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Posted

After debating about whether or not to try installing a Linux distro, I found an old 4 Gig harddrive at work and decided to give it a try.... I heard many of you mention that Mandrake was a pretty easy distro to install/run, so I broke down and downloaded it. After waiting paitently for 3 hours (I love Cable! :rolleyes: ) I had all three iso's downloaded. I ran the install program, but it locked up while creating the floppy boot-disk. I had to run the install program again, and luckily it worked!!!! It'll be awhile before I get completely acclimated to the whole thing, but I'm posting this message using Mozilla that came with Mandrake B) I'm a pretty happy Linux newbie right now! :( Anyway, I'm really excited to get into this deeper, and I'll have to keep everyone posted on my trials and tribulations, but so far, so good!

Guest ComputerBob
Posted

Good stuff, Ryan. I look forward to reading more about your Linux experiences. :rolleyes:

Posted

High 5's Ryan - welcome to the linux club, now your computer fun really begins!

Posted

Okay... first question... I mentioned above that the first install locked up while trying to install LILO on the bootdisk. I re-ran the install, and everything seemed okay, but when I rebooted (to try to get back into windows (removed the bootdisk) I got an error "Lilo - keytable read/checksum error" and it wouldn't load. To get back into windows, I had to run LILO from the bootdisk and select Windows... it works okay doing that, but I wonder how to get rid of the error. Anyone know how to get rid of this error?(P.S. I'm running Mandrake 9.1/Windows XP Pro) Wanted to have Mandrake boot from bootdisk and not otherwise... Have Mandrake installed on a second harddrive (hd1 as mandrake calls it)

Posted

Ryan, sorry I can't help with your problem, but congratulations on the install and new journey. :unsure:

Posted
I got an error "Lilo - keytable read/checksum error"  and it wouldn't load.  To get back into windows, I had to run LILO from the bootdisk and select Windows...  it works okay doing that, but I wonder how to get rid of the error. 
Congrats! Let the real computer experience begin.Now, to your boot problem. It looks like you installed LILO on your PC's master boot record. I'm unclear on how you did your install. Did you install the second drive in an existing PC as a second drive? Or is this a completely different system from your normal one? It looks as though LILO is having trouble finding the Windows XP boot sector. Could you boot into Linux, open a terminal/console and type vi /etc/lilo.conf and post what you see into the forum so we can troubleshoot it?
Posted

boot=/dev/fd0map=/boot/mapdefault="linux"keytable=/boot/us.kltpromptnowarntimeout=100message=/boot/messagemenu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bwimage=/boot/vmlinuz label="linux" root=/dev/hdb1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="devfs=mount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off quiet" vga=788 read-onlyimage=/boot/vmlinuz label="linux-nonfb" root=/dev/hdb1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="devfs=mount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off" read-onlyimage=/boot/vmlinuz label="failsafe" root=/dev/hdb1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="devfs=nomount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off failsafe" read-onlyother=/dev/hda1 label="windows" table=/dev/hdaother=/dev/fd0 label="floppy" unsafeOkay... this is what is in the lilo.conf file... To summarize... I have mandrake installed on a second harddrive on my main(only) computer. I have WinXP Pro installed on the main drive.... When I ran the mandrake install the first time, It seemed to try to automatically setup the bootloader (didn't give me option as to how I want it setup (so don't know where it tried to install it)... I setup in the config of the intstall to have LILO run from a floppy. After it setup the floppy, the install died. I re-ran the install (reformatting the harddrive before installing) and this time it gave me the option to bootload from the flopppy, so that's what I did, and now that works fine... I'd like to have the computer boot directly to winxp unless I have the floppy in... I get the checksum error whenever I try to boot the computer without the floppy...Hope this helps!

Posted

Okay... the lilo.conf file looks like it's correct. Note that you have multiple configurations to choose from. Where you see the line label= that is what you need to type when lilo boots to select what you want to boot. The default if none is chosen is to use the linux label. What you need to do is type: windows and then press the enter key. That should boot XP. Bring up a terminal again and type /sbin/lilo -v to reinstall LILO. The -v switch tells LILO to tell you what it's doing. If there are no error messages, restart the computer.

