install

[qwerty11]

Downloaded "KNOPPIX_V3.3-2004-02-16-DE.iso"

Used \KNOPPIX\mkfloppy to create bootable floppy, since when attempting to boot from cd nothing happens. The cd read light comes on then just skips to "Windows Professional" as that loads up.

Anyway... this is probably such a simple question and do apologise.

I used "ISOBUSTER" to open the above iso, once open I have several options...

I have a "KNOPPIX" icon with red iso beside it then another "KNOPPIX" icon with black "RR" icon then a "Bootable CD" icon with a floppy disk next to it and finally a KNOPPIX icon with a blue rectangle with ">>>" on it.

Anyway, all of the above seem to be the exact same, except from "Bootable CD".

Anyway, I open the iso option and copied all files to a new folder then burned those to a cd.

My floppy disk boots up ok and says "Boot:" i press enter, it copies two files... then the screen goes blank, the floppy read light stays on and the cd is not getting accessed at all.

Please advies... are you supposed to burn the .iso to the cd and the knoppix floppy can use that instead?

Quite confusing.

Thanks in advance

PS do not want to install to harddisk,just want to keep my windows safe and play around with knoppix

[mzilikazi]

It's all quite simple really, download an image, burn it to cd, boot it.
Read this: http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/FaqDownloading
You will notice that there is no mention of isobuster anywhere. Just burn the image. If your box can boot from cdrom then it will.

[j.drake]

Anyway, I open the iso option and copied all files to a new folder then burned those to a cd.

That's your problem - you don't do that.

(The following assumes you're in Windows): Double-click the iso file. If the burning program on your computer opens and prompts you to insert a blank CD, do so. If not, you need a burning program capable of burning bootable disks from iso files. EZ CD Creator does this, as does Nero. An evaluation copy of Nero burning ROM can be obtained from the Nero website, which will allow you to burn the disk and see if you like it well enought to buy the Nero program.

FWIW, I recommend CD-R (not RW), and make sure it's one of the larger ones (80 min/700 MB)

JD

[j.drake]

Oh, and also, check the boot order in your BIOS configuration if you still can't boot. You'll want to make sure that you have a CD capable drive in your boot order before the HD.

JD

[Cuddles]

Qwerty11,

Downloaded "KNOPPIX_V3.3-2004-02-16-DE.iso"

Used \KNOPPIX\mkfloppy to create bootable floppy, since when attempting to boot from cd nothing happens. The cd read light comes on then just skips to "Windows Professional" as that loads up.

Hmmm, sounds just like the CDROM is not a boot device setup in your BIOS...

Usually, when booting, the floppy is accessed, and if a CDROM is in the device, it is also checked, but unless the CDROM is set in the BIOS, it will just scan the CD to see if it has, or hasn't a CD in it. You might want to set your BIOS boot order to the following: CDROM, floppy, then the hard drive... That way, if a bootable CD is placed in the CDROM, it will boot off it, if a bootable floppy is placed in the floppy drive, it will then go to that, and lastly, if the two devices above are not bootable, it falls through to the hard drive.

Most "newer" BIOS's have at least three devices that can be scanned for booting. Mine, shows it can go as much as four, but I prefer the three above, in that order. Chances are, most bootable software will come on a CD, though it used to be floppy. Used to be you would setup your BIOS to boot hard drive then floppy, but, that was in case your hard drive crashed. Now-a-days, you should insert your cdrom as first device, floppy (if you need it), and then your hard drive, that way inserting a boot CDROM fires off before your hard drive.

Hope this helps,
Cuddles

[qwerty11]

hey guys, thanks a lot for the quick replies...

I burned a new cd and now I can boot from that. It loads two files behind a blue screen after I press enter after "Boot:" text.

However, the screen then goes blank, the cd is heard spinning for some time after that but then it stops and the screen stays blank. I'm not sure how long you're expected to leave it. I feel like nothing would happen no matter how long I left it. How long should I leave it? pc specs are amd athlon 1.6ghz 768mb sd ram

I vaguely remember similar problems with red hat ages ago, just hanging.

Please advise

Thanks again

[j.drake]

I don't remember any blue screen in Knoppix.

