So what do you do when you have a perfectly good computer, but no working hard disk and you need to do Java development.

I’ve created a quick little solution to my own problem that uses a plain vanilla Knoppix 3.6 CD and a 128MB USB Storage drive. I have managed to extend Knoppix’ includede JRE to be a full JDK, aded jikes, ant, maven and tomcat 5 on less than 30MB of storage space. I decided to post it in case other people are in the same predicament as I was.

Firstly get the latest version 3.6 of Knoppix and burn it to a CD. This comes with Sun’s JRE 1.4.2.05 on the CD as well as a fully working modern KDE and LInux system. If you are unaware of Knoppix, it’s a great way to run linux on just about any PC without installing it.

Knoppix uses a RAM disk for your home directory. Obviously you loose all of this when you turn the machine off. The solution is to create a persistent home directory on a usb thumb drive or similar. (I actually use a 128MB SD card and a USB SD Reader). J

So boot up Knoppix with your usb drive plugged in. Then choose “Create Persistent home directory” from the Knoppix/Configuration menu. Follow the instructions and reboot. When rebooting hit f3 and follow the instructions about using your new home directory.

When booted up download one of the following:

• JDK1.4.2.05, Jikes, Ant, Maven, Tomcat 5.0.27
• JDK1.4.2.05, Jikes, Ant

Unpack it in your home directory and create a new shell to update your environment variables. You should now be all set.

To develop I use Kate, but Knoppix also comes with KDevelop 3.0, which has support for Ant and Java syntax highlighting (I think).

If you have a large enough card and enough memory you could just install eclipse or IDEA on it as well.