I've got an ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon, which has been a sticking point on installing Debian 3.0 (Woody). I've tried many combinations and I can get Woody to install, but X NEVER worked w/ the card.

I did a Knoppix HDInstall and it worked great! No problem with the video card.

So now I have a few quick questions:

1) If I have used Knoppix for a HDInstall, then run apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade (as indicated elsewhere on this forum), what is the difference between what I am now running and Woody?

2) What does Knoppix do differently that lets X Windows work with my video card that Woody could not do?

3) The Woody Installer included a section where I could select modules for the kernel, which helped me, since I have firewire (for video transfer), and a USB ramdrive. How can I access a similar menu on Knoppix or get those modules added to my kernel permantly?

I used to program in assembler back in the early 80's, and was programming even before that, in high school. I'm not new to computers, but I found the Debian install VERY frustrating and, even with help, could not get my card to work with it. I am trying Debian because I've got so many friends that keep raving about it, but so far I can't stand it (except for Knoppix) because I can't even get X to work.

Then I decided to try a Knoppix HDInstall. Wow! It was easy, and went a lot smoother than installing Woody! I hope the Debian programmers and packagers are able to look at Knoppix and pick up a few things!

I haven't decided yet whether I'll keep this install (I can't get Blender to work -- it says it's missing some libs it needs, although Demudi is supposed to include Cinelerra, I can't apt-get it or find it w/ apt-cache search, and I still have yet to get ANY verison of Debian to recognize my ram drive properly or pass the test for firewire -- Mandrake 9.0 does all this), but I think the Debian folks can learn a LOT from Knoppix and the hardware detection.