Quote Originally Posted by peter77
i know how to get into the bios setup but what do I need to do to boot up from the cd?
Navigate to the boot menu in your BIOS and make sure that the CD (or ATAPI CD) is set to be the first device in the boot order.

Save your changes and exit

Put the CD in the drive and reboot the computer.

knoppix should pop right up if all your hardware is supported.

If you have problems, you may be able to overcome them with the judicious application of some of the boot cheatcodes (http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/CheatCodes). For more info on using knoppix, see the documentation library (http://www.knoppix.net/docs/).