How to Install to hard drive? And have it ready?

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Im coming here from years of windows-only work. I used unix long ago and used linux in 94-96 when it was newer, in 1999 liked Suse over redhat or the others, and used it now and then since;

I have downloaded and tried several linux versions, so far Ubuntu is the easiest to install and get going. What is really cool is this “create your own” version.

so ive done 4 of those now, the last one being a full sized one, 710Mb download. it has my background, it tries to boot up, then gets to the login in terminal mode.

now what? I type “install to hard drive” it says ‘drive’ is not a directory. I type “install hda4” and it says missing destination file operand after hda4

this is like playing charades. i want to install the os into the linux partition i just got done creating manually. Its as if the os is being obtuse just to be annoying. It boots up from the disc. that alone takes 4+ minutes!

I expect it to at some point, look to see if this OS is installed on the hda that it finds, and kind of guess if its supposed to be a small linux distro or a desktop with lots of disk space then ask the user, hey its not installed and this is the first time its been run, do you want to install it?

no graphical mode, only a terminal screen, linux-uka2:~ #

Where is the graphical screen? I remembered X from a while back, that makes the CD chug then it says no screen(s) found. but when it first booted off the dvd it had the nice clear desktop, why cant it find that?

I want to use the pc not be presented with a linux text login prompt where no command has any effect. the yast? it seemed to kind of sort of install something in a way but then it stopped with no status. it was showing a progress bar, looked like it was installing then just sits there. bootloader install? chugs for a while then says error cannot install bootloader because of the partition. click OK then the screen shows it installing the bootloader and finishing

what is required to install this to the hard drive then have it ready to boot without the cd?
thanks

pc: gateway 600mhz i686 is shown in the “current operating system”
512M dram
60g hard drive, 3 partitions
cdrom
video card: 1. TnT agp 32M old card
2. STB 2.5M PCI bus video card even older

2

I have downloaded and tried several linux versions, so far Ubuntu is the easiest to install and get going. What is really cool is this “create your own” version.

so ive done 4 of those now, the last one being a full sized one, 710Mb download. it has my background, it tries to boot up, then gets to the login in terminal mode.

now what?

You have to forgive me but I can’t work out what Linux OS you are asking help for. It sounds like Ubuntu?

3

oops sorry, Bradley’s SLED 11 SP1, KDE 4
Personalize
look and feel…
Appliance information

* Live CD/DVD
*
  Based on:
  SLED 11 SP1
*
  Platform:
  32-bit
*
  Download size:
  700 MB
* 6 patterns selected
* 37 packages selected
* 722 total packages

its Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop, I picked it because i hoped it would have more zing. but, maybe the pc i was using isnt working right.

I tried the install disc in my faster laptop and it has the graphical interface and looks REALLY nice. so maybe there are sstem requuirements and a 600mc P3 just doesnt… do it for this?

no I wouldnt ask for ubuntu help here :slight_smile: confused penguin? sure but its about the Suse make your own linux package. when it booted on the laptop, it somehow had what it needed and looks nice. maybe the other pc is just too old/slow or has an ide or ata channel fault. hmm, are there such things as ‘diagnostics’ that can run on a pc to see if its working?

4

So you are using Sign in – SUSE Studio

You really ought to become familiar with SUSE first, by using a stand install media.
FYI: SLED requires registration and subscription and payment.

5

I didnt realize SLED needed payment. Will try a different one then. learning suse? yes, its fun but I need to learn fast. I want to create and add in tools or features, is C# an option as a language tool within an IDE?

This one booted and came to a graphic screen on the laptop but there is no install feature at the first page, examples and youtube videos showed those;

Well it works really nice, i had done all the searching, setup, etc and only had the terminal but this one shows the sw works; I sort of need to install some linux on the old pc box, in the custom setup are there features tailored for that?

6

ok, well I guess its there now in the desktop screen, install with an icon picture of a cd going into a pc. perfect.

that answers that question, but why doesnt the old pc work…

7

On 02/17/2011 09:06 AM, iBradleyAllen wrote:
>
> ok, well I guess its there now in the desktop screen, install with an
> icon picture of a cd going into a pc. perfect.
>
> that answers that question, but why doesnt the old pc work…

too weak, does Win7 fly on it? (openSUSE is not some turn of the
century, weak system)

the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for 11.3 are here:
http://en.opensuse.org/Hardware_requirements
your machine is on the very edge of minimum… (that said, it
should run, but with some swapping)

if you just wanna “get your feet wet” in Linux on old hardware you
will have lot more fun using a much smaller and lighter distro…like
Puppy…

then, to see what a modern full up machine can do just burn a Live CD
from http://software.opensuse.org/ and boot and run from the CD (it
won’t touch your hard drive unless you tell it to–do NOT touch the
“Install” button until you know what you are doing)

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

8

Hi Denver, Mange Tak Yak,

thanks for the requirements page, the older box is a 600Mc P3 with 512M and about 10G on the disk free. so it qualifies.

On the newer laptop, 1.7G Celeron 1.5G ram and 20G free partition, it gets booting, then has a progress bar that locks up half way.

put this on the old box, it installs then drops down into text mode with a text login. why?

