How can I get a list of my system hardware ?
 

For example, is there a way to print the boot messages ?
Is there a utility program which will list the detected hardware ?

Knoppix 3.6 set up my video card incorrectly, so I have to ctrl-alt-+ to another resolution. Then my virtual scrreen is larger than the physical screen.

I plan to dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86, but I need a list of hardware.

well to get your video card, just use lspci, but other than that your going to have to change the default resolution of your xfree config in /etc/X11/XF86Config