Knoppix - Should I install it?

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Okay, I'm new to installing operating systems and have finally gathered together the time and willpower to replace my outdated and egregious Vista operating system. I'm intent on installing a Linux and I've heard it's a good system for novices.

http://linux.about.com/od/itl_guide/a/gdeitl18t02.htm

Are there any drawbacks to this approach? Which linux would you recommend?

Specs for the computer I'm using

• AMD Anthlon 64x2 dual core processor
  TK-57 (1.9 Ghz, 2x 256 KB L2 cache)
• Up to 384MB NVIDIA GeForce 7000M TurboCache
• 1GB DDR2
• 17 " WXGA + Acer CrystalBrite LCD
• 120GB HDD
• DVD-Super Multi DL
• 802 11 b/g WLAN

It all depends on what you want to use it for, and what type of interface you like.

I still use Windows - XP - because of two programs I'm tied into that aren't available for Linux. But I've played around with a lot of the Live CDs. That is one thing I'd suggest you do before making a final decision. Just about every distro on the planet has a LiveCD you can download free. Then, you burn it to a disc, set your computer to boot first from the disc drive, and you can try that distro without installing it. This chance for a test drive is one of the strengths of Linux, in my opinion. Just be sure you don't choose the option to install to your hard drive until you've made up your mind.

Anyway, my wife got an old laptop that still worked, but the OS was hosed. I was going to put Ubuntu on it, since that is pretty easy for newbies to use (Knoppix? I don't think that's the one I'd suggest to a first time Linux user - although there may be a newer release since the one I've fooled around with) but the problem with Ubuntu was it didn't include the ability to play video on many of the websites my wife visits. So I went with Linux Mint instead, which is based on Ubuntu, but has much more extensive media support. I'm telling you this to illustrate the point that it all depends on what you want to use your machine for.

So instead of taking anyone else's word for it, give a few LiveCDs a whirl. You won't be able to make your own settings persistent (actually, you can, but unless you have the Live"CD" running from a USB stick instead, making that work gets tricky, and I do not recommend it unless you really know what you're doing) but you can still get a pretty good feel for how it will work on your machine, what it will let you do easily, and so on.

Edited to Add: Just in case some of the real hardcore Linux people read this thread, I do know all about WINE. One of the programs I use a lot works only marginally under WINE, and the other doesn't really work at all. When I get the time, I'll get all my data into other formats and escape MS once and for all. But, for now, I'm stuck in XP. I've dealt with Vista on others' computers - and I'd rather be burned at the stake than have to use that miserable excuse for an OS...

I use my computer for compling word documents and occassionally using paint, checking email, searching up information, watching youtube clips, and venting out anger on political forums or blogs.

it sounds like a livecd would be of good benefit to you for the following reason
malware, viruses and the like cannot rewrite the information on the cd so in many cases even the worst infections can be dealt with by a simple reboot.
on the other hand if you want to change anything in you OS you would have to burn a new cd, to my knowledge this also includes any settings, could be problematic depending on your use of your pc.

a livecd can however suffer degraded performance compared to the real installed version and installing programs can be a hassle depending on the os.
i dont know enough about linux to tell you how their registries work.

i use it only for surfing and learning python.

Last edited by Oodain on 19 May 2011, 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

First of all, you're going to have to get used to something other than Word since there is no version for Linux. There are decent word processors, though. LibreOffice is the closest to MS Office, but for a lot of uses, FocusWriter is fine, too. There are drawing programs that will more than replace Paint, too. YouTube videos work in a lot of distros, although I haven't made a point of figuring out which ones, since I don't watch a lot of video.

Where you might get "caught" is when visiting, say, a news site. That was what happened to my wife. She'd go to our local news station, and the video clips were in some proprietary format that wouldn't run. That was what forced me to switch her over to Mint. So I still think you ought to try out a LiveCD for a few days, see what you think. Try a few, take some time - just remember to save anything you work on over to a USB stick or some other permanent place.

