Quote Originally Posted by ravenspirit2k4
2. Is there a tutorial soemwhere about installing Debian and making it into Knoppix's image, so to speak, on your software choices? (I've heard Debian's installer has improved - the last two times I tried it was a disaster, but that was over a year ago.)
There are Debian package lists found on the Debian site for each distro. You should be able to look over the package lists and apt-get whatever you want. I doubt if there is much you will find on the Knoppix disc that is not there. And, of course, you can skip getting all of the applications that you have no interest in.

Yes, the installer has gotten a lot better. Not perfect yet, but then neither is Knoppix. It's worth your time to at least give it a look.