Posted

I'll check this out tomorrow (I just booted back into windows so I could check my email and go to bed... My question is this though... will this allow me to boot without the bootdisk? Based on what you're saying, this should allow LILO to default to windows instead of Linux, which helps, but doesn't fix the bootloader on my disk... (unless it does and I just don't know it)....Ideally, I'd like to not even have LILO in use unless it's from my bootdisk... is there a way to get to that?

Posted

If you follow my instructions LILO should be from the hard drive and by default boot into Linux. You would have to type: windows to get XP. If you edit the lilo.conf file to to make the default=windows then XP will boot by default and you would type linux to boot Linux. The label names are arbitrary; they could easily be mandrake for Linux and xp for XP. The other alternative is to use GRUB. Or even better, use multiboot loader like XOSL.

Posted

When I had mandrake installed a while back, during the installation, I told it to put Lilo in the "root" partition. I already had BootMagic set up to use WinXP as the default OS, and Linux second. What this caused to happen was the machine would boot to XP, but if I selected Linux, I would get another boot selection window (Lilo), listing Mandrake as the default, and XP as second...worked fine, with no error messages, but I had no clue as to what I did. Now using ELX, and did the same thing...works great, but there must be a better way. :unsure:

Posted

Dang Peachy: what is your background? you know linux like the back of your hand?

Posted
Dang Peachy:  what is your background?  you know linux like the back of your hand?
Well, I wish I knew Linux like the back of my hand... I will admit that the learning curve for me got easier in the last couple of months ever since I had a good reason to know Linux inside and out. I work in a college in my city. My job title is Computer Science Technologist so I have to have a good grasp of this in order to assist the faculty in setting up the labs. My background educationally is a B.Sc. degree in biology and a couple of undergrad years majoring in philosophy with about 20 years of computer experience starting in highschool.
Posted
When I had mandrake installed a while back, during the installation, I told it to put  Lilo in the "root" partition. I already had BootMagic set up to use WinXP as the default OS, and Linux second. What this caused to happen was the machine would boot to XP, but if I selected Linux, I would get another boot selection window (Lilo), listing Mandrake as the default, and XP as second...worked fine, with no error messages, but I had no clue as to what I did. Now using ELX, and did the same thing...works great, but there must be a better way. :o
Quint,what you did was probably the best solution for your setup in this case. Because you had BootMagic already installed, placing LILO in the Linux root partition allowed BM to boot either XP or Linux. When BM boots into Linux it reads the boot sector from your Linux partition. When you installed LILO, it automatically setup a dual-boot between itself and XP, but defaulted to Linux. If you want to boot Linux faster edit your /etc/lilo.conf file and set the timeout to 0 so that it doesn't give you time to choose, or delete the references to windows. You must then type /sbin/lilo to reset LILO otherwise your editing changes won't take effect. The advantage to GRUB is that you don't need to run grub-install after editing the /etc/grub.conf file.My preferred multiboot loader is XOSL and there is another thread in one of the other forums that talks about it.
Posted

One more question... When I try to shut down Mandrake, I hit the logoff button, which takes me back to the user selection screen. There's a reboot as well as a halt button on this screen. I click the reboot button (assuming it'll reboot the pc), and it takes me to another window (I'm guessing it's supposed to have shutdown/reboot options), but it's just a window with an empty box, an OK and a Back button... The Back button takes me back to the user selection, but the OK button does nothing. I'm guessing there's supposed to be some rebooting options, but there's nothing... I have had to manually power down from this position... any ideas here?Thanks in advance! :o

