----- Original Message ---- From: Surya Pratap pratap.surya@gmail.com To: linuxers@mm.glug-bom.org Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 4:48:31 PM Subject: [ILUG-BOM] Need Help
Hi All,
I am using an IBall Marshall Dual Core Laptop, it does not alllow the install of Linux as the installer, irrespective of the linux flavor hangs up, can anyone suggest a way to install Linux in the system. Most linux installers hang up without any error message
I have tried the noapic and nolapic options in boot parameters with Ubuntu
The BIOS is a Phoenix BIOS, but SIW reports it as COMPAL BIOS
at present, it has windows installed in it and working fine
Regards Surya Pratap
On Monday 30 Jun 2008 19:44, Sameep wrote:
----- Original Message ---- From: Surya Pratap pratap.surya@gmail.com To: linuxers@mm.glug-bom.org Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 4:48:31 PM Subject: [ILUG-BOM] Need Help
Hi All,
I am using an IBall Marshall Dual Core Laptop, it does not alllow the install of Linux as the installer, irrespective of the linux flavor hangs up,
Provide info as the bottom half of your message suggests. What are the error messages? At what stage does it "hangup" What is the chipset? are the drives sata or ide
ALWAYS get the info about mobo chipset BEFORE you buy.
can anyone suggest a way to install Linux in the system. Most linux installers hang up without any error message
Which distro are you talking about there are at least 20 that i know of.
I have tried the noapic and nolapic options in boot parameters with Ubuntu
The BIOS is a Phoenix BIOS, but SIW reports it as COMPAL BIOS
at present, it has windows installed in it and working fine
I have yet to come across a machine on which you cant install a linux distro.
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
I have yet to come across a machine on which you cant install a linux distro.
Way back, a colleague had picked up a Compaq rack mount server (dot com bust auction) with a WinNT server installation. We were unable to install; we tried RH, Mandrake, Caldera. The install would hang.
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008 14:50, Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
I have yet to come across a machine on which you cant install a linux distro.
Way back, a colleague had picked up a Compaq rack mount server (dot com bust auction) with a WinNT server installation. We were unable to install; we tried RH, Mandrake, Caldera. The install would hang.
For such machines, use a boot server and image file. Or dd a minimal install to the disk. connect the disk to another machine to do this.
In the distant past, in many cases where installations were bombing, running memory check showed up bad ram. If an install bombs i simply change the ram nowadays and send the ram back to the vendor. such rams are most likely to crash the system under load.
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008 14:50, Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
I have yet to come across a machine on which you cant install a linux distro.
Way back, a colleague had picked up a Compaq rack mount server (dot com bust auction) with a WinNT server installation. We were unable to install; we tried RH, Mandrake, Caldera. The install would hang.
For such machines, use a boot server and image file.
I did not know about this technique back in 2000. Even today, though I am aware of it, I have not tried it yet.
Or dd a minimal install to the disk. connect the disk to another machine to do this.
In the specific machine, all the disks were part of hardware raid - we did not want to mess with it's setup.
In the distant past, in many cases where installations were bombing, running memory check showed up bad ram.
Hmm. how do you do this if the system fails to boot some sort of live cd (with mem test tools)?
If an install bombs i simply change the ram nowadays and send the ram back to the vendor.
Yup, if it is still under warranty. In our case it was not, buying new memory would cost my colleague more than what he paid for the server (way back in late 2000).
Had we persisted, we would have found some hack but at that time it was not worth the time and trouble. Strange but true, it did not hang when we tried NT install.
-- Arun Khan
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008 16:34, Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008 14:50, Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
I have yet to come across a machine on which you cant install a linux distro.
Way back, a colleague had picked up a Compaq rack mount server (dot com bust auction) with a WinNT server installation. We were unable to install; we tried RH, Mandrake, Caldera. The install would hang.
For such machines, use a boot server and image file.
