Klaus Knopper (born 1968 in

Ingelheim Ingelheim (), officially Ingelheim am Rhein ( en, Ingelheim upon Rhine), is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The town sprawls along the Rhine's west bank. It has been Mainz-Bingen's district seat ...

) is a German

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, n ...

developer. Knopper is the creator of

Knoppix KNOPPIX ( ) is an operating system based on Debian designed to be run directly from a CD / DVD ( Live CD) or a USB flash drive (Live USB), one of the first live operating system distributions (just after Yggdrasil Linux). Knoppix was develop ...

, a well-known

live CD A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading f ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...

distribution. He received his degree in electrical engineering from the

Kaiserslautern University of Technology Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankf ...

(in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Technische Universität Kaiserslautern''), co-founded

LinuxTag LinuxTag (the name is a compound with the German ''Tag'' meaning assembly, conference or meeting) is a free software exposition with an emphasis on Linux (but also BSD), held annually in Germany. LinuxTag claims to be Europe's largest exhibitio ...

in 1996 (a major

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an Linux expo) and has been a self-employed

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...

consultant since 1998. He also teaches at the Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences. Knopper is married to Adriane Knopper, who has a

visual impairment Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

. She has been assisting Knopper with a version of Knoppix for blind and visually impaired people, released in the third quarter of 2007 as a Live CD. Her name has been given to the distribution:

Adriane Knoppix KNOPPIX ( ) is an operating system based on Debian designed to be run directly from a CD / DVD (Live CD) or a USB flash drive (Live USB), one of the first live operating system distributions (just after Yggdrasil Linux). Knoppix was developed ...

. Adriane is more of a desktop or "Non-graphical-userinterface" for blind computer beginners than a "distribution". It will work on any

Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...

that has a screenreader (Preferably SBL (Screenreader for Blind Linux Users)) and some text-based tools for internet access and normal work.

References

External links

Klaus Knopper personal profile at Knoppix

Meet The 'No Hard Disk' Man
at efytimes.com
ADRIANE - Audio Desktop Reference Implementation and Networking Environment
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knopper, Klaus 1968 births Living people German computer scientists German electrical engineers Knoppix People from Ingelheim am Rhein Engineers from Rhineland-Palatinate