Linux on P-I

[ArZuNeOs]

I wanna Use my old PC With Linux

Config:

P-I ,196MB SD RAM,20 gb HDD

I wanna use that PC for

1) internet purpose
2) audio Player
3) some office purposes like reading PDF ,Word & Exel
4) want it to be fast & not Sluggish

I earlier had win 98 & Office 2000 on it

Now i wanna use Linux on it.Suggest me a distro & give me link too

U may ask Y...Its my first PC & its like 1st Love...

Help me out

[kaustav_geek]

Debian, prolly ,would do good. Well.... You can't really expect really fast performance from a P1.....

[gary4gar]

You use slackware or ubuntu(with xfce)
basically most distro's will work with it but you will need to you low on resources desktop package like xfce instead of gnome or kde.

If you new to the linux world then i would tell you to go for xubuntu another folk of ubuntu which comes with xfce preinstalled.

refer xubuntu.org

[mediator]

I guess here u shud install some older Linux distroo like some old Gentoo version that compiles from source and hence will give u performance benefits or u can use damn small linux. I have tried DSL, and I think it matches all ur requirements!!

[Cyclone]

Talk about coincidence! I wanted to ask this very question! My old rig's an AMD K-6, with 128 MB SDRAM and an 8 GB hard disk (blushes). Dug it out of the garage yesterday and went through it. Its got nothing worthwhile on it (does Windows '98 count?), so I d/l ubuntu, and here's where the screw up started. I d/l an iso file, and the instructions said to burn that onto a cd. I did that, and tried booting. No joy. The computer still reads it as an iso cd. On a hunch, I ran WinRAR on it. Voila! The darn .iso file on the cd is an archive containing all the required linux files. Since its compressed, its not reading the boot files. So now I figure I've gotta get me another cd, and extract the .iso I downloaded onto the cd, and then run it. Am I right?

Oh, and once I figured this out, I had nothing else of consequence to do, so I dug out my Israeli Air Force cd (I'm a simnut) and decided to get some airtime. Turns out Win'98 isn't detecting my mouse. The mouse is attached to a PS/2 port (those're the tiny round ones, right?), while the keyboard is connected through a COM port (its big and round, so I figure its a COM port). It says 'Mouse aint detected, keep an eye on your cat'. Well, not exactly, but you get my drift. It asks me to shut down and connect my ps/2 mouse, and try again, if I want one installed. That dont help. Nigga' don't see the thing. And I checked on the net, found out that all OS's after win2000 come with pre-installed ps/2 support, so there ain't no such thing as driver updates required by modern pcs. So where does that leave old timers like the K-6?

Summing it up:
*Need to extract .iso's contents to cd to create linux disk. y/n?
*PS/2 Rodent not being detected. Suspect Cat. Besides persuading it to regurgitate said rodent out, what else can I do? Help in the way of drivers would be appreciated a lot. Darn critters can't drive for nuts. Ever heard of a pussy behind the wheels of the catmobile? Nien.

Oh, wait, there was Catwoman.

[sai_cool]

Guys, the best option for you, is DSL - DAMN SMALL LINUX, check it out at http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

[infra_red_dude]

xubuntu or dreamlinux. both based on debian and very light on resources. dreamlinux gives you almost everything out of the box. only thing u need to download from the tasks you've mentioned is openoffice spreadsheet and openoffice presentation, all other thing work out of the box, openoffice wordprocessor, xmms (for ur mp3 playback), dvd, vcd, video files everything. plus it looks really very very cool considering how lighweight it is.. on storage as well as ram requirements.

[Cyclone]

It took me a week to download ubuntu, I'm damn well sticking to it!!! Help me out with the mouse, won't you?

[infra_red_dude]

Summing it up:
1) Need to extract .iso's contents to cd to create linux disk. y/n?
2) PS/2 Rodent not being detected. Suspect Cat. Besides persuading it to regurgitate said rodent out, what else can I do? Help in the way of drivers would be appreciated a lot. Darn critters can't drive for nuts. Ever heard of a pussy behind the wheels of the catmobile?
1) you shudn't extract and then burn those files. neither should you simply burn the iso. it won't do. search for an option called "burn image..." in whatever cd/dvd mastering you use and then select the .iso file as the image file.

