Knoppix is a Live CD with many compressed applications running Linux and based on Debian.
There is now two versions of Knoppix. One version that runs on a 700 megabyte CD and one that runs on a 4.7 gigabyte DVD. Knoppix decompresses on the fly an estimated 1 plus gigabytes of data on the CD and 8 plus gigabytes on the DVD. There is over 1000 software programs included on the CD version and over 2600 on the DVD version. The programs included are, Open Office, GIMP, MPlayer, and many more toold for data rescue and system restore and maintenance.
Knoppix also has the ability to store files and configuration information in a file either on the hard drive or in a flsh drive so that you can have a complete custom operating system that you can run on any computer that will boot from a CD and has a USB connecting.
The Live CDs website has additional information concerning Live Cds you might find helpful.