Help for a Linux newbie

I've recently decided to play around and (hopefully) learn Linux. I started by downloading and burning a copy of Knoppix, and what I've seen so far with it looks interesting.

My "problem" is this...

Under WindowsXP, I run a IRC chat server (ConferenceRoom) for me and a few friends. I'd like to continue to run this/a server while I'm booted up and exploring Linux, but the one I use in Windows doesn't like to play friendly in WINE (got a weird error message when I tried). I managed to get mIRC running with it no problem though, so I think I have WINE set up correctly. What I'm looking for is a simple server program that all I have to do is unzip a file to a directory and/or run an .exe (or whatever the Linux equivalent might be) for it to work, without any hassle of an install. Knoppix appears to have a number of options set as read-only, which I discovered when I tried installing the Linux version of ConferenceRoom and got an error message saying something like I didn't have write access. This is no doubt due to the configuration of the files on the CD.

Being extremely new to Linux (a grand total of about 15 minutes worth of experience as of last night), I'm not in any hurry at all to attempt an install and possible FUBAR my (extremely well working) WinXP installation anytime soon. Is such a simple IRC server available, or will I have to actually install Linux to the HD to be able to do what I want here?

Maybe a less offensive user name would get you some more responses. Yes Knoppix does support IRC servers although I don't think it's on the CD. It's called ircd. Here is a link http://coder-com.undernet.org/. I'm sure you can remaster and add it.