My post #1 solved my Knoppix panel time problem,
but created a new problem:
on subsequent reboot to Windows 7 on the same machine,
Windows 7's panel time was all wrong.

At this point, my new objective is in having both Windows 7
and Knoppix panel times read the correct local time.

It would seem that editing, as root, /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig
on the first line which begins KTZ="$(get.." to read KTZ="Etc/UTC"
gives me this new objective.