Knowing Knoppix/Knoppix essentials

Knoppix essentials
''“If I ever met Bill Gates, there wouldn't be much of a meeting point. I couldn't tell him about business, and he couldn't tell me about technology.” -- Linus Torvalds''

This section contains important background information that will help you understand the rest of this book. If you are in a hurry, skip over this section. The terms explained in this section will be used often, so you may need to refer back to this page later.

File names
The following rules apply to file names in Knoppix. Note What's the difference between a directory and a folder? Not much. A folder is just the icon that is usually used to represent a directory. The words “directory” and “folder” are interchangeable. Remember, a hard disk is like a filing cabinet. Partitions are like drawers, directories are like folders, and files are like individual documents.
 * Case sensitive. This causes the most problems for beginners. For example, “myfile.txt”, “MyFile.txt” and “MYFILE.TXT” are all different names.
 * Long file names are allowed. File names can be up to 255 characters long.
 * There is no “C:” drive. Instead, all files are arranged in a tree beginning with “/”, which is called the root directory. The “root directory” is like “My Computer”. It is the starting point for everything stored inside in the computer.
 * Forward slashes. For example, in Windows, part of the location of an image file might be: In Knoppix, the backslashes that represent the path to the file are written as forward slashes instead, like this:

Drive names
You may be used to Microsoft Windows' naming scheme for disk drives. For example, you may be used to “drive A:” for the first floppy drive; “drive C:” for the first visible hard drive partition, and so on. Knoppix has its own drive naming scheme. This section explains how the naming scheme works.

Disk types
The naming scheme starts with a two-letter code for the type of disk.

IDE drives
IDE drives are the most common in desktop PCs and laptops. A single letter indicates how the drive is connected. Most PCs and laptops have two IDE channels: primary and secondary. Each channel can have up to two devices: master and slave.

SCSI drives
For SCSI drives, a single letter indicates its location. This is called its position in the SCSI chain. Zip, USB and Firewire drives are also treated as SCSI drives.

Disk partitions
IDE and SCSI hard drives are divided into partitions. Zip, USB and Firewire drives also contain partitions. A partition is like a compartment within a disk. There may be a single partition that covers the entire disk. There may be more than one partition. Each partition is indicated by a number.

SCSI emulation for IDE CD-ROM drives
IDE CD-ROM drives are treated as SCSI drives. This is called SCSI emulation. SCSI emulation is there so that CD burning applications can use the same language to talk to SCSI and IDE drives.

Conventional 1.44 Mb floppy drives
For ordinary floppy disk drives, a number shows the drive number.

Drive detection
Knoppix automatically detects all IDE and SCSI devices. The names of the devices are printed in the startup messages (Ctrl+Alt+F1). Here is an example: hda: [FUJITSU MPA3026AT] hdb: [LS-120 VER5 00 UHD FLOPPY] hdc: [HITACHI DVD-ROM GD-2500] hdd: [MATSHITA CD-RW CD-7586] This example shows that the primary master is a Fujitsu hard drive. The primary slave is an Imation LS-120 SuperDisk drive. The secondary master is a Hitachi DVD-ROM drive. The secondary slave is a Matshita CD-RW drive.

Partition detection
Knoppix automatically detects all partitions on all IDE and SCSI devices. For example, given a single Windows partition on the primary master IDE hard drive, the following device name will be created: /dev/hda1 This means the partition will be called /dev/hda1 in Knoppix. Note Some removable disks also have partitions, notably Iomega Zip disks. For the partitions on an Iomega Zip disk to be detected properly, you must insert the disk into the drive before you start Knoppix.

Mount points
Each device name has a mount point. This is a special place where the files on a device appear. A mount point is created automatically for each device name. For example, given the Fujitsu drive above, the following mount point will be created: /mnt/hda1 This means the partition /dev/hda1 will be mounted to /mnt/hda1.

Auto-mounting of floppy and CD-ROM drives
Conventional floppy and CD-ROM drives are auto-mounted. This means Knoppix takes care of mounting and unmounting them automatically. The auto-mount locations are:
 * First floppy drive: /mnt/floppy
 * Second floppy drive: /mnt/floppy1
 * First CD-ROM drive: /mnt/cdrom
 * Second CD-ROM drive: /mnt/cdrom1

Login accounts
When you start Knoppix, you are logged in automatically. No passwords are needed. All passwords are locked by default. Knoppix bypasses all the usernames and passwords of the operating system installed on the hard disk. You can switch between the virtual terminals at any time. For example, to switch to the first console, press Ctrl+Alt+F1. The Knoppix startup messages will be displayed. To switch to the second console, press Ctrl+Alt+F2. To get back to the X Window System, press Ctrl+Alt+F5. Note The X Window System is on virtual terminal number 5.

The user account
The Knoppix user account is called “knoppix”. This account is for all productivity tasks, including CD burning and printing. When the X Window System starts, you are logged in to that user account automatically, without a password.

The superuser account
The superuser account is for system administration tasks. The superuser account is called the root account. When Knoppix starts, you are logged in as root to all four consoles automatically with no password. It is also possible to use the root account within the X Window System. Important As with other Linux distributions, use the user account for all your everyday tasks. Only use the root account when you need it. For example, when you are logged on as root, you have the power to instantly delete every file on every disk with one simple command. When you are logged on as a user, the system will not let you do that. This helps you to protect yourself against accidents. Get into the habit now and it will save you later!