I have been messing with this issue for awhile now. I am using Knoppix 3.4 and when I boot get a black screen which does nothing. If I use a cheat (knoppix acpi=off noscsi) it will load but only to this stage:

PCMCIA Found, starting cardmgr.

cardmgr[82] starting, version is 3.2.5
cardmgr[82] socket 0: Lucent Technologies WaveLAN/IEEE Adapter
cardmgr[82] executing: 'modprobe hermes'
cardmgr[82] executing: 'modprobe orinoco'
cardmgr[82] executing: 'modprobe orinoco_cs'

I am using a Orinoco Silver PCMCIA card. I do know and have used the "failsafe" cheat with success, but want to be able to use my wireless card. Also if I do use the "failsafe" cheat Knoppix loads VERY slow. I have had same problem with the Orinoco loadup using knoppix 3.3 but not the blank screen nor the slow loading.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Computer is Presario 2195US