2) we can't rule out the possibility of a bad mouse. does this mouse work on some other computer? even win98 doesn't need any drivers for the ps2 mouse. so all i can say is this... test this mouse on some other system if u can or first burn the linux cd as i mentioned above (using burn image option) then boot from it. it boots a live version of ubuntu. if ur mouse works there then there's some driver/resource allocation problem in windows. if it doesn't then hand over the mouse to ur household cat!!! ;)

[kumarmohit]

Guys, the best option for you, is DSL - DAMN SMALL LINUX, check it out at http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
Even I recommend this.

[Cyclone]

1) you shudn't extract and then burn those files. neither should you simply burn the iso. it won't do. search for an option called "burn image..." in whatever cd/dvd mastering you use and then select the .iso file as the image file.

2) we can't rule out the possibility of a bad mouse. does this mouse work on some other computer? even win98 doesn't need any drivers for the ps2 mouse. so all i can say is this... test this mouse on some other system if u can or first burn the linux cd as i mentioned above (using burn image option) then boot from it. it boots a live version of ubuntu. if ur mouse works there then there's some driver/resource allocation problem in windows. if it doesn't then hand over the mouse to ur household cat!!! ;)



Yowww!!! Now THAT is the reply I wanted! IR Dude, you're homing right in! I'll follow up on *1 and get back to you. Sounds like it'll do just fine. Regarding *2 (sorry, keyboard's messed up too, got a different lay-out. None of the special symbols match with the keys they're printed on), the mouse works fine on my P4, so its probably a Windows screw-up. I'll try linuxing it. Otherwise, the neighbour's cat gets a freebie. Lucky critter.

[Cyclone]

Hokay, **** iz happahning. I burnt the image onto a disk just like the IR Dude reco'd, and booted from it. I get a screen with 6-7 options like "Start or Install Ubuntu", "Start Ubuntu in Safe Graphics Mode", "Memory Test", "Check Disk for Errors", etc etc. So I selected "Star or Install Ubuntu". It takes me to a list of various services being [OK]'d, about two pages worth, including GNOME something something. Then the screen goes black for some time, before going all orange and everything with Ubuntu written in the centre, and an error box up to the left, informing me that GNOME has just messed up bigtime, and certain services like themes, backgrounds etc might not show up, and gnome'll reload the next time I log in. Its got a 'Close' button, but I can't move the mouse pointer or select it with the keyboard. It shows this for about fifteen-odd minutes, before blacking out completely. Oh, and throughout this thirty-five - forty-odd minute procedure (Yeah, well, I'm jobless), the CD's continuously being read. Fast. I had to restart manually twice, and now its time for some Silent Hunter. Any brainwaves? Running the "Check Disk for errors" says that there were two errors found and press any key to restart, but thats all it says or does. Helpful, what?


Oh, and I got around the mouse issue by digging out my eight year old three button logitech serial mouse, which, I am happy to say, is working magnificently for something that old. Oh Happy Days! :)

Not one to give up easily (another way of saying I'm still jobless), I decided to give Tux another go. So I reboot, go to the menu, and press F1. Tadaa! An amazingly unhelpful help page with nothing related to what the menu screen I'd just left displayed. After staring at it for a minute or so with my mouth hanging somewhere near my belly, I hitched up the lower jaw and decided its time for some 'jugaad'. Somewhere in the Help page, it said something about live booting from the cd by typing Boot:Live acpi=off. So I went back to the menu, selected Boot Options (F6), and typed in just that. This time, I got a scrolling list of stuff I wont pretend to know anything about, and was just about to breathe in again when the scrolling stopped, and the caps lock and scroll lock indicators started blinking. It said, at the bottom of a long and similar list, those terrible, terrible words - Panic! More specifially;

[74873657] Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount fs on unknown - block (104, 1)

Any ideas?

Oh, and not bad for a newb, what? :D

[cynosure]

^^ Yo! Babe :D

Listen dude, you are going for the wrong distro!! 128MB SD RAM is a thing of the past. Since you are using gnome (I think you have downloaded the latesht 7.04 Ubuntu), theres no way you can install it on YOUR system, In any case if you do install it by doing some "khurafaat", then your Ubuntu wont go ahead of the log in screen. This is what happened in my case. Ubuntu 6.06 worked like charm, but 7.04 wont work. It wants a bit more of RAM (Mine is also 128 MB SD), possibly around 256 MB (This is the minimum system requirement you see:D)

The better option would be to choose another distro (Its your Hard Luck, you shouldve asked here or anywhere else before downloading the distro) that suits your "powerless" rig and try ir again.

