FredJetson
08-05-2007, 11:37 PM
Hey everyone! First of all, thanks for the wonder of Knoppix - after a week of depressed thoughts and trying every sort of XP software in existence, I found the solution to salvage over 80% of my dead hard disk - and it was Knoppix. Started on a backup computer, with the disk removed from the other PC and plugged in, Knoppix salvaged most of my data in two nights (and one day :)).
Seeing the power of Debian, the sleekness of Knoppix, and being ashamed of not knowing the OS so far, I decided it was high time to get to know it. I partitioned the drive in my first, now-equipped-with-a-new-harddisk, PC, installed the system from the Knoppix CD, newbied my way through menu.lst to have the bootup menu I wanted, and then... the bad things began. Or specifically, one bad thing. When Knoppix starts on this PC (with a GeForce FX7900 and a Nec 750FE+), everything goes well until X-Windows loads (from the CD) or until I type startx (from the HDD). Then the monitor instantly goes into, presumably, an illegal mode - the screen is filled with flickering fuzz, grey jumping lines, and a lot of noise. The only way out is punching reset.
I've tried some ways of starting Knoppix or X-Windows with different resolutions or refresh rates, but that doesn't seem to change anything. Either I was using the parameters incorrectly (very possible, I'm a complete Debian newbie, as I said, unfortunately...), or they didn't help.
I'd really like to keep the OS, and preferably in the Knoppix variant, but I need X-Windows. At least for the beginning, since the only command line OS I know is DOS (well, and C64Basic :)). Is there anything recommendable? Should I try to remove the installation done from the Knoppix disc and install Debian and X-Windows again? Are there some newer versions than the ones Knoppix comes with? Some fixes, patches? (The software on the Knoppix CD would be nice in the system... as would be the way Knoppix is configured).
By the way, if there is a multi-step way of doing this, and especially if it involves such procedures as removing the current installation of Debian and installing a new one, etc., etc., etc., I'd really love some pointers or perhaps a recommendation to some online guides that would explain the procedures in detail, maybe even step by step, so there's no chance of screwing something up - as I said already, I'm a newb of newbs in Debian :()
(I also have another BTW - when preparing the partition and swap partition for Knoppix, I used Partition Magic and chose to format it as "ext2", but when I'm trying to access the partition in XP, I see the messages of the partition being actually "Reiser" and therefore readable only to one tool (and not writable at all from XP). Partition Magic still lists it as "ext2". Perhaps someone who actually knows what I'm talking about - I probably don't :) - could tell me why this happens and if I did something wrong when repartitioning and installing the OS?)
Seeing the power of Debian, the sleekness of Knoppix, and being ashamed of not knowing the OS so far, I decided it was high time to get to know it. I partitioned the drive in my first, now-equipped-with-a-new-harddisk, PC, installed the system from the Knoppix CD, newbied my way through menu.lst to have the bootup menu I wanted, and then... the bad things began. Or specifically, one bad thing. When Knoppix starts on this PC (with a GeForce FX7900 and a Nec 750FE+), everything goes well until X-Windows loads (from the CD) or until I type startx (from the HDD). Then the monitor instantly goes into, presumably, an illegal mode - the screen is filled with flickering fuzz, grey jumping lines, and a lot of noise. The only way out is punching reset.
I've tried some ways of starting Knoppix or X-Windows with different resolutions or refresh rates, but that doesn't seem to change anything. Either I was using the parameters incorrectly (very possible, I'm a complete Debian newbie, as I said, unfortunately...), or they didn't help.
I'd really like to keep the OS, and preferably in the Knoppix variant, but I need X-Windows. At least for the beginning, since the only command line OS I know is DOS (well, and C64Basic :)). Is there anything recommendable? Should I try to remove the installation done from the Knoppix disc and install Debian and X-Windows again? Are there some newer versions than the ones Knoppix comes with? Some fixes, patches? (The software on the Knoppix CD would be nice in the system... as would be the way Knoppix is configured).
By the way, if there is a multi-step way of doing this, and especially if it involves such procedures as removing the current installation of Debian and installing a new one, etc., etc., etc., I'd really love some pointers or perhaps a recommendation to some online guides that would explain the procedures in detail, maybe even step by step, so there's no chance of screwing something up - as I said already, I'm a newb of newbs in Debian :()
(I also have another BTW - when preparing the partition and swap partition for Knoppix, I used Partition Magic and chose to format it as "ext2", but when I'm trying to access the partition in XP, I see the messages of the partition being actually "Reiser" and therefore readable only to one tool (and not writable at all from XP). Partition Magic still lists it as "ext2". Perhaps someone who actually knows what I'm talking about - I probably don't :) - could tell me why this happens and if I did something wrong when repartitioning and installing the OS?)