User Feedback :: screen and hd

Being fed up with windoze viruses, I dnlded DSL (the .iso file).
extracted the KNOPPIX and boot folders from the .iso file
onto hda7 (left it vfat, just copied the files).
and use loadlin to boot it from DOS prompt, unless I decide to
run win98.

DSL has advantages: with that read-only KNOPPIX file, a guess
a virus would have a tough time getting in. Maybe it could hide
in backup.tar.gz, but easily removeable if that is the only place
it can hide. Also, it accesses my digital camera and a jumpdrive
easily with no additional drivers to install (unlike windoze98).

Some disadvantages, though....

1) screen mode.
The video card I have is a Palit Daytona, which uses a windoze
driver for the low-flicker video mode. I can get 1024x768 in
DSL, but it flickers too much, so I use 800x600. The video is
a bit sluggish in DSL too (probably because thats plain VESA?)

2) harddrive spindown
So far, the only way I have found to make the hd spin down
when I'm AFK is to issue the command:
sleep 10m; hdparm -y /dev/hda
which works, but only sometimes. about half the time, the hd
is still running when i come back (maybe hour or so later)

3) occasional system hang (complete lock) while xmms is
running. If i let xmms lose focus (minimize it, or open another
window on top of it), then when it gets its focus back, it hangs
the system (no response to mouse or kbd).
(sound blaster 64isa, pc with 64mb ram)

Have more questions, but haven't decided quite
what to ask yet... still trying it out.

1. Did you try fb? You could also try loading the full XFree86 server which your video card may have drivers for. (I think even the default vesa driver may even handle things better as well)
2. Maybe something is still using your hdd?
3. Did you have a swap going too? Can you kill X (ctrl+alt+backspace) when it freezes up?

original here.