How to put together a home computer with GNU/Linux

[jc at trillian.mit.edu (John Chambers)]

Nathan writes:

| > Knoppix is a run-from-CD distro. I started using it in my Linux for the
| > Desktop class.
|
| According to distrowatch, Knoppix has made the leap to being an
| installable distro - never tried it myself.

Which is an excellent idea.  With most distros, the only way to  tell
if  it  works  on your hardware is to attempt an installation.  If it
doesn't  work  (or  semi-works  but  can't  recognize  some  of   the
hardware),  you're  stuck  with  a  half-installed  system  that  has
destroyed whatever was previously installed.

Since knoppix can run from the CD without touching the disk, you  can
"install"  it  in memory first, check to make sure that it's sane and
recognizes all the hardware. If not, you just shut it down and reboot
from the unharmed hard disk. If all is ok, you can proceed to install
and overwrite the previous OS on the hard disk.

Problems with lack of drivers for the latest hardware is especially a
problem  on laptops, which tend to have the very latest hardware.  It
sounds like knoppix would be a good way to find out whether linux can
run on a particular laptop.


--
   O
 <:#/> John Chambers
   +   <jc at trillian.mit.edu>
  / \  <jmchambers at rcn.com>