Getting started

[Cabie]

Hi, My User Name is Cabie and I would like to join this group. I am a windows user and I am fed up with the Bull that is labeled vista. I do believe people are leaving MS in droves - no one is upgrading to vista and or 7. I live in Middletown, N.Y. just east of where N.Y., N.J. & Penn touch.in the U.S. this is a 175,000 plus population. The Medical profession has multipull 4 story buildings and a large Hospital. Everything is linked by computer, they are still using XP and have no plans to update their system. New laptops and desktops are being sold with linux installed as the O.S.'s other choice, for less money, & m.s. is running adds on tv. on all channels and every day. I don't think I ever seen an ad on tv. for XP. The only reason I'm on this computer is because my son bought it and when it crashed he couldn't fix it and made it worse till there was nothing left to try, so he gave it to me and told me that he tried everything he knew to get it going but couldn't. He even tried to put XP on it but was unsuccessfull. He wanted me to use the computer for parts. I didn't I called Acer and complained. So for $20.00 US I got a fairly new computer. I still cann't put XP on it - I believe they screwed with the BIOS so that XP cann't be installed. Real Nice of M.S. don't you think ?

So - Please let me know what I need to do to join this group and any other groups that would help me get going with Knoppix . OH, and Thank You Very Much for having this site and allowing me to join

Looking forward to new starts and new friends.
Sincerely
Cabie
P.S. No I don't drive a taxi it's part of my last name.

[krishna.murphy]

Dear Cabie:

Welcome to the forums! We are a pretty laid-back group, for the most part, and there's usually a response within a few days for most questions (often much less.)

You have come to the right place to find out about getting free of M$oft - Knoppix is one of the easiest to use Linux variants, and there are a LOT of options if you are looking to add a capability that isn't pre-loaded. It would help us a lot to know what specifically you are wanting to accomplish (web browsing, document creation, etc.) and to a lesser extent, what hardware you have. Some things just work better than others, even under Knoppix, though I have to say that the help I've seen offered here has gotten MANY systems going despite having unusual hardware.

Generally, the first thing to do is to get a copy of the latest version of Knoppix. You can download it, and then burn it to a CD/DVD (slowly!) or to a flash drive. Old hardware sometimes necessitates using a previous version, as drivers are sometimes removed when they become rare in current systems. Check out the list of download sites using BitTorrent software (which gives a very fast and inherently reliable download) here (http://torrent.unix-ag.uni-kl.de:6969/). I recommend avoiding the "DE" and "Adrianne" versions, unless you speak German as your first language or are visually impaired.

Another popular way to get started is to buy Knoppix pre-loaded on a disk or flash drive. Check out the "Get Knoppix" page linked at the top of this page - the advertisers there support this site, so it's fair that we support them, too.

Once you have a disk or flash drive to boot, try it! The nicest thing about Knoppix, in many ways (if not all), is that you can't easily break it. Usually, it will boot right up, and you can begin experiencing the freedom from M$oft you crave right away. And if something does go awry, simply reboot without the Knoppix drive and you'll be none the worse for wear. Check out the help available at boot time, using the F2 key before it gets going very much, as it's somewhat self-explanatory. Let us know what happened if you need more help, so we can advise on the next steps.

Don't be afraid to ask questions, you're among friends - we've all been novices, too. There's very little flaming going at this site, so don't hesitate to put your situation plainly.

Cheers!
Krishna:mrgreen:

[winther]

I have a vista laptop that was crashing. I installed win 7 and that seemed better until MS came looking for their pound of flesh. I gave up and installed Knoppix 7.05 which runs nicely. I tried several others but they would not give me internet access, knoppix did.
My problem is that I am used to windows and have forgotten dos. I have lots of linux programs but no idea what they will do.

[krishna.murphy]

I have a vista laptop that was crashing. I installed win 7 and that seemed better until MS came looking for their pound of flesh. I gave up and installed Knoppix 7.05 which runs nicely. I tried several others but they would not give me internet access, knoppix did.
My problem is that I am used to windows and have forgotten dos. I have lots of linux programs but no idea what they will do.

No worries!:mrgreen: You won't need the DOS commands, and there are graphical interfaces for most everything the average user might want to do. I recommend starting out gradually, doing the most basic stuff first to get used to the setup - web browsing, email, etc. If there are specific things you'd like to do that don't seem to be there by default, just let us know specifically what's missing for you and we'll all give it our best to assist. There are numerous mechanisms built-in to easily add all kinds of free programs without a lot of expertise required, once you have it set up with writable media (flash drive, usually, these days.)

Regarding programs you already have but don't know what they do - I'd leave sleeping dogs lie, myself. You can put an awful lot of effort into trying to get something going, that then doesn't do what you really want (plus, what you've collected may be very out of date at this point.) And there's no telling what it might take to actually use a randomly chosen program, or whether anyone on this forum knows how to help with that program. Of course, if you have one you really think might be great for your purposes, you can ask about that one here.

Hope that helps!

Krishna:mrgreen:
p.s. I'm not entirely clear what you mean by "installed" - Knoppix is usually not installed in the way traditional Linux systems are, since it was originally meant to run off a CD without leaving much trace of itself on the hard drive. We'd need to know the specifics of that in particular, to advise very much.

[Denver Dave]

Hi winther - welcome to the knoppix forum. I've posted 96 times and have received a lot of help here. I've tried lots of different distros and knoppix is my favorite.

[winther]

Hope that helps!

Krishna:mrgreen:
p.s. I'm not entirely clear what you mean by "installed" - Knoppix is usually not installed in the way traditional Linux systems are, since it was originally meant to run off a CD without leaving much trace of itself on the hard drive. We'd need to know the specifics of that in particular, to advise very much.[/QUOTE]

I have downloaded several live CD's and Knoppix 7.05 was the only one that I could get set up with internet. I have done a complete HD install form the cd and have no windows programs or partitions. I have installed the entire package supplied by Knoppix.
I can't seem to get any dvd player to play. My system sees the disc and files but will not play.
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Knoppix has similarities to windows so it helps newbies. I could not get Ubuntu or Zorin to give me internet.