Posted
Quint,what you did was probably the best solution for your setup in this case. Because you had BootMagic already installed, placing LILO in the Linux root partition allowed BM to boot either XP or Linux. When BM boots into Linux it reads the boot sector from your Linux partition. When you installed LILO, it automatically setup a dual-boot between itself and XP, but defaulted to Linux. If you want to boot Linux faster edit your /etc/lilo.conf file and set the timeout to 0 so that it doesn't give you time to choose, or delete the references to windows. You must then type /sbin/lilo to reset LILO otherwise your editing changes won't take effect. The advantage to GRUB is that you don't need to run grub-install after editing the /etc/grub.conf file.My preferred multiboot loader is XOSL and there is another thread in one of the other forums that talks about it.
peachy,Thanks very much. Very informative and concise, with flair - you are a fine teacher. (Whenever I hear that word, I think of the song: "Teacher" by Jethro Tull). The reason I chose Lilo over Grub is that Lilo sounded pleasant, and Grub sounds so underground and dirty. I guess there must be a choice to "show hidden files" or something like that, because I'm not seeing an /etc folder. I'll find it though. Appreciate your expertise, and willingness to help novice's like me. :o
Posted
I ran the install program, but it locked up while creating the floppy boot-disk.
First, welcome to Linux GolfProRM !About the boot-disk: Mandrake reported a bug a few days ago, (can't find the link to the report right now) related to your problem. Not only did they find this bug, but there seems to be a long list of updates waiting for you ! Just under 100MB ! Long live broadband !If you go to the Mandrake Control Center, you will find this in the startmenu > Configuration > Mandrake Control Center, give your rootpassword, > software management > Mandrake Update you will be able to download all the updates and install them automaticly. ( Downloading the updates, bug fixes and security-updates is always my first action after install, the update function during install is not 100% )Even with lilo in the MBR, having a bootdisk makes good sence.Sorry for my late reaction, but I'm living in another time-zone and I missed all the fun of your adventures . . but I think it is never to late to congratulate you with choosing Mandrake, one of my favorite Linux distro'sHave fun :o Bruno
Posted

Bruno,Thanks for the reply/info on updates... now my question is can I get LILO OUT of the MBR? Is that possible now that it's there? I'd like to have Lilo only run from floppy... If it's not possible, I'll just repair it/edit it using Peachy's instructions... The bootdisk works fine... it's when not using the bootdisk that I have problems...

Posted
One more question...  When I try to shut down Mandrake, I hit the logoff button, which takes me back to the user selection screen.  There's a reboot as well as a halt button on this screen.  I click the reboot button (assuming it'll reboot the pc), and it takes me to another window (I'm guessing it's supposed to have shutdown/reboot options), but it's just a window with an empty box, an OK and a Back button...  The Back button takes me back to the user selection, but the OK button does nothing.  I'm guessing there's supposed to be some rebooting options, but there's nothing
As for you other problem:Make sure that in Mandrake Control Center->Hardware->Display Manager Chooser you have KDM instead of MdkKDM selected.I saw that Peachy gave you answers relating to other questions, o wait, there is another one just comming in right now,:Restoring the MBR, well, that is a windows question, not my forte, but I'll try to find the answer. As long as you have a Mandrake bootdisk made, after restoring the MBR you can boot with it in Mandrake. But a nice boot-menu with XP as default as Peachy suggested, I do think that would be the easiest option for you in the long run ! :o Bruno
Posted

Found the answer to your question about restoring XP-MBR:Reset the MBR by booting from the windows boot disk the using the "fdisk /mbr" command.Hope this helps you ! :o Bruno

Posted

Bruno,Thanks for all the help!!! I'm at work now, so can't actually try this stuff out now, but will be sure to give it a whirl first thing tonight. It's great to have so many knowledgable helpful people around here... Makes a Linux newbie like me feel much more comfortable (unlike I would on many Linux message boards). I'll try this stuff out tonight and report back on how things go!If you have any more suggestions, I'm all ears! :DThanks again, Bruno, Peachy, and others!

