Quote Originally Posted by KansasGuy
1) I'm using the following website to try to find my XP files, but the desktop doesn't have hda1, etc on it. (newer version of Knoppix, and my linux knowledge is very rusty) I've explored some but can't find it
A lot of people, myself included, find 6.x to be a big step backwards from previous versions. One common complaint is that the desktop icons for the partitions no longer appear. From what others have written here you should still be able to find your partitions by opening a file manager. Sorry, can't give more details, I don't have a copy of 6.x in front of me at the moment.

And, of course, we are hoping that the partitions still exist and can be accessed. Unfortunately with Windows involved you can't be sure of that until you actually have the files.

Alternatives would include 5.x versions of Knoppix and other Live CD versions of Linux (see my answer to #2 below).

Quote Originally Posted by KansasGuy
2) The wireless connection will connect to a "freenet" in the area, which then wants me to subscribe for $20 per month, but doesn't "see" my wireless connection in the house which is only WEP protected (and I haven't been able to configure the Knoppix to find it)
Unfortunately, I've found wireless support in Knoppix very poor. Wired networking is great, but not so with wireless. The last version of Knoppix that I could get to work with any of my wireless cards was 4.02. It did work and could be set up on WEP with one of my wireless cards. I have not even tried with 6.x (low expectations). My other cards were never recognized by Knoppix, but I did find that several other Live CDs did run those same cards just fine, including Puppy Linux and Mandriva1 and even the Backtrack series (more of a security release than the others, but you can get some work done and it had excellent wifi support). Some people do indeed use Knoppix with wifi, but it seems very hardware dependent. If Knoppix doesn't recognize your hardware you can try various workarounds of wrapper or installing drivers, but I personally would suggest using different distros for most users. This, by the way, should also help resolve your "partitions are not on my desktop" issue; as most other distros (particularly Puppy Linux) will indeed give you desk top icons for your partitions if they can find them.

If Knoppix 6.x does indeed find Freenet then your hardware is likely detected and working just fine. So you indeed should be able to configure it for the SSID and WEP key of your local network. Unfortunately, it's been so long since I've done that that I can't remember exactly what I did. But look in the networking section of the menu for wireless networking tools and give it a try. Or use the search feature of these forums to look in the networking forum and find discussions about wireless configuration.