Knoppix on HP Pavilion 7880 (UK)

This page (started March 2003) gives details about using Knoppix on my HP Pavilion 7880(uk) desktop computer. I say using and not installing because Knoppix (pronounced K’Noppix, created by a German bloke called Herr Knopper) can be booted from CD – just stick it in your drive and reboot.

The computer

A HP Pavilion 7880 (UK) about 2 years old. It’s a AMD Athlon 1.1 GHz with 20 GByte harddrive, Nvidia Gforce 2 graphics. It appears that it has a HCL modem using a PCTel Chipset, ie a Winmodem. sourceforge.net has a useful project on PCTel modems under Linux and there’s a mini how-to.

The distro

Whilst I was trying to get Linux working fully I decided to try Knoppix as it’s bootable off the CD.

I’m stuck with windows at the moment as there are a few programs that we use (particularly MS Money) that I haven’t found a linux alternative for yet [GnuCash might be it though??] – I’m sure there is one but will it read the proprietary format of Money’s files? Due to the winmodem (see above) I haven’t got online with Knoppix but everything else seems to work fine,eg OpenOffice.org and all the games ;0)> .

Where can I get Knoppix (and other Linux distros) in the UK?

Well, funny you asked that! I got my copy from uselinux.co.uk, the proprietor was most helpful and appears to be providing the discs out of love for Linux – ie I can’t see how he’d make a profit unless he has a huge CD generating capacity already.

Your best source for up to date distributions is the internet site, usually www.your-desired-distro.com. They usually have a list of FTP mirrors that you can spend a few weeks trying to get an ISO off – if like me you have 56K dialup. You could get a friend to download a copy. Or you could borrow a copy – remember this is open source and most of it is free-as-in-beer (eg GNU GPL) so you can print as many copies you like – check the license first and if in doubt e-mail the support guys for your distro.

Alternatively, try one of the following sites (none of whom sponsor me), I can only vouch for uselinux.co.uk though.

• uselinux.co.uk Good basic site, limited set of distros, payment by paypal,nochex, postal orders, etc.. Mr Wellstead seems like a nice bloke – any chance of a commission? Knoppix 3.1 comes to £3 with p&p.
• cheeplinux.com – appears to be the most expensive of this pick. Knoppix 3.1 comes to £7.98 with p&p.
• linuxemporium.co.uk – no comments really. Knoppix 3.1 comes to £4.50 with p&p.

General Knoppix places

The first page listed is the creators site. Note that Knoppix is from a German source and so English documentation appears to be sparse at the moment.

• knopper.net
• www.volny.cz/basiclinux/lowmem.html Installing slackware with only 4 MB of RAM
• jetblackz.freeservers.com/ConfiguringSlackware81.html – well duh?
• linuxtips.sourceforge.net/index.php – the SlackFAQ, gives general info about Linux too, in multiple languages!

Knoppix on Pavilion places

I didn’t find any one else logging there use of Knoppix on a HP Pavilion.

• [NONE]

General Pavilion 7880 places

General information about my Pavilion:

• hp.com – drivers and downloads page.
• hp.com – specifications/information about the 7880. There’s also a local copy of this page.