hello all.

may i take this opportunity to thank all the people who have posted advice and solutions to problems within this forum, i (like many others i feel) have scoured these forums over the last few weeks looking for answers to issues i hit while i made the break from windows.

these answers i found, applied and have enabled me to make great headway in using Knoppix.

i have many years IT experience, worked for large networking companies, support roles and now i run my own IT support and maintenance company in Spain, however all the while i was spoon fed windows, this "linux" thing kept nagging at me...

i played around with it a little a few years ago, red hat mainly, however when you think you know an industry its not nice learning to walk again by changing os like that, so back on the shelf it went.

as time has gone on, i have become more and more aware that this "conditioned" atmosphere IT exists in isn't so healthy.

i (like many others) became irritated with the constant virus and spy ware (in my opinion the next real nemesis of widows) problems on both my windows systems and customers, the constant upgrades, service packs, high speed versioning etc.

so off i went in search of an alternative that satisfied me, the route was...

DSL, then Feather Linux, then KNOPPIX!

now Knoppix (and the support these forums have provided) has enabled me to turn the way i work around. i have not booted to windows for 5 weeks, apart from for support calls.

sounds silly but to me its a goal reached, a mountain climbed.

i have procrastinated a lot, spent an unhealthy amount of time on my system, and written notes all along the way, but i am pleased to be here.

i am not knocking windows, it has its place, it has a presence in the market place, however its VERY oversold and over marketed, in my opinion Knoppix is as good... no wait... its better.

this is my way of saying thanks to the people in this forum who by their contributions have helped me and all others like me get the most from this operating system (you know who you are).

they found ways around things, solutions to problems and had the decency to tell us lot how they did it, they sat up all night head scratching over other peoples problems and then provided the answers, all on their own time all unpaid for.

this supporting community is the reason i managed to make the switch, as time goes on, i want to be in the position to give something back.

my learning curve is so steep now its painful and i am learning to walk all over again but thats fine.

my only regret is that i never did this years ago...