I plan to switch to Linux someday. I used Mandrake for a few days, but dual booting really messed up my system. So, I formatted, and went back to Windows. Now I really am considering using Knoppix until I'm good at it, then maybe switching.

Here's my questions:

1. Does Knoppix run Wine easily, or do you need to do a setup process?

2. Will it auto-mount my USB keydrive?

3. Can I save my files and settings on said keydrive?

4. Does it have anything better than gAIM that Mandrake had? (I thought gAIM was horrible)

5. Does it support more fonts than Mandrake had? the internet looked terrible with the limited fonts.

6. Does it have a built in Mp3/video player? Mandrake's crashed upon startup.

7. Will it preserve my settings and files if I choose to format the drive and install Linux on it?

That's it. Thanks.