Knoppix - Linux newbie 101 Questions

[Yojimbo]

Hey all, I'm a sparkling plastic wrapped linux virgin and I just got knoppix. I'm trying to learn what I can about how it, an linux in general, works. I would refer to the documentation on this site, but the section seems to be down or something, so here I am. When knoppix loads to the GUI, all I get is a blank greyish background with an X as my cursor, and thats it, is this because I have no other software loaded yet? Are there any userful things I should install? Also, any common mistakes I should be wary of? Sorry about the newb questions, I don't know how different knoppix is from other versions of linux or what to expect, I just want to get a good feel for the way it functions so I can use it more fluidly. Thanks for your patientence and time.

[rrfish72]

Try some cheat codes. Here is a list to help get you into linux:

These options (can be combined) work from the ISOLINUX bootprompt:

knoppix lang=cn|de|da|es|fr|it|nl specify language/keyboard
knoppix lang=pl|ru|sk|tr|tw|us specify language/keyboard
knoppix gmt Use GMT-based time
knoppix tz=Europe/Berlin Use this timezone for TZ
knoppix atapicd Do NOT use SCSI-Emulation for IDE CD-Roms
knoppix alsa (or alsa=es1938) Use ALSA sound driver (at your own risk)
knoppix desktop=fluxbox|icewm Use specified WM instead of KDE (1)
knoppix desktop=kde|larswm|twm Use specified WM instead of KDE (2)
knoppix desktop=wmaker|xfce Use specified WM instead of KDE (3)
knoppix screen=1280x1024 Use specified Screen resolution for X
knoppix xvrefresh=60 (or vsync=60) Use 60 Hz vertical refresh rate for X
knoppix xhrefresh=80 (or hsync=80) Use 80 kHz horizontal refresh rate for X
knoppix xserver=XFree86|XF86_SVGA Use specified X-Server
knoppix xmodule=ati|fbdev|i810|mga Use specified XFree4-Module (1)
knoppix xmodule=nv|radeon|savage|s3 Use specified XFree4-Module (2)
knoppix xmodule=radeon|svga|i810 Use specified XFree4-Module (3)
knoppix 2 Runlevel 2, Textmode only
knoppix floppyconfig Run "knoppix.sh" from a floppy
knoppix myconf=/dev/sda1 Run "knoppix.sh" from a partition
knoppix myconf=scan (or config=scan) Try to find "knoppix.sh" automatically
knoppix home=/dev/sda1/knoppix.img Mount loopback file as /home/knoppix
knoppix home=scan Automatic search for knoppix homedir
knoppix no{apic,agp,apm,audio,ddc} Skip parts of HW-detection (1)
knoppix no{dhcp,fstab,firewire} Skip parts of HW-detection (2)
knoppix no{pcmcia,scsi,swap,usb} Skip parts of HW-detection (3)
knoppix pnpbios=off No PnP Bios initialization
knoppix acpi=off Disable ACPI Bios completely
knoppix usb2 Try to initialize USB 2.x controller(s)
failsafe Boot with (almost) no HW-detection
knoppix pci=irqmask=0x0e98 Try this, if PS/2 mouse doesn't work *)
knoppix pci=bios Workaround for bad PCI controllers
knoppix ide2=0x180 nopcmcia Boot from PCMCIA-CD-Rom (some notebooks)
knoppix mem=128M Specify Memory size in MByte
knoppix dma Enable DMA accelleration for ALL IDE-Drives
knoppix noeject Do NOT eject CD after halt
knoppix noprompt Do NOT prompt to remove the CD
knoppix vga=normal No-framebuffer mode, but X
knoppix blind Start Braille-Terminal (no X)
knoppix brltty=type,port,table Parameters for Braille device
knoppix wheelmouse Enable IMPS/2 protocol for wheelmice
knoppix nowheelmouse Force plain PS/2 protocol for PS/2-mouse
fb1280x1024 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (1)
fb1024x768 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (2)
fb800x600 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (3)
knoppix keyboard=us xkeyboard=us Use different keyboard (text/X)
knoppix splash Boot with fancy background splashscreen
+ animations + progress bar **)
knoppix toram Copy CD to RAM and run from there
knoppix tohd=/dev/hda1 Copy CD to HD partition and run from there
knoppix fromhd Skip checking for Knoppix on CD-ROM
knoppix fromhd=/dev/hda1 Boot from previously copied CD-Image
knoppix bootfrom=/dev/hda1 Access Image then boot from previously
copied CD-Image (enables booting from
NTFS / ReiserFS) ***)
knoppix bootfrom=/dev/hda1/KNX.iso Access image, boot from ISO-Image. ***)
knoppix knoppix_dir=KNOPPIX Directory to search for on the CD.
knoppix knoppix_name=KNOPPIX Cloop-File to search for on the CD.
knoppix testcd Check CD data integrity and md5sums
expert Interactive setup for experts

NEW Kernels and Options in version 3.4:
knoppix26 [Options...] Boots with Kernel 2.6 (2.4 is default)
expert26 [Options...] Same for expert mode
knoppix26 acpi=off Disable ACPI configuration in Kernel 2.6
memtest Run memtest86 instead of Linux

F2 at the boot prompt and put them in like knoppix nodma vga=nomral lang=us

[firebyrd10]

Wow, thats quite a bit. Mabye to much fight now.

From the sounds of it a "cheatcode" won't help.

Yojimbo- can you type anything? From the sounds of it, it might be a bad disk.

Try typing

knoppix testcd

at boot.

[Yojimbo]

I found a FAQ on another site and a pdf book on knoppix (thanks whoever wrote that!) and I think I just got a bad download, I'm downloading it again as I type. Hopefully this helps. I would still appreciate any tips and tricks if anyone has any. Thanks!

[rrfish72]

That's one of the cheat codes listed above. knoppix testcd Check CD data integrity and md5sums

[tonycooles]

hey Yojimbo couldl u give the url of that pdf book? Im newbie too

Thanks :)

[Yojimbo]

sure, it's at http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html