The worst problem you're going to have, in trying out LiveCDs, is in trying to install extra programs and keep those around between sessions. It can be done - but I'm not sure if you're ready to do it. Assuming you want to try, the safest route is to install the distro you're interested in to a USB stick and make that bootable. Also, be sure you make the installation persistent. That will save your work - although once you are ready to stop using the stick, you'll have to copy the saved files somewhere else. The persistence feature is stored within a special file, and you can't access the contents except by booting up the persistent installation itself. But the upside of this is that it will allow you to give some distros a more thorough test drive. The downside, apart from the fact you may or may not have trouble getting it to work - some brands of flash drive just won't work with this - is that not every distro is set up to let you do this. So you may not be able to try it for the distro you are really interested in.

Even without installing additional programs, every distro I've tried has come with some simple apps built right in, to give you a chance to fool around and see what you think.

But one final thing you may not have thought of. Your life will be much simpler if you convert all the files you want to keep into formats compatible with your new OS before you wipe out Vista. Yes, there are tools that let you read Word docs inside Linux; in fact, LibreOffice will open most Word docs. But you are usually going to have less trouble if you use Word to save a Word document as Rich Text, then open that in LibreOffice. I can't say how much of an issue this will or won't be for you, because it depends very much on the specific coding inside the document.

There are really only a few uses for LiveCDs, although a persistent installation on a USB stick, which will allow you to change settings and install other programs as easily as on any computer, is more flexible. But a LiveCD is used for getting a glimpse of how that distro looks and feels, for testing or repairing a buggy or damaged system, for file recovery, or for short browsing sessions where you have reason to worry about what you're about to try out (as you noted, a LiveCD can't be infected).

Using a LiveCD for all surfing isn't such a bad idea, even. You don't have to worry about malware, and can go anywhere you like... You do need to remember to save anything you download or copy to another location, of course.

Beyond that, why would anyone want to use a LiveCD as their regular OS? Once you decide you like it, just install it. Sure, I keep dozens of LiveCDs around, for riskier surfing expeditions, and most of all for diagnosing and fixing problems and recovering files if my Windows box (or my wife's computer, or a friend's...) runs into trouble. But I'd never suggest to anyone that they use a LiveCD as their regular system. Try it out for a few days or a week? Sure. Keep it around for emergencies? Obviously. I just can't understand why you'd suggest that anyone consider running their computer that way all the time.

i was simply trying to weight the pros and cons i could think of.
as it sounded like the easiest option was desired, if so a live usb disk would be far easier than using a regular livecd.

i must admit my primary system is windows as i enjoy my games too much, with a permanent redhat on my labtop for surfing and programming.

I would suggest Ubuntu 10.10 which installs directly on your existing NTFS partition and allows you to access the existing files on your computer. --If you like it you can download a copy of Ubuntu 10.04, burn it to disc and then do a full install. If you don't like it, you can uninstall it via Windows Add/Remove Programs.

If you have the space available, I would suggest a minimum 16 GB install or the maximal install, which is about 40GB. -- all of your windows files are available @
/host on your filesystem.

From there on, I would also suggest installing the proprietary Nvidia graphics driver and the LXDE desktop which is a lighter desktop environment that uses the same gtk libraries that the default ubuntu Gnome desktop uses. LXDE is a lightweight desktop environment built around the Openbox WM.

Furthermore, if you are using MS Office on Vista, you can install WINE on the Virtual Linux FS and copy/paste your MSOffice files into /home/.wine/drive_c/program files and still use MSOffice with Linux.

Also My notebook has very similar specs to the computer has almost the exact same specs as the system that you want to do your install on, with the exception of a 150 GB HD and 2GB RAM, and a 15.5" display. -- It's a Compaq Presario CQ50.

Holy cow you found outdated information. Knoppix is mostly a livecd, it's not really meant to be installed to your hard drive and actually used. Avoid SUSE like the plague.

This goes without saying, but backup all of your files to an external drive beforehand.

