Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, a. [L. erraticus, fr. errare to wander: cf.
F. eErratic \Er*rat"ic\, a. [L. erraticus, fr. errare to wander: cf.
F. erratique. See Err.]
1. Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed
destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the
planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.

The earth and each erratic world. --Blackmore

Actually sometimes consistency is boring-I'm an artist I have been playing with many linux distros for some years now.
Yesterday I wanted to use my scanner, which had been set up and working, but it wasn't even recognized. The "scanimage -L"
command just got me "no such command" in knoppix 3.5 kernel 2.4.26. I know that it did work because I have images I scanned
in my home folder. Trying to do an apt-get install sane was a big hassle because I needed to do an update (hours over a dial-up)
but it accomplished nothing. I have set up several scanners in linux and I'm fairly familar with sane. I just don't understand why the
system would be working and then not- no sane. I don't do upgrades or anything to change the system.


Note I'm in kanotix now and it recognizes the scanner. I don't have xsane on kanotix so I have to use command line to scan-but it works.
I wonder about a remark I read at a different board saying that knoppix degrades over time? At the time I read that I thought it was
just distro bashing but now I don't know. If anyone has experinace with inconsistency in a hard drive install perhaps you could share that?
Thanks

Update: After rebooting the system this morning I found I had my scanner back in knoppix. I don't know what the problem was
though so I still feel a litttle concerned about the system. I don't know if any of this is related to the error "fs type devfs not supported by
kernel" that has been discussed elewhere but something about the system seems strange. I'm using woody 3.0r1 today.
Thanks for "listening".
.