> Last night I used the option to not mount in the partitioner and
> finished. I crossed my fingers and rebooted. I was able to boot off the
> hard disk. I only get the password prompt until I startx.
ok, and you issue that startx as a regular (non-root) user, right?
and, does the GUI pop up then?
well, no matter, it SHOULD boot all the way to a GUI…WAIT!
which CD/DVD do you have?
did you, during the install process select a SERVER install, or did
you select KDE3, or KDE4 or Gnome??
then, did you wicker the different install patterns (that is, you can
get to a screen where you can pick and chooose various
packages…LOTS of various packages if you downloaded the DVD…
IF, you selected SERVER or changed the default to NOT include a
windowing system (X) or window manager (KDE, Gnome, etc) then the boot
script generated may not try to get alll the way to a KDE (as mine does)
the GOOD thing about open source is you are FREE to make lots of
decisions…the bad news is i have NO idea which decisions you made,
unless you tell…
<snip>
> My main concern was that in finishing the partitioning that I might over
> write something by having the wrong mount points and have to reinstall.
> I was logging in as root off the Live CD, so this problem didn’t arise.
see, the partitioner parted won’t deal with what goes where…that is,
it will not overwrite /etc/fstab which is all about what goes where…
> I’m still trying to get a handle on all this new stuff. I’ve got no idea
> what is particular to 64 bit and not.
i can’t fill in that knowledge blank…but, i’d say that what you
going on so far is not 64 specific (maybe…the inability to auto boot
to a GUI might be, i don’t know yet…
>
>> i THINK what you need to do is go ahead and (with a perfect mental
>> image of what the system should look like when finished) shut down,
>> remove the CD/DVD from the hard drive and boot from the hard
>> drive…BE READY TO MOVE at the FIRST green screen (where you can
>> pick from a kernel, safe etc) and
>>
>> - type 3 and hit enter
>>
>> - you will get a Login: prompt
>>
>> - type root and enter
>>
>> - type in the root password [you will not see it as you type it]
>>
>> - when logged in (remember you are root) type yast and hit enter
>>
>> - select “System” on the left and “Partitioner” on the right
> I’m not sure I quite understand the above. I’ve been going to the repair
> option. I would like to bypass that, so if I type 3 while the green
> screen is coming up I’ll get the prompt?
well, when that very first screen comes up (on all SUSE i’m aware of)
if you just type 3 you get to a text prompt asking for a sign in, and
the system is in run level 3…
i don’t think the repair give you just a text prompt, does it??
> The NTFS partition was deleted. Another ext3 partition created in it’s
> place and formated. I’m getting an error though that NTFS signature is
> not found, more on that later.
that is because the thing you were afraid might be over written was
NOT…but, it needs to be…and, that is what i tried to guide you to
do from the command prompt, running yast…
i GUESS if you are getting to a text prompt by using “repair system”
you can log in there as root, and run yast…when you FINISH that, if
you paid attention, it SHOULD overwrite /etc/fstab FOR YOU
automatically, and the next time it boots it won’t be looking for that
now gone NTFS…
we will, however need to find out where all the different /home
landed, so will need to run those several magic df/etc which i gave
you earlier…i’ll let you find them, and patch them back to here,
eventually…
>
>> i THINK that is all you have to do (it will rewrite your /etc/fstab
>> for you)…and, i THINK if you then reboot and sign in as you (regular
>> user) you will have what you want…
> I don’t think the fstab was rewrote, because I’m getting several errors.
> the NTFS signature, and the other is when I try ‘cp /Archives/oldhome/.
> /home’ there is a message “cp omitting directory /Archives/oldhome”.
> That leaves some guessing. I’m thinking I’m going to have rewrite fstab
> to fix them, and to automatically mount the new partition.
EXACTLY, yast from a run level 3 text prompt can/will do that (or YaST
in a gui logged in as a regular user will too…but i’m not sure we
have that ability yet—hmmmm, if you on the first screen select “Safe
Mode” or something like that, do you get booted to a GUI? if so you
can do that and then click on YaST, give your root pass and access the
partitioner that way…)
<snip> I’m having fun, reminds me of working with CP/M. I am thinking
of photos
> editing, one of my other hobbies, and music. I only have 2 gigs of ram,
> more later.
then if we (YOU!) get to the place you are tired of futzing with it
broken (as it is, but fixin’t is fun and educational) then i’d suggest
a reinstall, and make it 32…
> btw if you know of a tutorial on clean out unwanted programs and tuning
> SUSE, I’d like to know.
clean out unwanted programs with YaST (find’em, click to uninstall,
click ok, finished!)
tuning is a different matter…except for KDE4 it is pretty darn good
out of the box…ordered with slowest first i’d list KDE4, KDE3,
Gnome, Xfce and then there are some windows managers MADE for
speed…lots of them…
most other ‘tuning’ you might have done with Redmondware is just not
worth the effort–most of the stuff is already done…
you will see if we ever get you running…
by the way, i don’t know what you elected to install, but i do NOT
recommend KDE4 for a new user, or anyone other than an enemy…
why they picked that as the default install was IMHO most stupid.
(except, it was a great strategy to get lots of folks running the bugs
out)
–
duo