"The Linuxcare bootable business card has a history that goes
back to 1999, when four Linuxcare employees designed a bootable
Linux CD to be used for rescuing damaged systems. The distribution
was compact enough to fit on the small business card-sized CDs.
These CDs quickly became the talk of the Linux trade show circuit,
and the earliest editions of the CD were among the most sought
after giveaways at LinuxWorld and the Atlanta Linux Showcase.
"Much has changed in the Linux world since the initial
appearance of the Linuxcare BBC. Not the least of these changes is
the Linuxcare BBC itself. Over time, the BBC grew a usable X Window
System that was absent in the first edition, but it also grew a
second distribution entirely.
"In a move somewhat reminiscent of the birth of Mandrake Linux,
the Linuxcare BBC has birthed two separate BBCs. In 1998, Mandrake
was born through an effort to integrate the KDE desktop into the
downloadable version of Red Hat Linux. Since then, Red Hat and
Mandrake have focused on different directions, creating two very
strong Linux distributions..."