When comparing Knoppix vs Tails, the Slant community recommends Knoppix for most people. In the question“What is the best laptop OS?” Knoppix is ranked 20th while Tails is ranked 34th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Powerful and lightweight
Pro Privacy focused
Pro Has TOR built-in
Use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship; all connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network.
Pro Easy to use with an USB key
Cons
Con Runs off of optical disk by default
You have to enter a special boot option to run Knoppix entirely in RAM.
Con DVD version requires a lot of RAM
Many computers are incapable of loading the whole 4 gigabyte DVD into RAM. There is an older CD version, however.
Con Not for daily use
Tails is a privacy focused Linux distro. The updates that you will receive are only for improving privacy and not for improving user experience.
Con You can't install it to a hard drive
Con Saved states are not present for security
For security reasons, saved states are not supported in Tails. Files can be stored in a separate, persistent volume which must be accessed with a root password. Personal settings (e.g. -- keyboard layout, window settings, etc.) are not saved persistently across reboots. This can be a hindrance for anyone not using English as their language, or not using a QWERTY keyboard layout.
Con Only GNOME desktop environment
Con Slow internet
Tails uses the TOR network and as a result the internet on your computer will be very slow.