Is it possible to boot a windows partition using Knoppix?

[zebraboxers]

Hi. Not long ago my master HDD passed the way. Maybe there is still hope, but I'm here because I can't boot from any of my other hard drives. This happened a couple months ago, and I've been using Knoppix. It's great! I'm just not able to install the drivers for a printer (deskjet f4140) because of a “make� command. I have two different windows installations on two different hard drives and I want to boot from them, to be able to print, I just don't now how. Am I able to use Knoppix to load Windows? If not, what can I do?

Thanks

[rusty]

It looks like what you need is HPLIP http://hplip.sourceforge.net/support...nkjet_aio.html. However, if your running from live CD, installing it via apt-get is pretty much impossible. You might try looking at some other livecd distros and see if they have HPLIP installed, or if HPLIP will install on them.

If you've installed knoppix to HD, then you can try apt-get install hplip and take it from there.

HTH

[zebraboxers]

Thanks, Rusty. At the moment I'm unable to install HPLIP with the self extracting installer. Knoppix 4.0 isn't on the list of supported distributions http://hplip.sourceforge.net/downloads.html. That being the case, I opted to do the manual install from: http://hplip.sourceforge.net/install...ros/other.html here, I can't get past step 5, it seams like I don't meet the minimum system requirements. You may be right when you say it's impossible, but I've only tried installing the latest version.

Where would I go to look at other distributions of Linux? I use to have a copy of Fedora 5, that I got from an instructor at school, but it's no longer with me. I had installed it to one of the hard drives, but I formated the whole disk to install a copy of Windows, just in case the other became corrupt, but I can't boot from them without my master and it doesn't work. I'm using a 256MB flash drive as a hard drive. The others are formated with NTFS and I have data saved on them that I need. I have trouble running Knoppix for long sessions—It crashes—so I'm not sure if I can leave it running long enough to download an OS. I don't have enough RAM to store it anyway, and I'm sure it won't fit on my flash drive.

I'm not sure why I'm unable to boot Windows from my HDDs. May be it has something to do with a missing boot.ini file, I don't know. Before Knoppix starts, there is a dialog box where I can key in commands. I'm just wondering if I can use that, or some other Knoppix feature, so I'm able to run Windows?

Knoppix on my hard drive doesn't sound bad at all. I think, later, I'll buy a larger flash drive and put Knoppix on it, but right not I just need help loading Windows so that I'm able to print.

[Harry Kuhman]

Where would I go to look at other distributions of Linux?

Distrowatch will give you links to home pages of many popular major distributions. (See the page hit rankings in the right hand column, or the drop down distro list picker near the top of the home page.)

[zebraboxers]

Thanks a lot, Harry. You know I checked that out! Unubtu and PCKinux are pretty popular, I'm curious about the left column. Under OSDisc.com, what do the dollar amounts mean? Are they selling these? If I had gotten both of my Linux operating systems free of charge, would I breaking the law? Assuming I payed for Knoppix, what would make my copy different (or more popular than) Butonubu or PCLinux? I'm asking about unique, distinguishing features that no other “distros� have. Maybe some sort for XP loader?

Now then, let us boot some Windows installations! Yeah!! How should we tackle this? I've ruled out sweet talking and caressing. Next I'll try whispering sweet nothings, stuffed animals and origami roses. The roses'll do the trick, I just know it, then I'll be able to print.

Printing is only the beginning, after that I'll be able to move from 256MBs of storage to an almost unlimited amount of 400GBs. So can I call if jet-lag if there is no change in timezones, and no jet? I was looking for different “cures� for it, but none of them seem like thy would work for me. I've stayed awake long enough to fall asleep in the evening, but the next day I can't sleep until mid-morning (between 4 and 6 AM). I just lay there and listen to mind chatter while I count. That's right I've become so skilled at counting, I can do it in five different languages and while daydreaming--late at night. Is that normal? I mean the counting and unwilling reverie conundrum. I want to stay away from pills, crazy diets and it seams like I'm immune to the drowsing effects of the dark. Thanks you guys

[Harry Kuhman]

Are they selling these? If I had gotten both of my Linux operating systems free of charge, would I breaking the law? Assuming I payed for Knoppix, what would make my copy different (or more popular than) Butonubu or PCLinux?

You can buy copies of these distros, or even of Knoppix. You certainly don't have to, a free downloaded copy is perfectly legal and IMHO its far better. When you download you should be getting the newest version with the most current bug fixes (assuming that is what you chose to download). When you buy you might be getting whatever version the seller had handy. Also, many sellers make high speed burns (to maxamize their profit, do you really think they are taking 20 minutes or more per disc and then selling you quality media properly burned for $2? As long as you have a high speed connection you are much better of burning your own discs, or, for Debian at least, doing a "net-install" across the Internet.

