noob and linux kernel

Hi

Seasons greetings, I recently got knoppix 3.7(4 days back) it didnt work on my compaq laptop at first, but i managed to get it work using expert26 command, the problem seems to be with my video card, ATI Radeon 320M which an onboard version for AMD chipsets. the expert26 command loads knoppix in Xfree86(fbdev) mode. also is expert26 loading the experimental 2.6.9 kernel, cuz i read something like that on the knoppix website, if that is the case is it safe to use the experimental kernel? i dont really have too much mission critical software on my comp, but it would be better to stay safe.. Any comments on this issue?

2.6.9 experimental?? that is considered stable. ok 2.6.x is perhaps not "critical server" material yet but for 99%of the time 2.6.X can be considered "stable".
i suspect you confuse the odd/even nymber game, 2.4.X was stable, 2.5.x was in constant flux and therefore things might be more "experimental". 2.6 is again stable. there is no 2.7 (yet) but...

i think i read it someplace, anyways since then i read that 2.6.9 is stable and the latest stable release was 2.6.10, dunno why i read it that way, anyways still having problems loading knoppix though, maybe will clear some space on my hdd and go for a different install

I have this similar problem in my compaq laptop. Check this out http://www.xfree86.org/4.3.0/Status6.html#6 and type at your knoppix boot: xmodule=radeon or use generic driver such as xmodule=svga or xmodule=vesa if the chipset doesn't work.

If you have tried all of the above modules, and x still does not load. Try the older version of xfree86 v3 which included in your knoppix cd. Find the cheat codes in your knoppix cd /knoppix/knoppix-cheatcodex.txt with xserver=anything you wish to try.

i got the place i read 2.6 was experimental, its on the knoppix boot page, it says, this verison comes with the experimental 2.6 kernel. anyways knoppix works on Xfree86(fbdev) but what is that? it said my card was supported on vesa but failed to load that, said Error instering APM, then loaded the Xfree86(fbdev). i cant damage my ntfs drive since i cant write to it so its cool.