Wanting to make sure it won't hurt my computer

[Romen]

I recently aquired a copy of Knoppix 3.3 from a friend of mine. I'm wanting other sources that can tell methat it won't do anything to my computer. If anyone would be able to answer any of the questions, It would be *greatly* appreciated.

--> Will it leave anything in my hard drive?
--> What happens if I say 'No' to the swap thing at the beginning?
--> Is there anything someone new to Knoppix could to do mess up anything on the regular computer?
--> Can 'Wine' run programs like MSN Mess, AIM, and KaZaA?
--> What happens to files that I save, on programs like the GIMP? Are they saved to the disc, or what?
--> My friend downloaded MSN 7.0 for Linux apparently.. does it exist?
--> What all does Gaim run? I heard it was like MSN..? Can it run Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, etc?
--> How would my friend install MSN 7.0 when he runs his Knoppix from a disc? Where would it be installed?
--> Is there a chance that it will overwrite my XP?
--> Will it run with XP Home? I've seen it run with Professional..
--> What is this 'Terminal' thing? Is it kinda like Run > cmd on Windows?

I guess that the main question would be 'Is it safe?" so.. if anyone could answer some of my questions, or share anything about Knoppix with me, I'd be eternally greatful.

[spydie]

Hi,
I'm preaty new to Knoppix myself, but I have run the CD on two differant computers and have done a HD install on two. One being a duel boot with winXP.

I think I can answer a couple of your question.

Will it leave anything in my hard drive?

No, not running it from the CD

Can 'Wine' run programs like MSN Mess, AIM, and KaZaA?

I'm not to sure why you would want to run Wine for programs like MSN mess.
Gaim works really well.

What all does Gaim run? I heard it was like MSN..? Can it run Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, etc?

TOC
AIM/ICQ
Yahoo
MSN (what I use, works great)
IRC
Jabber
Napster
Zephyr
Gadu-Gadu

I'm learning about knoppix/debian myself , but I hope I was of some help.
I'm sure other members will be along to answer your other questions.

[Romen]

Thanks spydie, is there anyone that can answer more of my questions? I'd really like to run it tonite and play with it, but I'm iffy about putting something that I don't know very much about on my computer..

[arkaine23]

--> Will it leave anything in my hard drive?

Only if you want it to.


--> What happens if I say 'No' to the swap thing at the beginning?

You will have no swap. But if you have at least 128mb of ram that shouldn't matter too much.

--> Is there anything someone new to Knoppix could to do mess up anything on the regular computer?

Yes. Too many to list. But odds are you are not going to do any of them by accident.


--> Can 'Wine' run programs like MSN Mess, AIM, and KaZaA?

It can run kazaa-lite and many others, but it can't run everything.

--> What happens to files that I save, on programs like the GIMP? Are they saved to the disc, or what?

They are kept in ram and will be lost when you reboot. However, you can burn them to CD, or save them to any other medium like a hard drive (as long as its not formatted NTFS), a floppy, a usb-pen, etc..

--> My friend downloaded MSN 7.0 for Linux apparently.. does it exist?

There are several linux programs that can chat on MSN protocols. Gaim, amsn, and kopete are three I can think of off the top of my head. Knoppix comes with gaim. Some custom versions of knoppix may have others.

--> What all does Gaim run? I heard it was like MSN..? Can it run Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, etc? Gaim runs at least 7 chat protocols. It certainly does the four you listed above.

--> How would my friend install MSN 7.0 when he runs his Knoppix from a disc? Where would it be installed?

It would be better to use what's available from the CD- gaim.

--> Is there a chance that it will overwrite my XP?

If you first mount the hard drive and then make it writeable and then either delete everything or format over it, then yes. Or if you are installing it and you accidentally delete your XP partition...

--> Will it run with XP Home? I've seen it run with Professional..

You can install it as a second OS alongside any version of windows if you have some unformatted space on your hard drive.

You can run it from the CD no matter what OS is installed on your PC so long as it agrees with your hardware. You can even run it from CD if you have no hard drive at all. If you are worried about damaging your windows install and data, you could poweroff, unplug your hard drive, and then boot the knoppix CD.

--> What is this 'Terminal' thing? Is it kinda like Run > cmd on Windows?

Yes, but it is very powerful in comparison to windows' cmd.