Eles são agora um e o mesmo.
Um Live CD permite inicializar o sistema operacional completo a partir do CD e testá-lo totalmente sem afetar a instalação do sistema de disco rígido existente.
Em seguida, ele permite que você instale totalmente o disco rígido, se necessário.
Informações específicas sobre os CDs ao vivo do Ubuntu estão disponíveis aqui:
A quick demo of Ubuntu. Try Ubuntu without any changes to your machine! Windows or whatever you use normally is unaffected after trying this and then rebooting (in 99.999% of cases).
Almost any Ubuntu Cd can also be used as a LiveCd as well as an installer. It is the default option when booting from Cd. Only some of the non-standard downloads (such as the "Alternate Cd") lack this functionality. Windows users might be familiar with the term 'boot CD' or 'bootable CD'. A "LiveCD" is more than that because it gives the option of running a normal desktop environment with all the normal programs and some extras. A LiveCD usually finds your Internet connection and Firefox should be able to surf the internet into here.
Most distros (versions or "distributions" of Linux) have this LiveCd functionality on their installer CD, a few have a separate Cd to download. It is rare to find a distro that has no LiveCd session at all. Ubuntu tries to make their LiveCD the easiest to use.