My recommendation will depend on the answer to this question: Can you access a wired ethernet connection, at least for long enough to do the installation and come on here to ask for possible wifi troubleshooting? If the answer is yes, download Debian CD 1 from this link, burn it to disc, and install. Use the regular installer, not the graphical installer (it is more reliable, and the only actual difference between the two is that the "graphical" installer includes a pretty background for you to look at). Don't worry if you don't understand all the options; you are safe choosing the default answer anywhere where you don't know what to do. Once the installation finishes, come back here and I'll explain how to get Flash (for Youtube videos) working and help with wifi in case that was a problem. I'll also point you to information on updated graphics drivers, although I think for your card the default drivers are probably good enough.

Debian is what I use. It is the only thing installed on my computer, and in my opinion it is hands-down the best Linux distribution out there. It is stable, has actual quality control (unlike some other distros *cough*Ubuntu*cough*Fedora*cough*), and has a massive selection of software available for you in a nicely bundled format.

If not, you may have to make do with Ubuntu or Linux Mint. My wifi worked automatically with no hassle in Debian... it depends on your hardware, but Ubuntu and Mint include some extra bits to make uncooperative wifi chipsets work easier. I think I will recommend downloading and burning a disc of either Mint or Ubuntu in addition to having the Debian cd. That way, if the Debian installation goes wrong (eg wifi doesn't work and you can't get wired internet access somewhere), you can just stick in the Ubuntu/Mint disc and get running on that to ask for help. Those two are almost guaranteed to work with very little hassle.

Yeah, you can do all of that in Linux, although you will not have MS Word (I prefer Abiword, others like OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice). I forget what the equivalent to Paint is, but there is GIMP (sort of an alternative to Photoshop) in the default installation.

I would also recommend Debian or Ubuntu (which I use). If you are going to use Ubuntu though, I would recommend Xubuntu or Lubuntu which use the XFCE and LXDE desktop environments respectively especially in terms of the latest version (11.04). The "regular" Ubuntu 11.04 comes with a Unity default desktop environment which is VERY bloated to me - especially for the types of uses that were mentioned.

I would agree with Orwell - AbiWord or OpenOffice/LibreOffice - should meet your needs just fine. AbiWord is a simpler, lighter program and runs a little faster and takes up less space on your drive. My 13 year old daughter uses GIMP not only to modify her digital photography, but also to do artwork much like Paint (GIMP can be a very powerful program). My younger son uses TuxPaint which is simpler and more kid-friendly.

Since you would have your choice of Firefox or Chrome, watching Youtube videos or playing casual games through the browser is easy. We do it every day.

Not to mention that Unity is just... really, really awful in every possible way. Xubuntu and Lubuntu are possible alternatives, but I think LXDE might not be best for a complete newcomer to Linux, and Xfce is still working on getting its act together in several ways. The reason I recommended Debian is because it's going to be a lot more stable (since MP claims to currently be using Vista, I don't think having the absolute latest software is that crucial to him) and I have been growing increasingly concerned about the direction Ubuntu has been going in the last few releases. For instance, they no longer include aptitude in the default installation. (I know, you can just "apt-get install aptitude" but that seems rather ridiculous to me, since aptitude is what you're supposed to use to install stuff). Mint is a decent alternative for a GNOME distro for the time being, although it has a few problems of its own under the hood. Nothing that should trouble a casual user, though.

I seriously considered switching to Debian or Mint given the direction of "regular" Ubuntu (and still may do so down the line) as they are both excellent distros (and there is now a Mint Debian version). The only saving grace for Ubuntu is that I actually really like the current versions of both XFCE and LXDE though as they are really easy to customize to taste for me.

Normally you don't install Knoppix. You boot the operating system directly from the live CD. There is an option to install it, but it's not recommended. Knoppix is designed for recovery and sampling, not for regular use. If you want to run an OS like Knoppix, you can install Debian, which Knoppix is based on.