As to Assuming I payed for Knoppix, what would make my copy different (or more popular than) Butonubu or PCLinux?, well, paying for it might well give you a sub-standard copy that will not always boot properly. Other than that, distros are different. Knoppix is a Live CD or DVD. While some insist on fighting with the problems of a Knoppix hard disk install, it is not really intended for hard disk and not suitable for it (IMHO). The other distros you mention are (actually, I never heard of Butonubu, did you type that properly? I know of Ubuntu and Kubuntu but not Butonubu. If there is such a distro, and there well could be, use the site where you found it for information on it). Different distros simpy have different target users. They may incorporate different Linux features, may use different package systems to install and manage add-in software (for example, not all Linux distros use the Debian apt-get system, Red Had uses a completely different system) and have other differences. Knoppix differes from many other distros in being a Live CD, it was one of the first distros intended to boot and run right from CD and do automatic hardware detection, configuring itself for the system it was booted on. It's far from the only Live CD at this point and there are many other Live CDs out there. Some are general purpose systems like Knoppix, many others are targeted at specific uses (see Helix of computer forensics or Backtrack 2 for network security, or DSL or Puppy Linux for live systems that require much less space and have very good ways to allow a user to install additional software cleanly). It's up to you to choose what system is right for you (the large nuber of choices can often make this a difficult choice, and asking what distro is best is a lot like asking what religion is best, most responses will be of the form my religion is best.

[zebraboxers]

The other distros you mention are (actually, I never heard of Butonubu, did you type that properly? I know of Ubuntu and Kubuntu but not Butonubu.

No, It was very improperly keyed. I'm not proud to be fluent in typo, but I've heard of very few of these and here:

Unubtu and PCKinux are pretty popular. . .

“Ubuntu� didn't display the way it should, and I caught that when I double check it's spelling down here:

what would make my copy different (or more popular) than Butonubu or PCLinux?

It tickled me to see how far off I was from the original spelling, so I let it be and hoped it would tickle someone else as well. I apologize, because I shouldn't have left it unchanged. You are, indeed, correct. It's possible that a distro by that name exists. If it does, then I'm not, and wouldn't be aware of it, as I'm very new to this kind of thing, however, your post was very enlightening. Thanks to you, I now know a great deal about distros.

I didn't ask which was the best, but what made one different enough to become so much more popular than the others, and that question was answered. I've attended a Catholic church, Cristian, Baptist, and a Jewish service. In the Catholic church I got “free� food and gifts. The Cristian church is where I learned to fold paper roses, and it's like the Baptist, but with more people. Because the Baptist temple had fewer people, we could go out to eat at a buffet style restaurant or make BBQ at the park. At the Jewish service, I learned the Hebrew letter bet, “it looks like a house with an open door,� and sometimes there'll be a man getting ready to walk in. Maybe these are the wrong reasons to go to church, but it's why I like to go. Now if there was a way to put all of these religions on a flash drive, along with a universal booting tool. . . hmm.

I didn't pay for Knoppix. I took a class, intro to operating systems, and the first day we were each assigned a hard drive. It had several operating systems installed on different partitions with different file systems. I had been introduced to all of them, but one—ext3. This one was a “Red Hat distro�. I grew up with Windows, and the only other OS I knew existed, before I took that class, was OSX. I was like a kid, in an all you can eat for free candy store! Later that year we were handed CDs containing Knoppix, and we used the QTParted tool to change the size of a partition. I took a blank DVD to the instructor and asked if he could burn a copy of Linux on it. That became Fedora, I could choose between KDE interface or a Red Hat. Later I took a blank CD to the assistant instructor and asked for Knoppix. He reached in a box and traded me disks.

It seams like my copy of Knoppix was burned at a slow speed, because, other than not being able to print, it's never given me trouble. I'm going to start folding those roses now and see we can run Windows XP.

At the Bottom of the post Rusty made I see

HTH

what does that mean?

[rusty]

HTH=Hopes This Helps

[zebraboxers]

OIC, TY. It did help and would have fixed my problem too, but my operating system isn't supported. Now, shal we find some other method to get Windows to load? The roses didn't work by the way. I mean BTW.

[Harry Kuhman]

...Now, shal we find some other method to get Windows to load? ....

You might want to look at a simple boot manager called SBM (Smart Boot Manager). But I really expect the issue wil be a corrupt Windows system that can no longer boot (not untypical of Windows).