I have had terrible trouble with 7.4.2 and 8.1.0 on a Dell XPS9360. Whether booting from the KNOPPIX DVD (burn iso) or from a boot USB (I use Pendrive's Universal-USB-Installer v. 1.9.8.0, there may be other or later versions) all I got was a blank screen. But a certain amount of whirring suggested to me that the live version was in fact progressing and available. After a lot of messing about with vga=xxx in the KERNEL stanza in /boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg I iterated to the best, sparsest and most portable version of this configuration file that I have EVER had. It reads
DEFAULT console
TIMEOUT 40
PROMPT 1
LABEL console
KERNEL linux
APPEND initrd=minirt.gz vga=893 lang=uk 1
LABEL video
KERNEL linux
APPEND initrd=minirt.gz vga=893 lang=uk #
By portable I mean this works on an ancient (really ancient) Samsung, any number of Dells in all configurations / ages, likewise Fujitsus. All screens from 800x600 to 1920x1080.
Still can't get 8.1.0 to work using a boot USB (DVD is fine). The architecture dictated by Pendrive leads to a configuration location error ("Can't find ..") from the very start. Even mimicking the geography of the 7.4.2 boot USB does not mend this.
Fergus
Dell SNPTP9W1C/16G 16 GB 2666MHz (PC4-2666) Memory Ram
$34.95
Crucial 8GB 1x8GB PC RAM PC3L 12800U DDR3 1600MHz Desktop Memory DIMM
$8.36
A-Tech 8GB DDR3 1600 PC3-12800 Laptop SODIMM 204-Pin Memory RAM PC3L DDR3L 1x 8G
$13.99
Team Group Elite+ 16GB (8GBx2) DDR4 2400MHz RAM (TPRD48G2400HC16BK)
$23.99
Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 32GB (2 x 16GB) PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Memory
$54.99
Crucial DDR3L 16GB 1600 2x 8GB PC3-12800 Laptop SODIMM Memory RAM PC3 16G DDR3
$22.45
NEW OLOy 16GB 2x8GB KIT DDR4-3000 PC4-24000 Desktop Gaming RAM MD4U0830160BB1ST
$19.99
Micron 16GB DDR4-2400 SODIMM MTA16ATF2G64HZ-2G3E1 Laptop Memory RAM
$21.99
128GB Kit 4x 32GB PC4-17000 LRDIMM DELL POWEREDGE R730xd R730 R630 Memory RAM
$127.96
HYNIX HMT31GR7BFR4C-H9 8GB PC3-10600R DDR3-1333MHZ 2Rx4 (LOT OF 8) DRAT-3
$999.00