I did not know about this technique back in 2000. Even today, though I am aware of it, I have not tried it yet.
Or dd a minimal install to the disk. connect the disk to another machine to do this.
In the specific machine, all the disks were part of hardware raid - we did not want to mess with it's setup.
Ah scsi. You would definetly need a custom kernel back then.
In the distant past, in many cases where installations were bombing, running memory check showed up bad ram.
Hmm. how do you do this if the system fails to boot some sort of live cd (with mem test tools)?
the image is the kernel with memtest. Not loading even this would be something.
But there is always a first time.
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008 16:34, Arun Khan wrote:
In the specific machine, all the disks were part of hardware raid - we did not want to mess with it's setup.
Ah scsi. You would definetly need a custom kernel back then.
It was a NCR/Symbios SCSI chipset (among SCSI NCR/Symbios chips had the best support in Linux, FreeBSD ...). The installer recognized it and loaded the modules, soon after this the install would enter never land.
Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
In the distant past, in many cases where installations were bombing, running memory check showed up bad ram.
Hmm. how do you do this if the system fails to boot some sort of live cd (with mem test tools)?
In my 4+ years old system which is the most most GNU/Linux friendly, mem test would hang in the second round itself. However it has installed XP and most Linux distros in it. (Touch Wood)
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008 22:56, Rony wrote:
Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, jtd wrote:
In the distant past, in many cases where installations were bombing, running memory check showed up bad ram.
Hmm. how do you do this if the system fails to boot some sort of live cd (with mem test tools)?
In my 4+ years old system which is the most most GNU/Linux friendly, mem test would hang in the second round itself. However it has installed XP and most Linux distros in it. (Touch Wood)
If memtest says it's bad, it is definetly bad. It just happens that you are not using this part of mem. Drams are complex beasts with charge pumps and internal delay lines. Hence certain combos of data and address bits at full speed fail. This is one reason for random crashes. BTW linux had a badram patch which could use known defective memories.
On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 3:49 PM, jtd jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
For such machines, use a boot server and image file.
How is this done?
On Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 09:25:48PM +0530, Osric Fernandes wrote:
On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 3:49 PM, jtd jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
For such machines, use a boot server and image file.
How is this done?
I would guess something similar to this http://linux.duke.edu/doc/pxe-Quick-Start.ptml I think HBCSE something on the same lines.
On Wednesday 02 Jul 2008 03:23, Mehul Ved wrote:
On Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 09:25:48PM +0530, Osric Fernandes wrote:
On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 3:49 PM, jtd jtd@mtnl.net.in wrote:
For such machines, use a boot server and image file.
How is this done?
I would guess something similar to this http://linux.duke.edu/doc/pxe-Quick-Start.ptml I think HBCSE something on the same lines.
And keeping such a setup around is very handy. pxe/tftp with nfsroot allows sorting out problems with machines having defective media / hardware without having to open the system. Quite useful when those branded boxes are under warranty.
jtd wrote:
I have yet to come across a machine on which you cant install a linux distro.
It has to be done in a reasonably quick time with available resources. Many a times even giving a demo on a first visit can be very difficult. Network boots are not possible in stand alone machines. A client of mine has a decent Asus board that's a few years old but no Debian based distro boots live into this. I have a collection of live CDs that I carry everywhere. Finally only Sabayon booted with full desktop. I would get various device IO errors with the debby ones. After wasting more than an hour trying various distros and boot options, the client gets fidgety and starts forming his opinion about GNU/Linux.
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, Rony wrote:
old but no Debian based distro boots live into this. I have a collection of live CDs that I carry everywhere. Finally only Sabayon booted with full desktop. I would get various device IO errors with the debby ones.
Verified the media was good on other machines? I have had CD-R media go bad inspite of keeping them in a cool/dry place.
Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, Rony wrote:
old but no Debian based distro boots live into this. I have a collection of live CDs that I carry everywhere. Finally only Sabayon booted with full desktop. I would get various device IO errors with the debby ones.
