You've heard about it and thought to yourself "what's the big deal?" or "It's too complicated" Well my friends here's an opportunity to try Linux. No messy hard drive partitions, almost no configuration, and it's FREE.

If you can burn a CD and reboot your computer (c'mon you ARE using Windows,you know how to reboot) you can use Linux. Use this link for help burning an ISO image with NERO.
ISO burning how-to

Hey RAT ooops meant RAW you beat me to it.

Only I was going to post the link to LinuxISO. Want to know more about LINUX click here This is the best basic intro to Linux and has some really needed helpful tips about trying any flavor of Linux.

Still chicken checking here. Simply can not take the time to risk messing up my working machine. This disk thing looks good.

That's the best thing about KNOPPIX - No Install - it totally runs off the CD, when you're done just take out the CD and reboot back to Windows

This is so cool, I think I am going to put it on my hard drive.

I a running win XP pro. Do you have any suggestions.

I wanted to set the time and it said that I needed the root admin password. Where do I find this?

Thank you so much for your site you guys have a lot of cool stuff on here.

Also you are very helpful.

I have only been a member for only a few days now but I am looking all over.

Also how can I know when there is a reply to my post or reply?

When you post look under the message you are typing for the post options. Put a check mark in enable email notification of replies.

This is so cool, I think I am going to put it on my hard drive.

I am running win XP pro. Do you have any suggestions.

I wanted to set the time and it said that I needed the root admin password. Where do I find this?

Thank you so much for your site you guys have a lot of cool stuff on here.

Also you are very helpful.

I have only been a member for only a few days now but I am looking all over.

Q: What is the root password?

A: There is none; all passwords are locked by default. There are several
sections you can read dealing with this subject in
KNOPPIX/README_Security.txt.

There is also a hacker version @ http://www.knoppix-std.org/
I use for up here at work. It's really good. It has some very useful tools.

wstatler- Don't install Knoppix on your harddrive. go with Slackware, Mandrake or Redhat. Those are designed for you to install on your HD. You can go see all the different versions of Linux here. www.linuxiso.org Have fun!

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Well, I hope that I am doing this right...we shall see. Actually, I am posting this reply through Knoppix.
I recently got internet access in the form of a cable modem. Lo and behold, my completely legit copy of
XP Pro shut off, once again. Every time the wind blows or I change make hardware changes, the operating system shuts off and I have to re-register. This has ended. I am kicking the 800 lb. gorilla to the curb. The knoppix cd lets me access the web at least. All of my graphics, and I have alot of them, are on the windows installation. I fully intend to move them to a machine that is shielded from the INTERNET on an old 2000 Pro installation--for storage purposes only. I am not sure if my graphics programs will run on a Linux platform but if need be, I can create them in Windows and ship them to what I hope will one day be my own website.

I do however, need substantial advice as to INTERNET security, firewall and virus protection, using SUSE. I was hoping for some plain old suggestions. In easy to understand geekspeak, too, please!

I did, by the way, try Red Hat (either 6.0 and 7.0) when I was in school and really liked it. Have they solved the problems with hardware compatibility and availability of drivers in the newer version? (the newest iteration is 8 or 9, I believe).

Advice and pointers and suggestions are all welcome.

I have always liked redhat. It is easy to use and configure. Unfortunately Redhat 9, which is the latest version, is no longer supported. Instead redhat is moving forward with their commercial versions and their free version has become a community run development version called Fedora.

I have not tried fedora so I can really not give much of an opinon.

Fedora is the new RedHat for home users and is a very nice distro. I ,myself, am (and probably always will be) a Mandrake user. I started with a Lin4Win version that ran in a sudo DOS mode,then took the plunge and installed MDK-8.0 onto a separate hard drive and have been a Linux fan ever since.That being said here are a few tips I've "learned" (It's in quotes because you "learned" to ride a bike, drive a car, point-click-reboot, and now you are "learning" Linux)
#1: Find a LUG (Linux User Group) in your area and join their mailing list.Someone has had your problem before and can help you fix it.
#2: LinuxQuestions.org - for the same reason above.
#3: Linuxiso.org - if you have a fast connection and a spare hard drive you can download and test all the major distros (except Suse)
#4: Don't be afraid to ASK - Everyone is a newbie at something
Now as for security,your Linux web browser will not get hijacked - period. Firewall can be intimidating,but Shorewall makes it easy (in Mandrake it says "Which services would you like the Internet to connect to?" don't check any boxes and nothing can connect to your computer). Anti-virus - this really isn't needed,but if you feel a little insecure you could go with Panda or BitDefender (I've tried both and prefer BD) Both are command line scanners,not all fancied up like Norton or McAfee. I'll give you a chance to let all that sink in. HTH

I prefer Mandrake, too, though I've used RedHat and SuSE. SuSE seemed better at getting my cable modem set up the first time.

You can also use Adaptec Easy CD to burn ISO's. It's a bit of a trick finding the setting to "burn CD from image" but it's in there. (File -> Create CD from CD Image)

i have been to that linuxiso.org and everytime i download the iso's, when i go to install they are always in german. it some CRAP....
i dont understand why it happens... i have tryed to download the free BSD and red hat and the same thing happen both times....