So I have compeltely switched from XP Pro to linux, I was tired of dealing with Microsoft and their bull so here I am currently running knoppix and now...the questions

1. I'm not sure how to get Knoppix to see my hard drive....when I boot it shows to drives both of under 500 megs but they are temp drives, I can't save on them and none of my settings stay (such as installing printer) I have a Dell Inspiron 5150 Notbebook with a 30 gig drive. When I boot on xp cd (just to see the drive) it shows that I already have a C:/ formated under FAT at 5 gigs...why doesn't knoppix see this...also how to I make partitions within knoppix itself so that I dont have to reinstall my printer every time I restart (or my passwords and internet settings)--I would like to do this with command lines not with any of the "easy" windows like installs. If I get the hard way than I will learn more

2. After I get the drive partitioned I want to start looking into other distros, I want a distro that has a graphical interface but that I can easily switch into a text mode...sooner or later I plan on going to FreeBSD but I need a better understanding of linux first. Any suggestion of what Distro to start with? I was thinking S.U.S.E but any other suggestions will be appreciated (I also have tried redhat 9 install and it won't boot so that's a negative...plus I have heard that redhat is too basic and to much based on a window like setup (too user friendly)

3. How would I install gaim on the knoppix drive after I get the drive partitioned as well are mIRC so I can get more help with command lines

4. Printer--although on restart I have no printer I have been installing the printer via the "easy" knoppix setting...I would like to install the printer via command lines instead (I know it's the harder way I just feel more comfortable learning that way) Also even when I install the printer via the "easy" way my printer works but in XP I had the option to do a lot more with my printer (such as double sided printing)...any way I can get these things installed on linux (I have a hp photosmart 1115)

I'm sure more questions will come up as I learn but I appreciate all the help

I am a complete newbie with Linux so any terminology I'll need explained....thank you so much for giving up so much time.


djljjm

1. Knoppix is a live distro, meaning it runs entirely off of cd and does not write to the harddrive, nor allow you to write to the hard drive in it. You can only read. Although there is a way to install knoppix as a permanent distro, and you end up with something based off of debian.
2. I don't know who told you that about red hat, but IMO it's the perfect distrobution for a newbie. But if you want something more modern try fedora core 3, it should configure everything for you. It gives you a default setup as having a gui but its not hard to get "under the hood" with any linux distrobution.
3. First download gaim. Then install it. If you install something like Fedora it should come with gaim (on gnome...) and some sort of irc. But to install it from sources you would do something like

tar -zxvf gaim.tar.gz
./configure
make
su
make install

As for IRC, download xirc (its probably installed already though), and do the same installation procedure as gaim (most likely)
4. I'm sure you can. Try getting a real distro up and running first though.

You have "sold" me Fedora Core 3 At least I'll start with that and see how everything works for me. Where can I find a good spot to download the ISO of this...I have found that a lot of links are dead ends or really slow (I'm working off of a T3) so I have the capability to download fast just need a good server...any ideas? Thanks so much for helping me out!

djljjm

don't necessarily have to compile gaim from source, there is a RPM available for it. for several distro's as well.

and irssi is a popular IRC client.

most distro`s of linux are available free...it`s up to you which u choose..u can d/l fedora from redhats site... or u can just put `free linux download` into google search engine and take ur pick. Or u can pick up cheap copies off ebay where people have taken the work out of it and u just buy ready made disks. whichever works for u :-)

Hi ye all,

My humble opinion is: go for SuSE. I've tried Mandrake, Debian, Yoper, Knoppix, Slackware and - being lazy and sometimes even busy - I found out very quickly I have no time for solving config probs/missing this-and-that/installation hardship/mysterious system crashes or anything. SuSE just worked for me instantly. (Only really annoying thing is the SuSE/Novell's reluctancy to give you a distro with DVD playback support.)

But yeah, try 'em all out - you'll find you favourite soon.

God Bless, p_finn

linuxiso.org has links to the fedora core 3 bit torrent. you will probably need cd's 1 and 2.

and like the other guy said, if you do that you can get gaim as an rpm. to install rpms you just do

rpm -i file.rpm