Verified the media was good on other machines? I have had CD-R media go bad inspite of keeping them in a cool/dry place.
Yes I use them regularly on other machines for demos.
On Wednesday 02 Jul 2008, Rony wrote:
Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, Rony wrote:
old but no Debian based distro boots live into this. I have a collection of live CDs that I carry everywhere. Finally only Sabayon booted with full desktop. I would get various device IO errors with the debby ones.
Verified the media was good on other machines? I have had CD-R media go bad inspite of keeping them in a cool/dry place.
Yes I use them regularly on other machines for demos.
If the media is good, then the hardware could be flaky, like my DVD/RW. It can boot from a bootable CD but bootable DVD no go.
Arun Khan wrote:
On Wednesday 02 Jul 2008, Rony wrote:
Arun Khan wrote:
On Tuesday 01 Jul 2008, Rony wrote:
old but no Debian based distro boots live into this. I have a collection of live CDs that I carry everywhere. Finally only Sabayon booted with full desktop. I would get various device IO errors with the debby ones.
Verified the media was good on other machines? I have had CD-R media go bad inspite of keeping them in a cool/dry place.
Yes I use them regularly on other machines for demos.
If the media is good, then the hardware could be flaky, like my DVD/RW. It can boot from a bootable CD but bootable DVD no go.
The problems are pro-Doze mobo/bios related. I carry a magic box that has a mix of various live CDs and DVDs. :-)
On Wednesday 02 Jul 2008, Rony wrote:
Arun Khan wrote:
If the media is good, then the hardware could be flaky, like my DVD/RW. It can boot from a bootable CD but bootable DVD no go.
The problems are pro-Doze mobo/bios related. I carry a magic box that has a mix of various live CDs and DVDs. :-)
In my case, the DVD/RW used to boot from both bootable CDs and DVDs. :(
-- Arun Khan
Arun Khan wrote:
On Wednesday 02 Jul 2008, Rony wrote:
Arun Khan wrote:
If the media is good, then the hardware could be flaky, like my DVD/RW. It can boot from a bootable CD but bootable DVD no go.
The problems are pro-Doze mobo/bios related. I carry a magic box that has a mix of various live CDs and DVDs. :-)
*In my case, the DVD/RW used to boot from both bootable CDs and DVDs. :(
-- Arun Khan
With DVD's there is an issue of some older devices being specific about media, some DVD readers are built for DVD+R and some are for DVD-R the newer devices come with support for both.
well friends, the issue that originally raised this help thread has been resolved, the issue was about the boot parameters that needed to be added to the boot command, addition of the following did the trick: *noapic acpi=off and pnpbios=off*
sometimes the option *generic.all_generic_ide=1* too needed to be added (in case the system still hangs or acts stubborn) for some reason the option *quiet *seems to throw the generic.all_generic_ide=1 option as invalid
Surya Pratap
I am planning on installing Debian on one of my computers and learn to live happily ever after. I am afraid I am used to the GUI of MS. Now that I confessed my erroneous ways, what do I need to look out for while installing Debian (with a GUI to begin with).
The system is "well matured" i.e., an ASUS, socket A motherboard with an AMD Athlon running at 1600(?).But then I am not a gamer or into graphics.
Since I am a total newbie feel free to give minute details about using Deb. I realise Ubuntu or Linux-xp are far easier on my nerves and your patience but lets give it a try.
Thank you gentlen and Ladies,
regards hg.
On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 8:01 AM, h.godavari@shaw.ca wrote:
I am planning on installing Debian on one of my computers and learn to live happily ever after. I am afraid I am used to the GUI of MS. Now that I confessed my erroneous ways, what do I need to look out for while installing Debian (with a GUI to begin with).
Read the manual on the Debian installation CD/DVD thoroughly. It's a great document and will tell you everything you need. If run into any issues you can email here with specific details of your problem and any approaches that you tried to solve the problem but did not work.
