Hd Install HowTo


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You can install Knoppix to a hard drive, if you wish, though installation is not required for productive use. Knoppix is designed & intended to be used as a GNU/Linux LiveCD and not a HD installed Linux distro. A HD installed Knoppix will give you a running GNU/Linux system but it is not easy to support or administrate and add/remove of software is complicated and is best left to GNU/Linux experts. Examples of such issues can be found in the Hdd Install / Debian / Apt forum. If you are not a Debian GNU/Linux expert & want a HD installed system then skip the LiveCDs and go directly to Debian and get Debian 3.1r0a (sarge).

Once Knoppix is installed on a hard drive, it's no longer a Knoppix LiveCD but a Debian based GNU/Linux system. However Debian users & developers on the #debian IRC channel at freenode.net do not consider Knoppix installed to a hard drive to truly be Debian. They will not support Knoppix users & will tell them to go to Knoppix.net for support. See also these Debian mailing list posts about knoppix.


That said, if you want to do this, you should just make sure there is some empty space on your hard drive so you can create at least 2 Linux partitions, one for the System (minimal 3 GB, 5GB recommended) and another partition for for Swap ( minimal 200MB, 500MB recommended) during the installation process. It is VERY important that the swap space partition is of type "Linux Swap space" (or equivelent"). A partitioning program, qtparted, is integrated in the knoppix-installer.

(NOTE: Be sure the root partition is the first partition on the drive, is formatted with ext2 or ext3, and is set to "active." The swap partition must be formatted with "linux-swap." Installation and subsequent booting will not continue otherwise.)


There is ALWAYS some risk of losing data. Please ALWAYS make sure 
that you have a working backup of your important data prior to 
experimenting with ANY new software, no matter if Windows, Linux or
anything else. 

You should get Knoppix version 3.4 or later, preferably the most recent Knoppix release, and type sudo knoppix-installer in the shell if you want to do this. Have a look here for more info about sudo. In knoppix-installer, arrow keys move focus and space bar selects options.

Note: Do not use "knx-hdinstall" anymore. "knx-hdinstall" is no longer maintained, use "knoppix-installer" instead.

Blind Installation

It's possible to install Knoppix on a PC's hd without a monitor, see Hd Install Without a Monitor HowTo

Updating HD installation

You can do a

for i in $(COLUMNS=240 dpkg -l | awk '{print $2}')
do:
echo dpkg-repack --root=/KNOPPIX "$i"
done

(The following worked for me with Knoppix 3.7 2004-12-08: create a bash script and sudo sh bashscriptname)

  #!/bin/bash
  #
  echo ""
  for i in $(COLUMNS=240 dpkg -l | awk '{print $2}') ; \
    do  echo dpkg-repack --root=/KNOPPIX "$i" ; \
        dpkg-repack --root=/KNOPPIX "$i" ; \
        mv *.deb /mnt/hdxn ; \
  done
  # where hdxn is your destination partition 
  # for the packages (needs 700 MB free)
  echo ""
  read -p "Finished; press Enter to exit"
  echo ""

to create packages from a running KNOPPIX CD to a writable harddisk partition, and install/update these packages with dpkg -i.

See:

Using the Knoppix repository at http://developer.linuxtag.net/knoppix/ plus the standard debian mirrors is easier, though. See also : http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

Installing Gnome

To install Gnome, you have to type apt-get install gnome-bin gdm.
Then execute update-alternatives --config x-window-manager and select gdm.

See also : http://wiki.debian.net/index.cgi?DebianGnome