Linux is a monolithic kernel. This means that support for any available driver is included in the kernel source code. Nearly all drivers use kernel space. Depending on your kernel compile, drivers are either built in, available as loadable kernel modules or not built. Generic installer kernels necessarily include support for a wide range of devices. Kernels are no longer limited in size due to the size of boot media. Installed kernels such as that used by knoppix are therefore quite slow to boot but forgiving of some esoteric hardware. YMMV.

The result of this is that a GNU/Linux system configures itself at every boot, within the parameters of any configuration files. It is not like another operating system that includes only the drivers for installed hardware at installation time.

Knoppix is not debian. As far as generating a valid X configuration file, just try the command: xf86config or dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 . The first is a script supplied by xfree86.org the second is supplied by the package maintainer for the debian package. The point being that neither is exclusive to knoppix.