On Sunday 06 Jul 2008 08:01, h.godavari@shaw.ca wrote:
I am planning on installing Debian on one of my computers and learn to live happily ever after. I am afraid I am used to the GUI of MS. Now that I confessed my erroneous ways, what do I need to look out for while installing Debian (with a GUI to begin with).
If you are going to use only the standard desktop use ubuntu/kubuntu. Kubuntu is more "windows like". If you are planning to do development etc in the near future, Debian is the way to go.
The system is "well matured" i.e., an ASUS, socket A motherboard with an AMD Athlon running at 1600(?).But then I am not a gamer or into graphics.
Details, Details, the devil is in the details. What model of ASUS mobo, what hard drive, what graphics chipset, what sound chip. Every mobo comes with a particular chipset and often same models have a slightly different version or even different combos. Get this info BEFORE you start installation to save yourself grief.
Since I am a total newbie feel free to give minute details about using Deb. I realise Ubuntu or Linux-xp are far easier on my nerves and your patience but lets give it a try.
Aha. So no Ubuntu for you. Good. Use etch, 3 dvds. Remember to use the latest ssl from security.debian.org. (for a change Debian screwed up ssl throughly in etch). Backup any doze data - XP stoped booting cause it could not figure out the partitioning scheme, and requires editing some ini file to work.
Remember GNU/Linux does not assume windoisms. You will face several issues with closed file formats (doc, xls, psd, msmpeg, wma, flash, asp, MSjava, dxf and i dont know what else). But the sooner you get rid of these formats the safer will your data be, and you will realise what a ride you have been taken for by the closed software vendors.
h.godavari@shaw.ca wrote:
I am planning on installing Debian on one of my computers and learn to live happily ever after. I am afraid I am used to the GUI of MS. Now that I confessed my erroneous ways, what do I need to look out for while installing Debian (with a GUI to begin with).
Hi. Your message is new but you appear to have replied to someone's earlier message by deleting its contents. This creates a problem for those email clients that sort messages according to threads (topics). Always compose a new message for a new thread.
Debian DVDs have a tendency to be corrupt as downloading DVD isos is error prone, so be ready for media glitches. I had to record the same downloaded ISO for the third time on to my Moser Bayer DVDs to get a problem free installation. If you are new to GNU/Linux, it is better to use the Kubuntu or Ubuntu live + install CD.
A safer way to install Debian is to use the Etch-KDE single CD. However there are a lot of packages you will need to add post installation, like Open Office etc., but this CD is rock solid so go for it if you are willing to spend some extra hours. For overall instructions read this link.
http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/DebianEtch-KDE
The system is "well matured" i.e., an ASUS, socket A motherboard with an AMD Athlon running at 1600(?).But then I am not a gamer or into graphics.
K/Ubuntu live cds will tell you all before installation.
Since I am a total newbie feel free to give minute details about using Deb. I realise Ubuntu or Linux-xp are far easier on my nerves and your patience but lets give it a try.
Thank you gentlen and Ladies,
Once you start using Mozilla Thunderbird as your email client, make full use of the inbuilt spell check.
On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 12:38 AM, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
Debian DVDs have a tendency to be corrupt as downloading DVD isos is error prone, so be ready for media glitches. I had to record the same downloaded ISO for the third time on to my Moser Bayer DVDs to get a problem free installation. If you are new to GNU/Linux, it is better to use the Kubuntu or Ubuntu live + install CD.
Dear Rony,
Don't blame entire Debian due to your bad connection and habit to burn CD/DVD without checking md5sums.
Kartik Mistry wrote:
On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 12:38 AM, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
Debian DVDs have a tendency to be corrupt as downloading DVD isos is error prone, so be ready for media glitches. I had to record the same downloaded ISO for the third time on to my Moser Bayer DVDs to get a problem free installation. If you are new to GNU/Linux, it is better to use the Kubuntu or Ubuntu live + install CD.
