What a difference a | makes!
ps xa | grep arts returned
472 ? $ 0:08 artsd -F 10 -S 4096 -s 60 -m artsmessage -l 3 -f "
lsof /dev/dsp returned
Command PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
artsd 472 laptop 8w CHR 14.3 124466 /dev/dsp0
After #Kill 472, xmms plugin opened & worked like it should.
I had already tried adduser from terminal & had also commented out the added line in bootmisc...it is currently commented out.
I have used the Debian install as the Knoppix install rewrites fstab each time it is booted. I have the windows drives automounted in /home/user so that everything a 'normal' user might want is in /home & there should be no ordinary need to go into the other directories. I have not added xmms-arts.
Now the question is, why is the artsd running & how do I do a permanent fix? It does not run on my desktop box (ie ps xa | grep arts returns nothing). Both are Knoppix on HD, the only difference is I have deleted almost nothing from this install as it has adequate HD space.