[Cyclone]

NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<clutches hair, runs around screaming>

With just a week of summer break left, there ain't no way I'm gonna sit around waiting for another 600+ MB download to finish. I guess I'll install it on this system instead. It was supposed to be the culmination of my summer holiday geekiness, and was the means with which I'd bring my old system back to life. I guess that can wait for winter. First thing tomorrow, I'm running FF on this one. Lets see how it goes...

[Cyclone]

So I left off, telling you guys that I'd try installing it on my P4 and see how it goes. I'm doing it right now. Cynosure baby, you were right, my AMD just didn't have enough juice. This one goes all the way till the desktop no problemo. I see an 'Install' icon on the desktop, so I double-click - so far so good. The installation has 7 steps. I go through Language, Region, Keyboard Layout, and then encounter the monkey-wrench. In step 4, which is where I have to select the partition I want to install it to, I'm given a list of four partitions, none of which are the C,D,E,F I'm used to by now, but thats okay - Linux is going to be different, and different isn't necessarily a bad thing, so I don't let the morale hang low. Previously, I'd read up various threads on this forum, and figured I'd need to keep one partition ready for Ubuntu. I clear out most (all) of the stuff on F. But the table in step 4 shows four drives (devices, it says). /dev/sda1 , whose Mount Point is /media/sda1, has unknown used space. The next two, surprisingly listed as, respectively, /dev/sda5 and 6 with the respective mount points at /media/sda 5 and 6 are okay, and /dev/sda7 at /media/sda7 has 2700 MB used. I figure the last one's F:, and for some reason Its showing up as 2.7k used, but I can let it go, so I select it and click on 'Forward'. Surprise Surprise, I get an error message saying something like 'Root file not specified'. What do I do? If I select 'Edit Partition', I can change the size, the type (fat or ntfs) and the mount point. Any suggestions?

PS - Only one week of summer break left, after that its back to college, and I don't have a pc in my room, so plz hurry :-)

[praka123]

u need to give a partition for root which is denoted by "/" and a swap partition of around 500 MB or less in the installer gui.what the installer trying is to auto enable mounting of ur windows(?) partitions in ubuntu.Linux FS are ext3 which is used.
read below article.its for u:
New to Ubuntu 7.04?
https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/newtoubuntu/C/index.html
for P-I like systems try a distro called Antix based on simplymepis.

[Cyclone]

English, English!!!

<bangs head on keyboard>

Hmm..its trying to mount my four windows partitions in linux, when I want it to mount linux in one of my four windows partitions - Impressive. And I thought only Microsoft does stuff the wrong way :))

Going through the link. Meanwhile, any direct help in the do-this-here format you could give me would be appreciated...especially in getting through Step 4/7 - and I checked in the ubuntu forums, /dev/sda7 is definitely the partition I want linux installed in. How? That is the question....

PS - Wow, you just linked me back where I was...

PPS- The installer GUI ain't askin' me for anything, except which partition to install to. I'm expected to click on one and press enter...

[praka123]

Hmm..its trying to mount my four windows partitions in linux, when I want it to mount linux in one of my four windows partitions - Impressive. And I thought only Microsoft does stuff the wrong way ur confused?It is the OS which mounts partns,not partns mounting partns :?

Ubuntu asks whether it shud mount ur windows partns later on while u boot into linux.while from windows u can access Linux partns it is difficult.I'll say finish ur installation with a "/" partn and a "swap" partn thats all u need to look to.open ur partn manager in Ubuntu and make a / and swap partns.
EDIT:wait,i got a screenshot tour of ubuntu install hope it helps u know,
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/ubuntu-704-feisty-fawn-beta-preview.html

[Cyclone]

It is the OS which mounts partns,not partns mounting partns

Thats news to me, brother. Though now that you mention it, yeah, it makes sense :D

Right, click on the fourth screenshot - I selected manual, just to make sure Tux doesn't zap all my data. Actually, if it was just my data, I wouldn't mind, but its got a lot of other stuff (dad's, primarily), thats not really backed up (well, you know what dads are like), so I don't want any truck with it. When I select 'Manual', it takes me to the partition manager, with a table containing a couple of columns including 'Device', 'Type', 'Mount Point', 'Total Space', and 'Free Space'. I select /dev/sda7, and click on 'Forward', but the 'Specify root file to mount os' or something error pops up. That iz za issue...

