MP3's, partitioning, and win4lin

[marinebro0306]

Hi,
I am in the process of downloading the Knoppix 5.0.1 DVD (28 minutes left, can't wait!) and I have a few questions about it. I will put them in numbers to make answering easier...
1. My computer has 2 drives partitioned C through H. All my MP3's are on the F: drive, about 15 GB worth. Is there any way to import this music to Knoppix without burning them onto 4 DVD's?
2. I plan on buying Win4Lin, so I can run AutoCAD 2007, Flash 8 professional, PhotoShop CS2 and other programs for school on Knoppix. As Knoppix is LiveCD based, is it possible to use Win4Lin?
3. And finally, as I have mentioned before, I have 6 partitions in my computer. I read about Linux partitions, but I don't fully understand it. Will partitioning for Linux make a new letter (I:), merge with an existing letter (H:), or do something different? I have merged everything in my H: drive to my G: drive to make room for Linux. So, is it possible to put all my linux things on the H: drive, even though it is native to windows? Also, how do I go about partitioning it in a way so that I can utilize my H: drive?

Thanks, and I look forward to any replys!
24 minutes till download is complete c(:

[Harry Kuhman]

1. My computer has 2 drives partitioned C through H. All my MP3's are on the F: drive, about 15 GB worth. Is there any way to import this music to Knoppix without burning them onto 4 DVD's?
Knoppix will be able to read any file on any partition just fine, as long as you haven't encryped the partitions.


2. I plan on buying Win4Lin, so I can run AutoCAD 2007, Flash 8 professional, PhotoShop CS2 and other programs for school on Knoppix. As Knoppix is LiveCD based, is it possible to use Win4Lin?
I can't say for sure that you will not be able to do it, with the unionFS and other technology Knppix can pull off some tricks, but i have my doubts. But it sounds like you don't plan on having a MS OS on this computer, why not install a hard disk Linux like Debian (I only suggest Debian because Knoppix is based on it)? That way you should be able to install any Linux application.


C. And finally, as I have mentioned before, I have 6 partitions in my computer. I read about Linux partitions, but I don't fully understand it. Will partitioning for Linux make a new letter I, merge with an existing letter H, or do something different? I have merged everything in my H: drive to my G: drive to make room for Linux. So, is it possible to put all my linux things on the H: drive, even though it is native to windows? Also, how do I go about partitioning it in a way so that I can utilize my H: drive?
As you pointed out, Knoppix is a Live CD. It runs from CD and does not need hard disk partitions, although it can read unencrypted partitions and write to FAT partitions. I will not discuss the blasphmy (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/HD_Install_Warning_not_to_do_it) of trying to make Knoppix install to hard disk. If you decide from Knoppix that you like Linux and want a hard disk install there are many distros that are suitable for hard disk. How you choose to partition the system depends on how many hard drives that you have, how much space, if you want the OS to co-exist with other systems and so on. For installing Debian my simple answer would be to free up as much contigious space as you wish and delete the partitions (don't just leave them empty, remove them). Then tell Debian at install time to use all available unpartitioned space. There are may other approaches, but this simple approach works well for most new users.

[marinebro0306]

Hmmmm ok. I'm just gonna try Knoppix for now to see how i like it. However, I have encountered a problem. I burned the DVD ISO (Yes I burned the ISO to the CD, not just the ISO itself. I've been doing ISO's for a while) and the DVD is in my DVD drive. I went to my BIOS setup upon restart, and Chose the following options for boot:
IDE CD, then Hard drive.

There was no option for DVD, which is odd. I tried to boot and pressed F12, chose CD, but said it failed. I think this is because it is not checking for the DVD, only the CD drive. When I got the computer, the DVD component was an add on (5-6 year old computer), so I think Knoppix might be impossible on this computer. I can try it on my Dad's (I'm 15) computer tomorrow though, much newer.

By the way, assuming that I do get it running on his computer, how do I shut the computer off? Is there an option like in Windows, or is it manual? Just wondering, cause I don't want to be stuck with this without his consent.


Thanks!

[Harry Kuhman]

I've had a few computers that have issues with booting a DVD too. If you have a floppy on the system you might try making a Smart Boot Manager (http://btmgr.webframe.org/) floppy disk and seeing if that will help you boot the DVD (you can also install SBM to the hard disk MBR, but I would advise using a floppy at least until you decide if it is what you want).

For some strange reason, some people report better results if they hit the play button on the DVD drive as the system starts to boot, somehow a spinning disk seems more inclined to boot than one not spinning. Quite frankly this makes no sense, but I trust the reports.

Yea, there is a shut-down feature in the menu, although as long as you are not mounting partitions for writing I don't think anything could go wrong if you just pulled the plug. But learning to shut down Linux properly is good policy.

[marinebro0306]

There's no play button on the drive...only the eject and something else that turns (volume maybe?). I'll try the floppy method, if I can find one.