Attempted to install Knoppix 4.0 from Paul Sery's book "Knoppix for Dummies" Cd on the HD of my old Inspiron 8100 (PIII, 512 Mb RAM) machine.

Selecting Knoppix boot in GRUB menue rezults in "Welcome to Debian" login screen

After logging in, a blue screen with the large font word "debian" appears and the box stays frozen: can move the pointer, but no mouse/keyboard activities result in any response.

The box is set for a dual-boot: Linux or W2K Professinal. Disk partitions:

/dev/hda1 ntfs (Win Sys)
/dev/hda5 ntfs (Win Data)
/dev/hda6 linux-swap (1.1GB)
/dev/hda1 reiserfs (9.48 GB)

B/t/w, prior to Knoppix installation attempt, I installed on the same machine Fedora Core Linux with no problems: everyting , including free space repartitioning was automatic and smooth. Alas, I would rather have Knoppix.

Any suggestions? I already re-installed Knoppix twice: same result every time.

Thanks!
Alon

P.S. I'm a hardware chap (photonics mostly) with some antedeluvian Unix experience (old Bell Labs).