Newish laptops running Knoppix -- pls post here

[Olive]

I wish I could set screen size to 1200x800 (might want to use recent Nvidia drivers).

Olive, add the modelines below to /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

  Modeline "1280x800" 68.56 1280 1336 1472 1664 800 801 804 824 -HSync +VSync
  Modeline "1280x800" 80.58 1280 1344 1480 1680 800 801 804 827 -HSync -Vsync

You'll also need to add the 1280x800 resolution to the screens sections.
That works 'good enough' on my HP Pavilion zv5270us

Regards,
--glenn

Thanks for the tip =)
I guess this requires hdd install though?