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
BROKEN 2MB Vintage PSION Series 3a Handheld Computer CPU Digital A1
$24.99
Vintage IBM 5150 5160 Personal Computer PC XT Drive cover Factory
$79.99
Vintage Classic Apple Macintosh System Boot Install Disk Floppy/CD *Pick Version
$10.39
Z80 - NABU PC & Keyboard - Vintage New Old Stock (Retro 80's)
$139.99
Vintage Compaq 141649-004 2 Button PS/2 Gray Mouse M-S34 - FAST SHIPPING - NEW
$8.99
Vtg HP Hewlett Packard Ingram Micro Executive Heavy Drink Coaster Leather Stitch
$24.99
Vintage Black Microsoft intellimouse Optical USB Wheel Mouse 1.1/1.1a - EXC COND
$28.95
Vintage Computer Mouse - Todays Mouse - Windows 95 P S/2
$9.99
SEALED Vintage Western Digital Value Line Hard Drive 3.5-Inch Enhanced IDE 25 GB
$100.00
Acer Extensa 710DX Model 700 Notebook Laptop Computer Vintage Rare For Parts
$24.99