Knoppix V5.1.1 + VirtualBox

[alteredcarbon]

Hey all - brand new to this forum as well as a Linux n00b. I decided on Knoppix because of the Live CD feature, and I've searched around for a topic on my question, but it wasn't really about my question.

I want to use http://www.virtualbox.org to run Knoppix. Another thread discussed having used VMWare to run same, but that doesn't really address my issue. Does anyone have a quick answer to getting started with Knoppix using VirtualBox? I guess my question is are there any issues that I should be aware of before loading up VB and then running Knoppix as the guest?

I have a P1.75 Ghz/Win2k box with 512mb RAM, which, should be more than enough to run Knoppix as the guest. But I don't want to hose my system screwing around with Linux distros, either. And while I do have a laptop, it is way too problematic because of the very nature of laptops. Probably a whole lot easier to just use the desktop for screwing around with Linux distros running as guests on virtual machines.

[3p0cHx]

That's one of the points of having a live CD, you boot to it and then leave your original box alone. But...

If virtualbox is anything like vmware, you should just be able to set up a virtual machine, set it to allow only a certain amount of disk space & memory, then set that virtual machine to boot from CD, and then boot to the knoppix cd/dvd. Once you've booted to the knoppix cd/dvd inside the vm, and get to the desktop in knoppix, you can then open a root terminal and type in knx2hd and start the HD install if you choose to permanently install knoppix/debian to the partition that the vm created.

[Harry Kuhman]

Installing Knoppix in any virtual machine is just as bad of an idea as installing it in a real machine, if not worse. If vitrualbox supports mounting ISO files as if they were optical drives, like VMWare does, then I suggest that you use that approach rather than "installing" Knoppix and the problems it presents. If you don't want to run from a read-only ISO image then I suggest installing Debian Etch or some other Linux distro suitable for hard disk install into your virtual machine, not Knoppix.

[alteredcarbon]

Installing Knoppix in any virtual machine is just as bad of an idea as installing it in a real machine, if not worse. If vitrualbox supports mounting ISO files as if they were optical drives, like VMWare does, then I suggest that you use that approach rather than "installing" Knoppix and the problems it presents. If you don't want to run from a read-only ISO image then I suggest installing Debian Etch or some other Linux distro suitable for hard disk install into your virtual machine, not Knoppix.

Care to elaborate on why it's such a "bad" idea and not just your opinion? I've done research on this matter and so far, your opinion is the only one offered that is unsupported. No one else seems to share your perspective. Do you actually have some kind of concrete evidence as to why it is a "bad" idea? Or is it simply that you disapprove of the use of virtual machines to test drive Knoppix? I'm not trolling here, I'm looking for some kind of concrete proof. I'm in the researching stage of a complete migration from Windoze to Linux and unsubstantiated opinions are useless to me.

FYI, I'm not installing Knoppix on the HDD or using the Live CD method for various reasons. First and foremost, my preference for a HDD install entails a dedicated Linux box. I don't have the funds to subsidize that yet so HDD is a no go. Secondly, I don't want to use Live CD because I can't save any settings. Live CD is nice if you've never seen Knoppix before and just want to get your feet wet, but it sucks if you actually want some kind of functionality. Thirdly, my current box will not boot from a jump drive because it's an older system, so that's out. That leaves me with use of a virtual machine to test out my Knoppix aspirations. It is the only way I can run a Linux distro *and* save the settings for next time.

All other Linux distro .iso files run successfully in some flavor of virtual machine. And while Knoppix seems to run OK in VirtualBox, my main bitch is that it will not, won't absolutely *not* mount either the physical CDROM drive itself or the .iso file offered by the flavor vm I'm running necessary to get full use of the vm experience. Oh BTW, this isn't a system or user issue because said drive and .iso file work just fine in other distros in the vm.

I can't find any other thread topics other than my own that discuss any issues related to Knoppix and mounting VirtualBox's LinuxGuestAdditions.iso in VirtualBox so naturally, I ended up here, in the Knoppix forum, where other more experienced users should ideally be able to offer some kind of help beyond unsubstantiated claims of badness when using Knoppix in a vm.

If I can't resolve this problem, then I just won't use Knoppix. This isn't a threat so there isn't a reason for someone to respond to me with rude retorts. It is what it is. Knoppix is actually my first choice, but since I can't seem to get any kind of help in the prelimary test driving stages, well, to be frank, I'm going to go elsewhere for my Linux fix. From my perspective, it is useless to choose a Linux distro that isn't supported by the community. I am a n00b and although I have conducted my own due diligencing on the subject matter, you can only read so much from so many websites before you have to ask for help from other experienced users. And if that plea for help happens in a vacuum and goes unanswered, there is no reason for me to continue to spin my wheels with any given Linux distro if I can't get any help with it.

[Harry Kuhman]

Care to elaborate on why it's such a "bad" idea and not just your opinion? I've done research on this matter and so far, your opinion is the only one offered that is unsupported. No one else seems to share your perspective. ....

Answer #2. As to others sharing this view, you apparently have not read many old threads in your research, but I'll let any who wish to join in on either side of this subject make their own posts, not speak for them. There are certainlt people on both sides of this issue.

If you do read through this forum, you will see that people have been reporting networking problems from "installed" Knoppix ever since the forum was created. There are many other things that people find that "worked fine from the Live CD" but fail after an install. It was also reported that Klaus was even considering just removing the install scripts alltogether from a recent version, although he eventually left them in.