Dear Rony,
Don't blame entire Debian due to your bad connection and habit to burn CD/DVD without checking md5sums.
What makes you think I did not check md5? Why does the same ISO burn properly the third time? I mentioned downloading DVD isos, not Debian.
On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 8:47 PM, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
Don't blame entire Debian due to your bad connection and habit to burn CD/DVD without checking md5sums.
What makes you think I did not check md5? Why does the same ISO burn properly the third time? I mentioned downloading DVD isos, not Debian.
How it is so special that Debian ISO got corrupted and others were not? I am wondering because if this is case, it must be serious issues and should be hot topic on debian-devel or debian-cd list, which is not, means there is something wrong from your side.
Did you tried to report problem(s) to Debian List/IRC etc? If not, please do so. Just don't lead anyone to wrong direction because of your problem.
And fix your CD/DVD burning tool too.
Kartik Mistry wrote:
On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 8:47 PM, Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com wrote:
Don't blame entire Debian due to your bad connection and habit to burn CD/DVD without checking md5sums.
What makes you think I did not check md5? Why does the same ISO burn properly the third time? I mentioned downloading DVD isos, not Debian.
How it is so special that Debian ISO got corrupted and others were not? I am wondering because if this is case, it must be serious issues and should be hot topic on debian-devel or debian-cd list, which is not, means there is something wrong from your side.
Read my message again.
Did you tried to report problem(s) to Debian List/IRC etc? If not, please do so. Just don't lead anyone to wrong direction because of your problem.
Read above reply.
And fix your CD/DVD burning tool too.
It works fine.
Rony wrote:
h.godavari@shaw.ca wrote:
I am planning on installing Debian on one of my computers and learn to live happily ever after. I am afraid I am used to the GUI of MS. Now that I confessed my erroneous ways, what do I need to look out for while installing Debian (with a GUI to begin with).
Hi. Your message is new but you appear to have replied to someone's earlier message by deleting its contents. This creates a problem for those email clients that sort messages according to threads (topics). Always compose a new message for a new thread.
Debian DVDs have a tendency to be corrupt as downloading DVD isos is error prone, so be ready for media glitches. I had to record the same downloaded ISO for the third time on to my Moser Bayer DVDs to get a problem free installation. If you are new to GNU/Linux, it is better to use the Kubuntu or Ubuntu live + install CD.
*A safer way to install Debian is to use the Etch-KDE single CD. However there are a lot of packages you will need to add post installation, like Open Office etc., but this CD is rock solid so go for it if you are willing to spend some extra hours. For overall instructions read this link.*
if you are really going to download the whole stuff then *http://www.debian.org/CD/jigdo-cd/ *might be good place to start
Regards Surya
Surya Pratap wrote:
if you are really going to download the whole stuff then *http://www.debian.org/CD/jigdo-cd/ *might be good place to start
I will find out more about that.
Surya Pratap wrote:
if you are really going to download the whole stuff then *http://www.debian.org/CD/jigdo-cd/ *might be good place to start
"Getting Debian ISOs has always been a painful, slow and supremely inefficient process. Jigdo is a tool for distributing and obtaining Debian ISOs in an easy, fast and very efficient manner. This HOWTO describes why you should use jigdo, a little bit about how it works and how you use it to get and update Debian ISOs." http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Debian-Jigdo/
Thanks for the jigdo link. That should be *the* solution for downloading extremely large files. I had installed and tried bit-torrent but it required others to access my system too. Since all traffic originating from outside is blocked by my firewall, it did not work out well. Jigdo is just like any other download manager.
-
Arun Khan -
h.godavari＠shaw.ca -
jtd -
Kartik Mistry -
Mehul Ved -
Osric Fernandes -
Rony -
Sameep -
Siddhesh Poyarekar -
Surya Pratap