Please meet knoppix

Use a bootable knoppix CD to start your computer. I want you to note a few features of the resulting environment, and to run a few programs that will be of future use.

When knoppix boots you will find yourself in a graphical (gui) environment. It looks something like this:

Do the following

Close the Konqueror application window

Explore the "K" button (similar to the "Start" button in Windows)

Run a graphical editor
K/Editors/KWrite
Write something into the editor
Save it to a file, on a floppy if you have one (otherwise to your "home directory" or "desktop;" note the floppy is not called "A" here)
Close KWrite

Open an a shell window (a shell is a command interpreter)
K/System/Shells/Bash (alternatively, the icon that looks like a terminal/monitor on the taskbar)
At the command prompt type "whoami" then press Enter Who are you?
At the command prompt type "su -" then press Enter. (su stands for "switch user")
At the command prompt type "whoami" then press Enter Who are you now? What, do you suppose, is the difference?
Exit the shell window: type "exit" then press Enter; alternatively press ctrl-D (do it twice to collapse the window)

Virtual Terminals
Press successively ctrl-alt-F1, then ctrl-alt-F2, ctrl-alt-F3, ctrl-alt-F4 (here, type "whoami" then press Enter), and finally ctrl-alt-F5

A File Manager
K/Home (personal Files)
In the "Location:" textbox replace "file:/home/knoppix" with "file:/" instead. Then click "mnt," then click "floppy." You will see the files on the floppy, including the one you saved there.
Close the file manager

A Protocol Analyzer (ie, network sniffer)
The program we want to run is Ethereal, but you need to run it as user root. To do that you'll be asked for root's password. By default in Knoppix, users are given no initial passwords. So we have to give root a password first, in order to be able to use Ethereal. "password" is the password we will give root. To do that, get into a shell as user root. You could open a shell window from the GUI and issue to command "su -" to become root there. Or you could leave the GUI altogether to a shell in which you are root already, by typing ctrl-alt-1. Once there, give root a password by running the "passwd" command. When it asks for an initial entry and subsequent confirmation of a password, type "password". If you exited the GUI, return to it with ctrl-alt-F5. Now you can run Ethereal, as root:
K/Internet/Ethereal (Network Analyzer)
Open the "Capture" menu and click "Start"
In the "Capture Options" dialog box, uncheck all the "Name Resolution" options at the bottom and check "Update list of packets in real time" and then "Automatic scrolling in live capture"
Watch Ethereal for a while. Then, open the "Capture" menu and click "Stop"
Close the Ethereal application window.

The "Run Command" box
K/Run Command
In the "Command:" textbox, type "ethereal" or "kwrite" and press Enter
Close the Ethereal or KWrite application window.