How do I boot commands?

[mecho]

Thank you very much for the tip ICPUG.

I avoided Knoppix 6.2.1 just because of this you should have told me about it long ago. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of 6.2.1 right now to try it, and I am sorry for misleading KOTIS on this issue.
I have customized 6.2 way too much to my liking to start over with a fresh copy of 6.2.1.
If KOTIS reads this and is going to try i915.modeset=1
Please post the result

I can see now that even i915-kms.conf can be included in /etc/modprobe.d for permanent change