[praka123]

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/images/feisty/22.png
select manual partitioning dude-then,
For eg: after /dev/sda7 in Mount point add a "/" without quote.now make a swap partn of 500MB or lesser and select as Type- swap
^see-u need to give the "/" there- partn where u going to install ubuntu
.that error is that u need to specify it as the root or "/" where ur ubuntu is gonna be installed.below links are useful for u.but read that after u completes the ubuntu install.hrmm...;)
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/starting.htm
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

[mehulved]

So I left off, telling you guys that I'd try installing it on my P4 and see how it goes. I'm doing it right now. Cynosure baby, you were right, my AMD just didn't have enough juice. This one goes all the way till the desktop no problemo. I see an 'Install' icon on the desktop, so I double-click - so far so good. The installation has 7 steps. I go through Language, Region, Keyboard Layout, and then encounter the monkey-wrench. In step 4, which is where I have to select the partition I want to install it to, I'm given a list of four partitions, none of which are the C,D,E,F I'm used to by now, but thats okay - Linux is going to be different, and different isn't necessarily a bad thing, so I don't let the morale hang low. Previously, I'd read up various threads on this forum, and figured I'd need to keep one partition ready for Ubuntu. I clear out most (all) of the stuff on F. But the table in step 4 shows four drives (devices, it says). /dev/sda1 , whose Mount Point is /media/sda1, has unknown used space. The next two, surprisingly listed as, respectively, /dev/sda5 and 6 with the respective mount points at /media/sda 5 and 6 are okay, and /dev/sda7 at /media/sda7 has 2700 MB used. I figure the last one's F:, and for some reason Its showing up as 2.7k used, but I can let it go, so I select it and click on 'Forward'. Surprise Surprise, I get an error message saying something like 'Root file not specified'. What do I do? If I select 'Edit Partition', I can change the size, the type (fat or ntfs) and the mount point. Any suggestions?
Change the mount point to / here and file system to ext3. And also tick the checkbox next to sda7, under Format.
You will also need to give a swap partition.

[Cyclone]

Right, so I did that. Changed the mount point from /media/sda7 to just /. And split this partition into three, including a 500MB swap. All good. Started the installation on the first partition. Everything was running smooth as silk. Sat down with a couple of issues of MAD, was through with three when I hit the next glitch (am I cursed? was it something I said?) - At 94% of the installation, after its done copying files and detecting hardware and whatnot, it says something like "Error regd Grub (hd0) - This is a fatal error." and took me back to the desktop. Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooo!!!!!! :mad: We were SO close!!!

Next step?


Oh, and how do I set up my internet connection in ubuntu? I noticed the 'Wired Networks' thingmie on the top-right of the screen. Selected manual configuration, and promptly went insane. And I thought this was supposed to be newbie friendly. What am I, bottom of the evolutionary ladder?

[praka123]

most prolly ur install had completed.only error will be with grub.so boot the livecd and access the partition where u installed ubuntu(u can mount) and see that everything is right.then we can changeroot(chroot) from Livecd and complete grub installation.for that now we needs the output of :
fdisk -l
^ from livecd.then we can chroot to that partition and install grub.btwn which windows version do u have.

[Cyclone]

I run XP :(

At the risk of sounding extremely slow, how do you want me to access the partition and check if everything's okay? oh, and I enter the fdisk command in the terminal?

[praka123]

what i meant is boot again live-cd(ubuntu).from there open a terminal and run fdisk -l and paste the o/p here.
with Linux u may need to know to use terminal basic.it helps.

[Cyclone]

What do you know, I'm not that far away down the evolutionary ladder after all! :p Thats exactly what I did <ain't I a genius?>.


Great, now how do I put up a png image? Picasa can't read it...


EDIT: Signing up with ImageShack right now...

[img=http://imageshack.us/thumbnmail.png] (http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fdisklb2.png)


How's this?


Okay, not that good, but it serves the purpose - click on slideshow, and you'll get the bigger picture. Literally.

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/650/fdisklb2.png

There ya go!

[praka123]

there is no need to host the o/p :p.just select with ur mouse right clik copy and paste here in the forum.btwn the image is a thumbnail.not able to figure out.do one thing just copy paste the output here.that's the way.

