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Booting Knoppix

Prerequisite: You have a Knoppix CD.
(When you do not have a Knoppix-CD, then read at www.knoppix.de how and where you can acquire this small jewel)

Knoppix is a Linux that runs from CD.

You do not need to install Linux on your hard disk of your PC. The PC itself (hard disk, etc.) will not be touched.

So simply boot/start Linux from the Knoppix-CD, work / experiment / play with Linux, stop Linux, remove the Knoppix CD and everything on your PC is as it was before - unchanged.

So far the theory. In practice this holds for about 80-90% of the PCs. For the others there are some problems when booting / starting from the Knoppix-CD, but happily these problems can often be solved quite simply.

So do the practical test:

Switch on your PC and boot/start it as usual (e.g. with MS-Windows 98).
Insert the Knoppix-CD. (When after the insertion of the CD automatically the site index.html from the CD in the WWW browser pops up, then simply close the browser. If after that still an MS-DOS window is open with "Stopped- autorun", then close that window too.)
Boot/start the PC again (under MS-Windows 98 e.g. using <Start> --> <Shutdown> --> <Reboot> --> <OK>).
Wait and see...

- when after a few minutes the Knoppix-KDE-Desktop, as pictured below, is displayed at your screen and the mouse pointer can be correctly moved with the mouse, then you can lean back and relax. You have a PC that boots Linux through the Knoppix-CD :-)
You now only have to know how the Knoppix-KDE-Desktop is closed down again. That you can learn here.

- when after a few minutes the Knoppix-KDE-Desktop, as pictured below, is not displayed at your screen or when the mouse pointer can not be correctly moved with the mouse, then you have to give the install a helping hand. For this you have to approach it systematically.

Picture: Knoppix-KDE-Desktop

Knoppix-KDE-Desktop

The Knoppix-KDE-Desktop is closed down as follows:

Press the keys <ctrl>, <alt> and <del> simultaneously.
In the window that pops up with "End Session for "knoppix"" - click with the left mouse button on the button <Logout> (if your mouse is not functioning, then use the key combination <Alt> <L> simultaneously).
After a while the tray of the CD player opens and the message appears:

Please remove CD, close cdrom drive and hit return.
Take the CD ROM out.
Close the tray.
When you used a Knoppix-boot-floppy or a Knoppix configuration floppy, then take the floppy out of the floppy disk unit
Press <ENTER>.
Either the PC powers down itself, or you can now safely switch off the PC manually.
Please note that: Some Notebooks/LapTops (e.g. Dell Dimension 4550) will only boot again (e.g. the original operating system such as MS-Windows 98), when it is cut off from the power line for a few minutes.
Done :-) Take as reward a small break.

You can now start to configure Knoppix so that it matches your hardware and needs. How that is done you will find under "Configuring Knoppix".

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This Document describes the Knoppix Version 3.4 CeBit 2004 Edition.
Copyright (c) 2004-04-19 Karl Schock. (Thanks to all that have contributed to this document - special thanks to Pieter Jonker for translation into english.)
You have permission to copy, distribute or change this document under the conditions of the GNU Free Documentation License.
THE USE OF THIS DOCUMENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. The author cannot be held responsible in any way for direct or indirect damage that may come forward from using this document.