FWIW,

In 6.4.4 my LiveUSB took almost 120 seconds to get on-line initially.
I finally disabled Network Manager and got down to about 55-or so seconds
using a primitive /etc/rc.local routine to get my wifi going.

In 6.7, there was no similar slow start to getting on-line in less than
a minute and no need to circumvent Network Manager.

Obviously either Knoppix or Network Manager must have changed between
6.4.4 and 6.7. If you don't find the answer in minirt.gz, then you might
see if there's some difference in NM that explains your situation.