NEWBIE! Help required with knoppix please!

[evorob]

Ive been trying out the live version of knoppix which you boot from disc and i have too say i love it. I`m new too linux and with knoppix being so newbie friendly i want too install it too hardrive so i have a few questions if you could possibly answer them!

1) Can someone give me a direct link too the hardrive install as every link ive seen so far seems to be the live disc which i already have.

2) I`m on XP home, can someone tell me if in the set-up for the knoppix hard drive installation it automatically partitions your harddrive as i want too keep XP and run 2 OS`s pref with the choice of which OS i want too run.

3) I`m far from being a computer expert so is the hard drive installation fairly easy too set-up for a newbie and in your oppinions would you say knoppix is a good starting point for someone who is new too linux and wants too learn it.

The install will be going on a Toshiba Satellite Pro A30 laptop wich is 2.6 mhz processor speed, 30 gb hardrive and im running off a router.

Many thanks :D

[OErjan]

it is not the easyest but motly managable. defrag your hdd (twice is my recomendation) make two partitions on the end of hdd (using qtpartedfrom knoppix or the commercial partition-magic...) , one about 500Mb (linux swap)and one about 4Gb ext3 (3Gb is about minimum)
then a /home as large as you think you can "afford" (mine is 2Gb but...), just remember that linux can read windows partitions but win canot read linux.

here is what seems to be a decent guide for installing (and much more).
http://godot.studentenweb.org/debian/index.cgi

[DuckDodgers]

You can install to hdd using the cd that you have. Click here (http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/HdInstallHowTo) for the Hdd Install How To. Also, have a look around here (http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=5) for further suggestions.

[eco2geek]

1) Can someone give me a direct link too the hardrive install as every link ive seen so far seems to be the live disc which i already have.

The live CD and the hard drive install CD are one and the same. You have to run the "knoppix-installer" command as root from a bash prompt.


2) I`m on XP home, can someone tell me if in the set-up for the knoppix hard drive installation it automatically partitions your harddrive as i want too keep XP and run 2 OS`s pref with the choice of which OS i want too run.

You'll have to repartition your hard drive yourself. I think the Knoppix installer script puts you into a program called QTParted, which (says it) will allow you to resize an NTFS partition (I haven't tried). Be sure to back everything up before you do (I know, it's something everyone says but no one does). Knoppix installs the LILO (LInux LOader) boot loader, which can allow you to choose between XP and Linux when you boot. There are many other ways to dual-boot. Agan, be sure to back up everything before installing a boot loader.


3) I`m far from being a computer expert so is the hard drive installation fairly easy too set-up for a newbie and in your oppinions would you say knoppix is a good starting point for someone who is new too linux and wants too learn it.

Not really, no. Knoppix's installer expects you to know what you're doing, which presupposes some prior knowlege of Linux. (Not that it's that difficult, but still...)

For a beginner, I'd recommend getting a book about Red Hat Fedora that comes with the distro on CD. There are a couple of good ones:

Sams Teach Yourself Red Hat Linux Fedora in 24 Hours (Sams)
Learning Red Hat Enterprise Linux & Fedora, 4th Edition (O'Reilly)

These will a) give you a fairly painless installation experience, and b) teach you about Linux from the ground up. Then you can come back to Knoppix with more confidence. (Personally, I like Knoppix a whole lot more than Red Hat Fedora. But the book-length tutorials are great.)

Although you probably still will want to run QTParted from the live Knoppix CD to repartition your hard drive, no matter which way you go. (I don't think Fedora's installer allows you to resize NTFS partitions. Also, there've been numerous reports (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/23/1448209) of Fedora somehow messing up a dual-boot and locking people out of WinXP.)

Just my 2 cents.

[OErjan]

as i said. there are easyer installs. Mandrake, Suse, Fedora...
otoh Knoppix might be wieved a "learning experience".
if you have two comouters you could aske here from he other as troubles appear, might take a while to get an answer though.