paravirtualization technology. The desktops can be accessed by students with “standard” broadband connections, according to NoMachine. Along with the obvious advantages of virtual thin clients — centralized maintenance, low-cost clients, and energy savings — students and teachers are able to access their desktops whether at home or at school, NoMachine suggests. Since all processing happens on the remote server, remote client PC requirements are reportedly modest.