Well I started out attempting to partition some space from my XP hd for Linux and a swap, everything went great until I got the error:

"Error: Formatting of failed. Some messages from mkfs.ex3: useage mkfs.ex3["..etc - I truncated most of it because it's just argument use information.

Ok so, I figured that there was something wrong with my partition, so I gave up on keeping Windows in tact and formatted the whole thing. So there it is; 20 gigs of free unpartitioned space.
I load up my Knoppix cd and first try qtparted. I was able to create a 10 gig, primary, linux partition and then created 1 gig primary partition dedicated to my swap. Simple enough.. everything partitioned right. So I Ctrl+Alt+F1 - typed 'sudo knoppix-installer' and began my installation. Everything seemed fine. The linux partition was detected. I set my passwords, username, etc. Then we get to the Yes/No confirmation screen. I accept and then am prompted with the same error I received before:

"Error: Formatting of failed. Some messages from mkfs.ex3: useage mkfs.ex3["..etc - I truncated most of it because it's just argument use information.

Hmm this is strange, I completely reformatted the drive and am still getting this stupid Formatting error. Ok, so I try cfdisk.
I do the same thing, only this time I set my swap partition to extended (since qtparted wouldn't let me, lol) and the partitions are set up once again. I load the installer and the same thing happens. I get the same error.
Well, I begin to think that it is something wrong with the way im partitioning it, SO I follow some guide that instructs me that you will partition inside of the setup (using cfdisk) SO I boot up with my win floppy and fdisk the hard drive clean again.
I begin the Knoppix installation this time with no set partitions. Knoppix informs me that I haven't met the requirments and now needs me to partition my drives, so I select partition and then select the drive I have been working with (hdb). Guess what, another error:

"Opened disk read-only - you have no permission to write." (i press enter)
"Fatal Error: Cannot read disk drive."

And thus, I am here...