Posted

Hi Ryan,Got some additional info for you, I do hope these links work for you, EDIT by Bruno: links did not work for non members of Mandrake Club so I removed them /EDITTry here, there is a special doc section for download:http://www.mandrakeusers.org/downloads.php :D Bruno

Posted
Thanks for all the help!!!
You're welcome, Ryan ! AnytimeI just noticed the links above need a password, so won't work for you. Give me 5 minutes and I'll find a way around that problem.Bruno
Posted

Ryan:I've got the doc's in PDF format, downloading from the club right now, use my e-mail button to sent me a mail with an e-mail adress where I can sent them to you in an Attachment. ( ! +7 MB's ! )Bruno

Posted

Hi RyanAgain more info:Additional RPM's ( easy install files ) for FREE commercial app's like Real Player ( debugged) , Flashplayer plugin and hundreds more:At: http://www.mandrakeusers.org/downloads.phpEven more are available on the Penguin liberation front: You can add them to the packages in the Mandrake Control Center ( not the same as KDE Control Center ) with Urpmi. Read the instructions on this site carefully.Interesting are the ones from the PLF themselves and the ones from TEXSTAR !http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/urpmiweb.phpUrpmi is the absolute easyest and failsafe way to install additional software !This way you have access to all software normaly only available in the PowerPack edition.Good luck, if you need any help I'm on line every evening from 19.00 - 2.00 hrs Central European Time, just let me know ! :D Bruno

Posted
One more question...  When I try to shut down Mandrake, I hit the logoff button, which takes me back to the user selection screen.  There's a reboot as well as a halt button on this screen.  I click the reboot button (assuming it'll reboot the pc), and it takes me to another window (I'm guessing it's supposed to have shutdown/reboot options), but it's just a window with an empty box, an OK and a Back button...  The Back button takes me back to the user selection, but the OK button does nothing.  I'm guessing there's supposed to be some rebooting options, but there's nothing...  I have had to manually power down from this position...  any ideas here?Thanks in advance! :D
There are a couple of things you could do. If you are fairly comfortable using Linux, you needn't boot directly into the GUI but could just log into a console and then type: startx when you want the GUI. The nice thing about this option is that you can kill the GUI with a ctrl-alt-backspace. To make this happen you need to edit your /etc/inittab file. Near the top of the file just after all the comments you will see a line like this: id:5:initdefault:. That's the default runlevel and if it's set to 5 it will boot into the GUI. Runlevel 3 is for multiuser mode without the GUI. Change the 5 to a 3 to switch.If you'd rather boot into the GUI all the time, then open a terminal and type: shutdown -r now or shutdown -h now. The -r means reboot and -h means halt.
Posted
I guess there must be a choice to "show hidden files" or something like that, because I'm not seeing an /etc folder. I'll find it though. Appreciate your expertise, and willingness to help novice's like me.  :D
Quint,the /etc folder is in the / directory. Normally, your current path in a terminal is determined by your login. By default normal users are placed in their /home/username directory. The root user is placed in /root. To see the /etc directory, type: cd / and then type ls. In actual fact you can list the contents from any directory by specifying the full path. For example, say you are sitting in /usr/local/games and you wanted to see a directory listing of the /etc directory, just type: ls /etc. The nice thing about *nix is that the filesystem is quite logical. The Windows equivalent to / is C:\. Below the / are the directories etc, bin, dev, home, mnt, sbin, root, usr, tmp, var, X11 and sometimes lost+found. The /etc directory is where most of the configuration files are stored. Once you get the lay of the land, it all makes some sense. :D
Posted
I guess there must be a choice to "show hidden files" or something like that, because I'm not seeing an /etc folder. I'll find it though. Appreciate your expertise, and willingness to help novice's like me.  :D
Quint,the /etc folder is in the / directory. Normally, your current path in a terminal is determined by your login. By default normal users are placed in their /home/username directory. The root user is placed in /root. To see the /etc directory, type: cd / and then type ls. In actual fact you can list the contents from any directory by specifying the full path. For example, say you are sitting in /usr/local/games and you wanted to see a directory listing of the /etc directory, just type: ls /etc. The nice thing about *nix is that the filesystem is quite logical. The Windows equivalent to / is C:\. Below the / are the directories etc, bin, dev, home, mnt, sbin, root, usr, tmp, var, X11 and sometimes lost+found. The /etc directory is where most of the configuration files are stored. Once you get the lay of the land, it all makes some sense. :D
Once again, I thank you. Using what you said to go by, things just fell into place. Guess I'm more of a newbie than I even thought. :D
Posted
Guess I'm more of a newbie than I even thought.
Hey, Quint: That's how we ALL started ! :D Bruno

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