I had started a new appliance with OpenSuse and KDE and basic stuff, 400Mb iso this is the 5th compile and it doesnt make sense why its not staying in graphical UI mode.

Ive used linux for a while but just liked windows and sw development in the win platform. I used unix in the 80s and was really elated to hear about linux and being free when unix was $$$. So linux is awesome and Ive got no delusions about how powerful it is. Id like to find info about learning linux, so far the youtube vids are kind of basic, better than nothing…

puppy linux, tried it but its weak. nice idea, nice logo. darn small linux/dsl it works fine but doesnt do much, and i couldnt make the file explorer make any sense, i attached a usb disk but couldnt navigate there to pick and copy files (in dsl). ubuntu has been solid so far, but I want to find the best linux, Suse was my favorite in the 90s being easy to install and use and Id like to see what its got now. I want developer tools, hopefully C# ??

the pc Im using here is a 2.4G intel core thing with 6G ram and its adequate, if I can find a really FAST, powerful Suse install, I will put a new disk in there and load it up, this win7 isntall is running out of disk space, 300G and only 11G left.

Then ive got another pc i could use, but i dont have any DDR-1 ram (gave it to someone) and thats an AMD thats really fast. Oh if there were only work and I got paid for the work I already did? i could buy some.

right, the old pc, why is it in text mode? is there any command to make it go into graphical mode?? I tried voice commands but they have no effect

9

i type in startx
x protocol version 11, rev 0
opensuse suse linux
linux 4e15 2.6.34.7-0.7-pae #1 SMP 2010-12-13 11:13:53 +0100 i686
…

current version of pixman: 0.18.0

(EE) TSENG(0): No valid Framebuffer address in PCI config space:
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a useable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support at X.Org Wiki - Home for help.

log file at /var/log/Xorg.0.log for additional information.

giving up.
xinit: No such file or directory (errno2): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.
linux-4315:~ #_

10

So what about that video card and or monitor??? What’cha got??

Have you tried failesafe or entering nomodeset at the boot screen?

11

STB lightspeed 128 2.25Mb ram, here is a photo: http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq349/organic1_TX/eBay/3DFX/Light001.jpg think i got it around 1997 or so

monitor is a Microtek flat screen 15" svga plain, from about y2k

booting up in failsafe, same thing
done
the screen says: Master Resource Control: runlevel 5 has been reached
Skipped services in runlevel 5: cifs

Welcome to openSUSE 11.3 “Teal” - Kernel 2.6.34.7-0.7-pae (tty1).

linux-4e15 login: _

12

OK that card is just too old to run a modern GUI. Maybe you can find something made in this century. :slight_smile:

13

The ET6000 does not appear to be supported. There are no details for Tseng on the XOrg page. You’ll need to get a supported video card.

X.Org Wiki - tseng

14

ok that explains that, but why does it boot up with the graphical screen in 768x1024 ?

and ubuntu, dsl and puppy linux all boot in graphical mode with this card. I dont have millions of dollars to go buy another used video card… wait! that sarcasm reminded me there is 1 or 2 sitting in a box somewhere, and there may be one in another pc.

i have one here, its an AGP, TnT2 32meg 9950 model CT5823? found it, Creative CT5823 NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 32MB AGP Video Card.

I had put it in but it did the same thing before, i will try again, then go look for other video cards…

15

Pretty much all video cards can do 640x480 or 1024x768 *VGA mode. It’s when you want a modern X environment that you need something capable.

I’m sure that a decent video card can’t be hard to get. I’ve picked up better cards than the Tseng from discarded machines.

16

wow it WORKS! the nvidia agp card booted up fine, so it was clearly not a very good video card. now ive got to fight the partitions and try to force the thing in there, this is the cod liver oil part…

17

yep youre so right… i will use that card for something else

18

On 02/17/2011 09:06 PM, iBradleyAllen wrote:
>
> I had started a new appliance with OpenSuse and KDE and basic stuff,
> 400Mb iso this is the 5th compile

opinion: you need to minimize variables while ‘learning’…that is to
say, i have no idea what you are compiling, but i have a full up
desktop and another couple of thousand applications i could install
and i have not compiled one single thing…

don’t get me wrong, i’m not at all afraid to compile…it is just
that it is so seldom required any more:

-download CD or DVD iso from http://software.opensuse.org/
-burn to disk
-check disk, http://tinyurl.com/2ebcf27
-install system
-add applications using YaST or zypper

all of that with compile no where in sight!!

> I want developer tools, hopefully C# ??

i’m not a programmer, but i think it is true that with C# one can only
program for one platform…and, well…i have no idea if any free
and open source software maker has gone to the trouble to build a free
and open source programming environment for a platform so intent on
never providing anything free…

but, maybe someone has…and they will sell it to you…

or, you can always run Win in a VM and then your costly programming
environment on top of Old Shakey…and, then when it gets infected
(and, you know it will) you can just kill that VM instance and
re-launch from a known clean image and just go ahead back to
work…no days of down-time hunting down little critters, key loggers
and and and and…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

19

No GUI for you. Your PC doesn’t meet the minimum requirements for installing a GUI, 32Mb video, 600Gz cpu with 512Mb ram.

Sounds like you don’t have an unallocated partition to install the software. Can you post output from


fdisk -l