I wanted to install Knoppix on my HD, but I have been warned that Debian users do not consider hard drive Knoppix to be Debian and will not support it; so I am looking at Debian (and Xandros). I have read/heard that Debian historically is difficult to install. Exactly how difficult? Should I expect to see a good lot of unintelligible error messages? If so, I would not find Debian worth the trouble; but if installation is merely complicated, I am not sure I'd mind, esp. if I had instructions available.

If you are new to linux, go with XandrOS or some other easy to use distro (but not bloated, e.g.: Mandriva). I tried Debian a while ago and had extreme trouble with video drivers and also, the packagemanagment (e.g.: aptitude) and documentation is not exactly not confusing.
Just my .

Not to get off of Debian, but Mandrake is what I tried before Knoppix, and I didn't like it. Knoppix has a less aesthetically displeasing appearance, and it appears to carry more applications--it had Wine already, whereas Mandrake did not. The only other thing I know about Debian, really, is that it is said to be favored by nerds; that makes DEebian all the more attractive, as I used to be a nerd and would like to be again.

I am sentimentally attached to Knoppix, because it saved the day, sort of, the last time I had a crash. My Windows hard drive locked up (my fault), and a Linux user told me to make a Knoppix disc. With it, I was able to look into the drive and see that no data had been lost.

The installation is easy. The post-installation requires some Debian knowledge. See the sticky at the top of the forum for some starters.

I have used Mandrake and College Linux for a day and went off the learn Debian. The newby friendly distro's don't teach you a single thing. Debian is a great system to learn Linux.

All problems are solvable, just be persistent. Anyone who can't master Debian doesn't have the required intelligence

Use the netinstall cd and download off the net as you go. Read FIRST on configuring your network. After that use 'tasksel' for starters and play with 'dselect'.

Well, that's sort of a non-issue. You can always add Wine to Mandrake, and you can always change the appearance of Knoppix after you've installed it. You said Debian would not support a hard drive installation of Knoppix. What exactly do you need Debian support for? Can't you just get support from the Knoppix users forum?

Well, if you like difficult installations, total control, and stability after a lot of frustration, then Debian may, in fact, be the "nerd" distro for you.

If you want something easy to use, there are a lot of Debian-based distros out there. Linspire, Xandros, Mepis, Ubuntu...

If you like Knoppix, maybe Mepis is the distro for you. It's Knoppix-based and is both a live CD and installer CD. It has a ton of apps and can install software the same way Debian can (Synaptic/apt-get) and also can use Debian repositories in its /etc/apt/sources.list.

If you're willing to let go of sentimentality, though, I have a feeling Ubuntu may be your distro. Ubuntu, for me, strikes a good balance between being "user friendly" and "nerd friendly." You can't be a total computer dummy and use Ubuntu, as much of the configuration is done via the command-line. Nevertheless, there isn't a ton of configuration that has to happen, and the Ubuntu Guide has easy cut-and-paste instructions for the command-line. It's a totally free distro (in every way), gets updated every six months without fail, and its community is very supportive and responsive. It does not, however, use Debian repositories, even though it's a Debian-based distro. Ubuntu has its own repositories, though, which are very extensive.

I am probably *not* willing to tolerate much frustration: I gave up on Mandrake (and nearly on Linux itself) because it doesn't support my Canon i850 printer (I had to download a third-party printer control program, whose name I forget), much less my Linksys wireless equipment (not without great difficulty, at least), and because the process of installing power management (so I could make the computer hibernate under Linux) apparently required me to patch the kernel, which was an insane process that I couldn't even begin because I downloaded RPMs and didn't have the Linux sources(?) as the process seemed to demand. I will tolerate a complicated installation, but only if it consists of a steps or problems that can be solved easily; if I have to "patch a kernel" or something, I no longer have the patience for it.
I used to love computers, especially when the MS-DOS command line was the standard; but I am burned out on computers now, and esp. with Windows. I think I've been angry with both ever since my entire set of notes from AP History vanished from the hard drive, shortly after I started using a modern PC (seven years ago). I am trying to learn Linux partly because of the inexpensiveness, but mostly to thumb my nose at Microsoft.

You will run into troubles no matter what distro as you can have troubles with Windows, but they can be solved. You really should ask someone you know who has experience in these things. A friend tells you more than a thousand forum answers.

Patching a kernel is highly unusual and seldom necessary. Hibernation is present in the kernel, you need to know if you use ACPI (probably) or APM. If you don't want to know about these techniques, quit now. Linux is not suitable for everybody, but I do know a 76 year old who is happy with Linspire and Xandros and installed everything himself. Give it a shot.

Sounds as if you have a laptop. Is that the case? If so, you may find this helpful:
http://www.linux-laptop.net/

I'll be perfectly honest and say these days hardware detection for Linux is pretty damn good, especially if you have the latest version of a distribution. However, the patchiest hardware stuff has always been wireless cards. I've never used ndiswrapper, but I haven't heard it's very fun.

If you don't want to waste a lot of time, I'd start straight off with Mepis. If that doesn't do it for you, Ubuntu.

im a freashmen in linux society i had knopix v3.3 and use it but only in ram partition i try tohd1=/dev/hda1
but need more command to mount the setup. i olso download sage/i386 & jidgo and need help how to burn it in cd-r

Consider that perhaps Linux may not be a good solution for you.

Frustration is what you get before reaching a tolerable level of know-how
especially in really newbie-unfriendly distros ,such as Arch or Gentoo.

How 'frustrated' are you willing to be and for how long, that's the question.

im not frustrated with linux i just need some help
because in our province me and my instructor only knew linux . ilove hard times just like the old days of programmming c/c++ & pascal.
i know i can get a better solution for this problem
because this is my investment for my future

It is often told -in an hilarious sense- that even a monkey or a pelican hitting with the nose could install debian. Just hit enter constantly for a default installation, and later on you could tweak with the dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86, apt-get or whatever you want.

I managed to make a base install of debian with no deep knowledge almost.

---I agree. Absolutely.

thanks guy for the help, i already had knoppix and want to use debian sarge and jigdo which i download. please dont hesitate to give me more suggesion about linux and i am willing to accept specialy with their programming language. thanks again for you dont leave your user in vain.

i use debian on my main systems, and i have to say that it is a great distro to learn and work on.
i started off with Mandrake 7.0 back in the day, and that was fun but didn't really learn anything except how to play with the GUI.

However, if you have a lot of patience and are willing to get frustrated, go for Slackware. It is by far the best learning distro that i know of, and its learning curve far exceeds that of debian. i would not say it is a superior distro, but if your willing to read *a lot* and learn the stuff, Slackware will rocket you past the newbie level.

thanks ill do it. it seems to me you also love hard times, when i finish downloading it ill get in touch w/ you. if its okay on your part.