[tip] Knoppix cheat code for Virtual PC Video
Summary
Enter this "cheat code" at the initial startup prompt when using Knoppix based Linux Live CD's under Virtual PC:
knoppix xserver=XFree86 xmodule=s3 depth= 16
Long Version
Knoppix video drivers default to 24 bit color depth, and Virtual PC's emulated S3 Trio video adapter only goes up to 16 bit color depth. As a result, running Knoppix under VPC drops back to 256 color mode. This wouldn't be much of a problem with plain Linux since you can configure your display and reboot, but reboots with a Live CD forget all changes and you're back to square one.
This applies to Knoppix variants like Monoppix (Knoppix with Mono - give it a try!) as well.
You can get by with an ugly 256 color display for some programs (like Konsole and Konqueror), but many are completely unusable (Monodevelop and Mozilla, for instance). I'm guessing the KDE elements were designed for 256 colors, while Gnome / GTK apps require higher color depth, but that's just speculation.
This video problem has been known to reduce grown men like Stefano to tears (if we judge from the emoticon, he's still distraught about it to this day!):
This is the moment to cry... Monodevelop is totally unreadable and unusable under VPC (as you can see on the image ).
Weep no more, Stefano! I finally came up with the Knoppix "cheat code" to set the color depth correctly under VPC:
knoppix xserver=XFree86 xmodule=s3 depth= 16