hello newbie here. I tried to install Knoppix 5.1.1 to a 60gb harddrive no other operating system installed and no other partions or harddrives. when it finished i could not do anything like connect my ethernet card or play music it keeps saying SU error. I know su is super user but how do i sign on i tried in the console but no luck .any ideas would be great. oh yeah my system has a 2.4ghz cpu and 512mb ram. thanks

Your computer is trying to save you grief. Installing Knoppix will only lead to problems. If you like Knoppix, install Debian Lenny. Learn how first. There are lots of howtos.

have you tried typing:

and hitting enter at the console?

Knoppix is an awesome live distro that is intended to be run from a DC/DVD not a hard drive. Installing it to a hard drive is possible but chances are that Knoppix is not the best distro to install on a hard drive.

Go to distrowatch.com and check out other distributions. Many distros install from a live CD these days so installation is easy.

What I did was download several different Linux distributions (they are free) and pick the one that ran best with the hardware in the computer.

The end result is that I run Puppy Linux, Sabayon Linux, and Kubuntu Linux because they worked the best on the machines they are running on. You should pick the distro that works best with your hardware.

Ubuntu is very popular and easy to use. Kubuntu is Ubuntu with a KDE desktop in place of Gnome. If you like Knoppix try Kubuntu as they both use KDE.

Sabayon and Gentoo are faster than most of the other distros and use KDE as well.

Kubuntu and Sabayon would be the first 2 you might try.

yep tried su in the console hit enter and everything works the same su error and all. maybe i should try another distro ,cause when i got knoppix on my machine it seems to have a lot less proggies with it compared to the cd version

What are your OS requirements? Maybe we could point you to a better distro to install.