Maybe I'm not understanding what you're saying. If you burn the disk properly and have your BIOS set up properly, you can insert your burned CD into the drive and restart. You don't need a floppy unless your computer cannot be set up to boot from CD. A Knoppix screen will come up on a black background, and there will be a location for you to type in any special boot codes you want (or simply hit return). When you do that, a penguin will appear in the upper left corner of your monitor, followed by a bunch of white text, followed by a bunch of multi-colored text, all on a black background. It will be more text than you can read. Eventually another fancy background will replace that, in some color, along with a fancy graphical box that superimposes "lights" over icons representing steps in the booting process. Then, a woman will say "initiating startup sequence", which is untrue, because it's actually finalizing it. Anyway, in all of that, I don't remember any "blue screen" in the Windows sense - error will by typed in plain text on the black background. Which leads me to wonder whether it's actually Knoppix that's booting, or whether your computer is still going into some Windows error.

Again, no floppy to boot, and make sure that you burn the CD as set out above - you DO NOT copy and burn the files to CD - you have your burning program make a bootable CD after you double-click the iso file. It's different from what you are accustomed to.

If I'm not making any sense to you, perhaps you could give us more detail on what you did to burn your disk, how you did it, what you used, how your BIOS is configured, the details of what you did to boot, and as many specifics as possible about what you saw.

[qwerty11]

there's no problems with the cd now. I used nero like you suggested and made a new cd, i can boot from the cd.

There is a Knoppix screen which is blue, when it says

Boot:

with the option of entering boot codes... maybe i need some boot codes? because it's AFTER i press enter... 2 files are loaded

like "filename...................." and then another "filename...................."

then the screen goes blank... nothing visible at all. I can hear the Cd spin but eventually it stops.

This is all without use of floppy disc.

hope this clears it up a little

[j.drake]

I'm no expert, and I haven't encountered this before, but it sounds like a video conflict, as if maybe Knoppix is defaulting to a video setting that your card or monitor doesn't support, or possibly that you have a card that Knoppix can't detect or need a driver that Knoppix doesn't include. Could be that Knoppix is booting just fine, but you can't see it.

Here's a link for the cheatcodes, http://download.linuxtag.org/knoppix/knoppix-cheatcodes.txt perhaps you could play around and find one which will at least let you see the basics. If I had any experience with video cheat codes, I'd suggest one, but quite frankly I don't, so you're probably just as well off using your own judgment.

If that doesn't work, what can you tell us about your video card and monitor?

JD

[qwerty11]

Hey

I tried to different codes:

"failsafe" and "knoppix no agp"

Failsafe gets to the point of "ok, booting the kernel" then just hangs for ages.

Knoppix no agp does the exact same as before, screen goes blank and stays blank.

My monitor is just a standard 17" packard bell, supports 85hz refresh rate.
My graphics are nvidia gf4 ti4200 agp.

Really not too clued up at all on linux, i know my other pc next door would work. The only difference is has a graphics card in a pci slot and seperate sound card, whereas ive got onboard sound on this pc.

not sure if this helps any

[steven2099]

I don't know whether this is the right place to post this, but I was having trouble with burning Knoppix 3.4 producing a few coasters until I found that the version of Recordnow on my notebook doesn't automatically detect ISOs like the version on a newer desktop. On the newer version a dialog starts automatically.

Steven Schwimmer
steven2099@aol.com

[qwerty11]

sorry I don't think your problem is related to mine...

I wonder to fix my problem if there is some way of booting off knoppix in a text-only mode... then installing linux nvidia drivers, done some research on that and found this:

after downloading "NVIDA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run"

you would use the command:

sh NVIDA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run

and then,

sax 2 -m 0=nvidia

I don't know if this would fix my problem but how could I do it so that any time I boot off the cd I don't need to keep installing the drivers, is there anyway of burning a cd and including the drivers or something...

Sorry if this is way off the realms of possibility.

[j.drake]

Take a look here.

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=47265#47265

That cheatcode might be worth a try.

JD

[qwerty11]

hey, thanks for keeping up with this JD...

Tried what the above post contained, it gets rid of the blank screen problem but all that happens is

"Uncompressing Linux, OK Booting the Kernel"
with a blinking cursor

and stays like that.

No cd activity at all.

I think I'm just going to give in since I don't NEED knoppix, but it sounded nice and some screenshots I've seen looked good.

[j.drake]

Well, it's certainly up to you. When I started a year ago, I spent close to four weeks just trying to get my printer to work. But if you want to learn linux for when you may need it later, this is definitely the place and the way to do it. Before you finally make up your mind, though, check back in a few weeks. We have some extremely bright, capable, and helpful people around here who may be able to help you, but as this point, your problem is beyond my limited capabilities. If you are so lucky as to receive help from Stephen, Rickenbacherus, Fabian, probono, or some of the many other hotshots around here, and they can't help, THEN that will be the time to consider your problem unresolvable!! :D

Good luck to you, and I'm glad that at least the video issue is partially resolved.