Re: Traditional Install or Knoppix?

[Michael Epting <epting@ix.netcom.com>]

On Sun, Aug 17, 2003 at 09:57:08AM +0000, Lou Losee wrote:
> I installed via Knoppix.  Things went smoothly and I have had no
> problems with the apt-get upgrade process.
> 
> However....
> 
> There are *situations* to think about:
>  - By default the install goes into a single partition.  There are
>    howtos to get the /home directories onto another partition, but that
>    is the default.
>  - By default the user that is installed is named 'knoppix' again there
>    are howtos to install with a different user.
>  - once installed vs running from the cd, knoppix loses all of its
>    unique hardware detection capabilities.
>  - knoppix installs alot of packages that a typical user - especially a
>    newbie doesn't need

This is an excellent summary of some of the issues.  However, I
recently did a major hardware upgrade and I think that it must be
pointed out that it may no longer be possible to do a straightforward
Woody install on hardware that has been purchased new in the last few
weeks.  Knoppix, on the other hand, gave me sound and networking "out
of the box" on my Soyo DragonLite motherboard with its VIA KT400
chipset, CM8738 sound device, via-rhine networking.  It also gave me
instant access to my Hauppage Win-TV, my scsi cd burner, and started
me out with a root ext3 filesystem.  I think the issues mentioned
above are quite minor compared to getting all these things working
from Woody.

I'm now running pretty much pure Sid -- I didn't go straight to a
dist-upgrade, but installed many packages individually first.  
Frankly if I had it to do over, I'd probably just go for it and not
pussy-foot around.

-- 
Michael Epting (epting@ix.netcom.com)