Linux setup questions for a newbie...

[TJN23]

Just attempted to install Linux last night and ran into problems (of course)

I chose to set up the graphical Red Hat 9 install, and when it asked me from where to copy the red hat files (i downloaded and burned the 3 CD set from redhat.com), it said no CD-ROM found...

i was booting off the CD-ROM to start the setup program, but does this mean my CD-ROM drive wasn't mounted? It's a Creative 12x DVD-ROM...

Also, I recently got an 80 gig hd, and set the partitions to a 60 gig NTFS and a 20 gig FAT32....which would be better to install Linux on??

TIA (very much)

Tim

 

[Fencer128]

Hi,

With respect to your CD-ROM problem, if you can boot off of it in order to get the graphical installer to wrok - then the CD-ROM should be ok to use. If you used a boot disk to start the installer - then make sure you didn't get the wrong image. You definitely don't want the network install disk!

Secondly, linux uses different file systems to windows. You'll need to reformat those partitions, or use some unused space for a new one, or reorganise the lot. The good thing is that all of this can be accomplished within the installer. Just remember to back up anything critical first - just in case!

Good luck,

Andy

 

[TJN23]

Originally posted by: Fencer128
Hi,

With respect to your CD-ROM problem, if you can boot off of it in order to get the graphical installer to wrok - then the CD-ROM should be ok to use. If you used a boot disk to start the installer - then make sure you didn't get the wrong image. You definitely don't want the network install disk!

Secondly, linux uses different file systems to windows. You'll need to reformat those partitions, or use some unused space for a new one, or reorganise the lot. The good thing is that all of this can be accomplished within the installer. Just remember to back up anything critical first - just in case!

Good luck,

Andy

I definitely was able to boot off the CD-ROM fine...but the installer program wasn't able to recognize the CD-ROM to copy the files....weird! I'll be getting a CD-RW soon so maybe i'll give that a try (my current CD-ROM has been acting up as of late) any other advice with respect to this?

I was not using the network install disk...

So the partitions I set up on my new HD can be wiped within the Linux installer? This is fine, as I haven't started to put any data on it yet...

 

[Flatline]

RedHat 9 asks you if you want to check your media before launching the graphical installer; I would start there and make sure the media is valid...a lot of botched 'nix installs come from bad ISO images.
As for whether to install RedHat on FAT32 or NTFS, I would say neither. Repartition your disk during the install to include one EXT3 partition and a swap partition that is roughly twice the size of the amount of memory in your machine; I would wipe the 20Gb FAT32 partition and use that space.
I will say, though, that Mandrake may be better for a noob, especially since it comes with more multimedia capabilities than RedHat. SuSE would also be a good option, but you can't download ISO images of SuSE for free.
Good luck and welcome to the community!

 

[n0cmonkey]

You will need to format atleast part of the disk to decent file system for Linux.

As far as the cdrom goes, try a different cdrom drive and make sure your isos downloaded correctly (and maybe do a media check during the RH install).

 

[drag]

Linux uses a native format... ext2, ext3, fraiser, xfs file systems are some of the choices. Linux can run on other MS-only file systems, but I wouldn't do it. A ten gig partition with a 500 meg swap partition will be more then enough.

Don't forget if you have a iso image for a cdrom you don't copy the iso file to the cdrom, you use the "burn from image" option since the iso file is a bitmapped image of the install cdrom....

I don't remember the redhat install proceedure very well, but if it can't autodetect it then you'd run the media checker if aviable....

If that works out then you may (or may not) be able to specify the cdrom drive... THe naming convention for drives and linux goes like this (/dev files are special pretend files that represent hardware resources)

/dev/hda primary drive on first ide controller
/dev/hdb secondary " " " "
/dev/hdc primary on second controller
/dev/hdd secondary on second controller.

And you may be able to tell it wich device to use... Not sure of the details for redhat, though...

 

[TJN23]

EDIT: From inserting the 3 disc set inside XP I can see the CDs were burned correctly... "Red Hat Linux i3 (or similar)" is the volume label and it has all the appropriate files, not just the "*.img" file
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ok thanks guys.....when i get home tonight i'll do a media check and make sure the disks are read fine...

Can Mandrake be downloaded for free on RedHat's (or another's) ftp site??

Before I blow the partitions it'd be nice to know which version to install

TIA again guys,

Tim

 

[Flatline]

 

[Flatline]

Download Page

At the bottom of the page, select that you plan on registering soon and it will take you to a mirror list. 9.1 is actually quite nice.

 

[Bremen]

There are a couple places to download iso images for linux distros. The distro homepage is always good, however many don't have that much bandwidth. Hence I normally use ibiblio.org.

 

[TJN23]

i just backed up all my data, installed a 60 gig NTFS partition and left 15ish gigs of unallocated space for Red Hat and installed a new CD-RW...

no go, gives me the same error message, rather than figuring out how to specify the cd-rom drive i'm going to download Linux Mandrake, burn the images, and use this MD5 app that tests the integrity of the image

hopefully i'll have better luck with Mandrake

 

[calbars]

Are you using CD-RW discs by any chance? Try with regular CD-R discs.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: TJN23
EDIT: From inserting the 3 disc set inside XP I can see the CDs were burned correctly... "Red Hat Linux i3 (or similar)" is the volume label and it has all the appropriate files, not just the "*.img" file
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Tim

that alone wont tell you if the images burned / downloaded correctly. you either need to use the "check media" during the install option, or grab the md5 checksums and manually check them...thats the only way to make sure the ISO's are good