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
Vintage Apple Macintosh Plus 1MB Model M0001A - For parts
$91.99
Apple Macintosh Plus 1Mb Vintage Desktop Computer No Return Needs Work
$149.99
VINTAGE APPLE MACINTOSH POWERBOOK 180 ( M4440) Powers On
$100.00
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 180 Vintage Laptop | Retro Computer
$149.95
Stingray Trackball Mouse for Vintage Macintosh W/ Original Box Tested
$68.99
Vintage Apple Macintosh PowerBook 190 Series - NO POWER FOR PARTS
$69.99
Vintage Apple Macintosh Plus 1MB M0001A Desktop Computer - Powers On / Bad Video
$109.99
VINTAGE APPLE MACINTOSH POWERBOOK 180 Powers On/Great Condit. For Repair
$105.00
Apple Macintosh Performa 466 Vintage Computer | SKU 146754
$149.95
Vintage Apple Macintosh PowerBook G3 M4753 w/ Power Adapter
$149.00