First, a HD install seems to be a great way to get Linux going on your PC but there are plenty of difficulties ahead. If you are a expert or are willing to put the time in to become somewhat of an expert, then it might be good for you to do a HD install. If you are a newbie and you do not want to spend hours fixing broken packages or getting network settings to behave as they should, then perhaps a HD install is not for you. See also http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/HD_Insta...g_not_to_do_it

Suse Linux just released its 10.1 on May 11. Fedora Core 5 was released under two months ago. Ubutnu Linux will have its 6.06 release in about 3 weeks. You can get free CDs shipped to anywhere in the world from https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ (this uses GNOME as the desktop) and https://shipit.kubuntu.org/ (this uses KDE as the desktop). Any one of the three distros will be a better long term solution when compared to a Knoppix HD install.


To apply the vga=normal as default so that it boots with it everytime, as root user, edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and find where it says something like (not exact, this is an estimate):
Code:
title      Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-1
root      (hd1,4)
kernel      /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-1-k7 root=/dev/hdg5 ro single vga=791
initrd      /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-1-k7
savedefault
boot
Change the vga=791 or whatever value it is to vga=normal. Save it & reboot.