Knoppix / Boot question

sra

Hi everyone

Recently, I've heard the word Linux one too many times. I finally decided to give it a look. I remembered that there was a version called Knoppix that could be run entirely from a CD without install and I thought I'd download it as it would also be a good thing to have if anything went wrong with windows.

A quick search found this and I followed the link to download KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso

but no matter how I save it, I can't boot from it.

then I noticed "just set your BIOS to boot from the CD drive"

I thought my computer did this already? While it's true that it complains if a floppy is left in during restart, when I've had to Restore the system in the past, it found the Restore disk in the DVD drive with no problems

thanks for any help

Toxteth_OGrady

when you power on your PC the first screen you see should be the bios/cmos screen (white text/black background). On there you may have (depending on your bios make):

F11 - Boot Menu.

Press this repeatedly and you should get a menu of bootable devices. Use down arrow to scroll to CD and then select enter. If you have a bootable CD in the drive it will boot from there.

Alternatively, when you get the initial bios screen you may have:

Del - Setup

Press Del key to go into bios set up menu. In there select Standard CMOS Settings, then First Boot Device. Change first boot device to CD, save and exit.

To help you read the initial black/white bios start screen press the Pause/Break key then make your selection or press the Esc key.

HtH

8)

TOG

sra

I don't get text on startup

but I pressed f11 anyway and got into "PheonixBIOS"

Looking under Boot Device Priority, CD-ROM Drive is already at the top of the list. ???

Toxteth_OGrady

Just test it out by using a CD that you know is bootable, such as your Windows Installation CD (or make a bootable CD).

Do you have 2 optical drives?  If so make sure you are putting the CD in the one that's set as boot priority.

 8)

TOG

sra

Got it working ;D

I don't think I burned a proper image.

I'm now typing this from inside linux and trying to come to terms with programs like "The GIMP"

It's all very weird

wirm

So how did you get on with that program sra? I'm downloading as i type! :-/

I really want to get rid of windows from my computer! Would love to install Linux! :-/

sra

OK - very quick review

I haven't had much time to play with it but as of next week I'll have plenty of time


I had a real problem at first burning the ISO  to disk - for some reason the software I was using  wanted to just copy it to disk rather than burning it as an ISO ( a problem with what I was using I think rather than with Knoppix)

i ended up doing a search and using this which surprisingly works very well

Knoppix can hang and stop but then you can't expect anything else when it has to go to the CD for more information ( it doesn't install anything on your computer). I'm getting some more storage soon and as soon as I can I'll partition the drive and keep knoppix permanently

It auto detected all my settings and I had immediate access to the internet - which was lucky because figuring out the internet settings looked a nightmare

There is a huge amount of software on the disk and I haven't had a the time to look through half of it. Unfortunately it has Mozilla rather than firefox for a browser (and there's another browser called Konqueror)

the great thing (and worrying thing)about it is that I have access to all windows files - bypassing login passwords -  so if windows decides to die on me, all I have to do is slip in the Knoppix disk, reboot, and I can use most of my files (and even the ones that won't work can be moved, copied etc)  and I have a temporary operating system till I can get windows fixed

sra

I tells you here how to recover files using Knoppix and you can see it really is a useful thing to have

It's always being offered on the cover of magazines so if anyone doesn't want to go to the bother of downloading it - or doesn't want to go to the bother of figuring out how to burn an ISO, just keep a lookout

Toxteth_OGrady

Loadsa live CD distros out there on the world wide web. I'd recommend Mepis for novices. A little bit easier to use 'right out the box' than Knoppix.

8)

TOG

lellie

Knoppix is good..

if you have an NVIDIA based board get overclockix as it has all the drivers built in.. means you can use networking and stuff..

I also like morphix..

As for normal installs.. fedora core is good.. and mandrake is nice and simple for beginners.. but it's entirely up to you..