Rather than trying to get the installer working, I think you're better off manually copying the game files into a folder on your hard drive.
The only must-have game data files:
Root_fs2.vp
smarty_fs2.vp
sparky_fs2.vp
sparky_hi_fs2.vp
stu_fs2.vp
tango1_fs2.vp
tango2_fs2.vp
tango3_fs2.vp
warble_fs2.vp
I'd copy them to a folder (maybe
~/.fs2_open ?) and point
Knossos to that folder.
I'm not sure which file is on which CD, and I think a couple files have (hopefully identical?) copies on multiple CDs, who knows why.
The MediaVPs mod (which adds high-quality graphics) includes high-res cutscenes IIRC, so you don't need the movie files from the retail CDs.
Maybe also useful are the player HUD color pre-sets. They're called
hud_1.hcf,
hud_2.hcf, and
hud_3.hcf. No idea which CD they're on. Create a
data folder in your new local folder, then a
players subfolder within that, then put those files there.
Since you're on Linux, I assume you have a reasonable amount of computer savvy.
If you want to build the latest Knossos, your best bet is asking for help on the
HLP Discord. Here's the
GitHub repo (yes, it's "old knossos") with slightly outdated
build instructions.
Hope that helps.