USB paritioning issues within Knoppix

[GutterClown]

Getting to the point, with two different USB keys (both 1GB), I can't get qtparted to format them.
There's no real consistant issue, it seems to differ quite often.
For instance, one time, I may start qtparted, and it will stop at the 'Getting Devices' menu. Another time, it will lock up when I clock on my USB key. Yet another time, it may lock up when I'm creating new partitions..
I have tried using fdisk, but to no avail. When I enter the (w)rite command, it returns Error 13: Permission Denied.


Ok, here's alittle background info:
I was asked to set up an internet cafe. I figured why buy hardware and software to run a Windows cafe, when there'll constantly be kids walking past messing with them. so Linux turned out to be the best option.
Currently, what I'm attempting to do is set up a very basic and slapped together O.S. as a temporary solution, until I get some more experiance and some time to learn.

So for now, a simple hd-install of Knoppix (knoppix, for it's out-of-the-box userinterface) on a 1GB USB key, on all the terminals.. That way, if something stuffs up, or someone gets into the root account and starts breaking things, a simple swap-out will fix it.

Later on, I'll be looking at a custom LiveUSB, with an easy to use windows'like interface, but with bare minimums, by way of applications and functionality. After all, it's an Internet Cafe. they don't need much. (Live enviroment, so that if anything goes wrong, a simple restart will fix it. this is because I won't be on-hand, and a 64 year old mechanic will be the only supervisor, so it needs to be *very* simple.)

I've also looked at a possiblity of setting up a single install to a server, and using shell scripts to access what is needed. This idea sounds pretty good, but I've not got the time to learn how to do this right now.


So here's the questions. Why are none of my USB drives formatting?
Is there some other way to format a swap and ext3 partition? Maybe a windows-based application?
Could I just install to an old IDE HD, and use something like Ghost to copy it over?
Is there some other distro that would be easier and simpler to use, for the setup I discribed?

I know I've got a very steap learning curve ahead of me, but hey, I might as well start as soon as I can.

[hal8000]

From a terminal as root, plug in your usb drive and type
df -hT

This will list the mounted partitions, most likely your USB drive will be available as /dev/sda1

If you want to format the partition with a single ext3 file structure type

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1

WARNING, this will erase all data on your usb drive. Hope that helps

[GutterClown]

Well, I somehow got it formatted. (swap + ext3)
I installed, rebooted and...nothing. Seems it doesn't like booting off it now.

Has anyone else had \ heard of issues with Transcend and linux\knoppix?

EDIT: ok, so after installing to an old IDE hd, i find that it wont boot either.
BIOS is setup fine, did I miss something while installing \ booting? a bootable partition, or something?
(GRUB installed to root partition, not mbr, does that make a difference?)