And I mean Nooooobe!
I got my boot disk working of Knoppix. It only took 2 coasters!
So now all I need to do is learn Linux. No problem.
Well I have been reading some of the posts and looking at some links to learn from and its a lot of stuff (thats technical talk, *stuff*) over my head, way over my head. Plus I am not used to the linux lingo.
I am trying to get online with my new toy to no avail.
But more importantly, I am thinking of putting Linux on a seperate partition. The question is, which linux do I go with? How do I choose? RedHat, Mandrake? What are the factors in choosing?
Any help in how to make this decission would be appreciated.
I have a Plll 800, and an older PC, a 233mmx, that I am thinking of using.
Thanks

you got KNOPPIX, and it runs fine from your CD-ROM WITHOUT the need to be even installed on your hard drive. Since you are a TOTAL newbie, DO NOT rush into things. Run KNOPPIX off the CD for a while and play with it. There is an option in KNOPPIX that is on the taskbar -it is an icon of the Tux pinguin inside a circle-there is an option side that will lel you save your configuration on your hard drive- just the configuration-choose /mnt/hda1(I think that what it was). read what the screen tells you carefully. You will have to type "knoppix-something" next time you boot.
KNOPPIX is pretty damn good of detecting all of your hardware so I'm damn surpised it hasnt set up your network for ya.
Other than that, if you are a total noobie like you said, I'd STRONGLY suggest you go to the nearest bookstore and buy yourself a how to manual on Linux. O'Reilly got a lot of them. Don't get a book for any specific distro, what you need is an introduction to Linux and its terminology. Trust me, this will save you a lot of pain. Don't get those 1200+ pages they are shit. Get a good intro book.

I never used Knoppix, so I guess I can't help you too much in that department. ;^)

First you should get some basic info on Linux in general, then move on to install it for normal use.

Anyways, you say that you are new to Linux, so I would recommend Mandrake Linux. It is basically very easy to install and use. (http://mandrake-linux.com) However, Knoppix is a good start by all means.
The choice is up to you. I started using Linux a few months ago with a varient of Slackware Linux (called Topologi-Linux); it was rather tough to get configured for me since I was new, but I managed to learn a lot. Later I moved on to Mandrake. ;^)
I found Redhat to be a great server, but a decent desktop. Mandrake, like I said before, is an excellent desktop system. (Never tried SuSE Linux nor Debian yet.)

Some websites you may want to visit:
Linux.org
http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/ - Excellent Mandrake Linux site

You may also want to consider some beginner books for Linux.

Hey, thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. I will take my time. That is probably the best advice given to me in a long time!
I have been playing around with my PC's a lot latly and may not have given Knoppix time to do much of anything in the area of makinging any type of stable configuration.
The 233 is now a Pll 300 with all(used) new hardware except the HD.
Can't blame Knoppix for not being able to work well when everytime I have booted to it it has a new config to work on.
I am leaving the Pll alone now so maybe I can get to know Knoppix better.
That is unless someomne gives me another free MB that is better.
saveing my configuration on the hard drive will be a good thing, thanks.
And a lot of ppl have said to go with Mandrake or Fedora when the time comes.
Thanks again
also, thnks for the links

What kind of internet connection do you have?
The only real barrier would be an unsupported Winmodem or USB modem.

EDIT: Oops-Or an internet provider like AOL.

Hey there.
This is not an advice just something to reflect from.
I ran knoppix to see if linux could be run on my computer.
Then i installed mandrake 10.0 (BIG MISTAKE) 10.0 was (is new) so it hanged and was unstable.
Mandrake and redhat are (to quote another friendly soul) living on the bleeding edge.
With means that they include software in their distro's that arnt tested properly.
They say however that mandrake and redhat are the best for newbies, mayby because they are easy to install?
I now got debian and they where right in the part that its far moore complicated to install other distros.
I am new at this to so, i might be completly wrong :-d
Like i said, its just somthing for you to reflect on..

If you take the time to upgrade your kernel and everything else in Mandrake 10 - it's very stable. I should know, running 2.6.4-1 kernel with NVidia GeForce4 drivers installed, along with Samba configured perfectly. No problems what-so-ever.

Mandrake 10.0 works wonderfully for me. Although I get random nautilus errors once in a while when i boot into linux. All my hardware works great, video card, sound card, tv card, ethernet, etc. Installation was a snap, although I had to install more stuff once I got into linux because the initial install didnt list everything available. How do u like debian? My friend who's been running it for a while says it's not very user friendly installation wise, but it runs great.