Newbie to Knoppix and lost

[mastergunner]

I just the Knoppix CDLive v5.0.1 and like it. I was wondering how I can save data from openoffice as well as bookmarks and other data when operating from just a CD. How does this data save when the OS is a CD? I do like this OS but it would seem it would be faster if it was on the hard drive. Am I wrong for assuming this? Thanks for the help.

[Harry Kuhman]

Assuming that you have NTFS partitions and not FAT partitions then you are advised not to try to write to them in Knoppix. As for saving data some people use small flash drives with FAT partitions, other create a small FAT partition on the drive for this purpose.

Sure, you're absolutely correct that Lnix will run faster from hard disk than CD. It will run even faster from RAM, so if you have a gig or more you might want to boot the Knoppix CD with the toram cheat code. You're not on the right track if you want to "install" Knoppix to the hard drive though, that opens a whole can of worms. If you like Knoppix consider installing Debian Etch to hard disk. Knoppix is made from Debian so you can do everything (and a lot lot more) with Debian that you can do with Knoppix.

[mastergunner]

Well another download I guess. I went to the Debian website and got lost. Couldnt figure what I needed exactly to get debian. Could you help me with that Harry? Thanks for your reply.

[mastergunner]

Harry could you also explain how to make a flash drive and my HD able to save the data. Thanks again.

[Harry Kuhman]

Debian: There are several versions of Debian, I suggest that your best choice is likely to be Etch (aka testing, although it's due to become the new stable as soon as the developer finish their latest fude). If you have a high speed connectoion then I suggest that you do a net-install rather than downloading and burning one or more full CDs or even DVDs, you can get the ~100 meg net-install ISO here (http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/). Be sure to get the flavor that you want, for most pc users this is i386, but if you have a new fancy 64 bit computer there are Intel and AMD versions for the 64 bit cpus too (as well as versions for other computers). I usually burn it to CDRW since it may change and you may need a new one soon (this was expected to happen Dec. 4th but Debian never seems to hit announced dates). The installer will offer to erase your disk or to use unpartitioned free space on the drive (it can't use remaining space if that is already taken up in a partition). When you get to the type of system to install (many minutes into the process) be sure to select the desktop option, assuming that you want a GUI. This will install Gnome, you can install kDE later, if you want it, with apt-get. Be sure you make note of the account name that you create as well as the passwords you assign that account and root. Good luck and have fun.

As to saving to a usb device: I don't do it, I'm one of the users who made a FAT partition. And I've only used that for compiling some programs. But if your flash device is FAT partitioned (most are), plug it in before booting and you should be able to see it on your desktop when you boot. (maybe named something like SDA1). See answer #6 (http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/User:Harry_Kuhman) for details on how to make it writeable (the default is read only). You should be able to then drag and drop any file you want between the flash drive and ram disk, or use the full path of the partition when you want to save something. Of course, once you have Etch installed this will not be an issue.

[mastergunner]

Harry thanks for the instructions but still lost. Could you put the instructions into steps. Also what happens if I try to make it dual bootable but the hard drive is just one big partition what then? As for the internet download is that all I need for Debian and does it download and install by itself?

[mastergunner]

Harry also with the net install do I burn it to cd and then boot up from the cd or what?

[Harry Kuhman]

Harry thanks for the instructions but still lost. Could you put the instructions into steps. Also what happens if I try to make it dual bootable but the hard drive is just one big partition what then? As for the internet download is that all I need for Debian and does it download and install by itself?
I'm confused by what you mean in saying you want dual boot but only one large partition. Dual boot implied multiple OSs, and each OS will usually have to be in it's own partition, so dual boot and only one partition are inconsistent. If you have Windows in one partition and unpartitioned space left on the disk then the install process will ask if you want to use the entire disk for Debian or just the empty space (and may give you other options as well including letting you manually partition to your hearts content). If you have multiple OSs on the disk the installer should set up the Grub boot manager so that it can boot any of them (just be sure to install the MS OS first, MS doesn't play well with others and will make life miserable if you install it second, but if you install it first and then a second OS like Linux, things work much better.

As to putting the instructions in steps, sorry I'm a bit too busy to write a entire tutorial on installing Debian right now, and I doubt if this is the right place to post one anyway. I do have some notes I made about a year ago, but the installer may have changed somewhat since then. I do expect that you can find some install information on the web if you search a little, or I find the best way to really learn is to try an install or two (I deliberately installed several times with different options just for the learning expeience).

Yea, if you have high speed access you should be able to just use the net-install iso to download and install everything, and then apt-get install any applications you wish (including all those included with Knoppix and many more).

Harry also with the net install do I burn it to cd and then boot up from the cd or what?
Yes, you got it, burn the net-install ISO, at slow speed, use a CDRW if you have one (since the current net-install CD will not be useful as soon as Etch becomes stable), everything else you need comes from the Internet.