[Cyclone]

...Which brings me to the second major part of my troubles, I don't have broadband set up in ubuntu. Which means i have to re-boot everytime something goes wrong (not a pleasant task on my rig, trust me),



http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fdisklb2.png

Try saving it to your pc and taking a look.

EDIT: Nope. That ain't working either.

Imageshack says http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/650/fdisklb2.png is the full picture, and http://imageshack.us/thumbnmail.png (http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fdisklb2.png) , whatever it may be, is the thumbnail view. I say, if the former's the full image, that is one really small thumb we're using as a standard.


Heck, just send me your email id, I'll send the darn pic to you as an attachment. All this trouble just for a measly screenshot >:-(

[praka123]

you can just select the output from the terminal using mouse and right click to copy and paste here.what's the pain ?

[Cyclone]

'Coz thats in Ubuntu and this's in XP... :D

[praka123]

OK.without the partitions displayed :? try taking a screenshot again and paste the direct link here.

[Cyclone]

Well, I fdisked, copied the results into text editor, saved it onto my pendrive, rebooted into xp, opened it in word, and here it is:



ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1217 9775521 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 1218 4865 29302560 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 1218 2434 9775521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 2435 3651 9775521 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7 3652 4439 6329578+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8 4501 4865 2931831 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 4440 4500 489951 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order


What do you suggest now?

[anantkhaitan]

^^
I think its alright 'sda8' is mounted as '/'
So for booting in Ubuntu Repair ur Grub/MBR -> http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Restore_Grub

And for Broadband in Ubuntu
$ sudo pppoeconf

[praka123]

Well, I fdisked, copied the results into text editor, saved it onto my pendrive, rebooted into xp, opened it in word, and here it is:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1217 9775521 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 1218 4865 29302560 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 1218 2434 9775521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 2435 3651 9775521 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7 3652 4439 6329578+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8 4501 4865 2931831 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 4440 4500 489951 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order
What do you suggest now? Now again boot with livecd.mount ur ubuntu partition as follows.all commands are run in terminal(in menu applications>accessories>terminal):
sudo mount /dev/sda8 /mnt -------------(1)
then
sudo chroot /mnt /bin/bash -------------(2)
now:
sudo grub-install '(hd0)' now enter exit,or press ctrl+d.
reboot to look whether grub is shown(boot menu)
if this fails,then only try below steps.u need to follow steps (1) & (2) from livecd.then,
if grub is not installed,then install natively as follows:
sudo grub
then in "grub>" prompt try,
root (hd0,0) and
setup (hd0) type quit in grub> prompt to exit.
restart to make sure grub menu is shown.

[Cyclone]

I'm on it...

Broadband'sup and rigged for running, buyeah!!! Thanks for that, anant! One major hassle over, now I dont need to reboot to XP everytime something goes wrong. Like now. Praka, the first command's working fine, its able to mount /dev/sda8 onto /mnt. The second command throws up an error:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo chroot /mnt /bin/bash
chroot: cannot run command `/bin/bash': No such file or directory

Do I go and create it?

[mehulved]

How much space have you given to / ? It seems you've just given ~2.7GB, so the whole install must not have fitted on your hard disk.

[Cyclone]

Hell, no! I split a 9.8 GB partition into three - 2-odd GB for apps, 500MB for swap, and the rest was to be /

[anantkhaitan]

But as per post no #32 it seems that only 2.9 GB has been alloted for '/' .. I recommend you a fresh installation with atleast 6 GB partition..

[praka123]

I think ur install was not completed due to less disk space.make sure u got ur "/" partition as ~6GB and swap of 500MB.the partition where Linux shud be installed is called "/" partition.also follow the below guide(got screenshots)
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/ubuntu-704-feisty-fawn-beta-preview.html

[mehulved]

I only see 2 linux partitions- one is swap, so logically the other has to be the / partition ie. sda8. And sda8 is approx 2.7GB only, that's not enough.

[infra_red_dude]

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo chroot /mnt /bin/bash
chroot: cannot run command `/bin/bash': No such file or directory

Do I go and create it?
while others haf answered ur other queries, i'll answer this one. there's a typo there. there is no space between 'mnt' and 'bin'.. since u've mount ur 'sda8' as '/mnt'... the command above should read 'sudo chroot /mnt/bin/bash'

[vignesh]

I would suggest Xubuntu.I used in on 300Mhz Celeron pc with 150megs of ram.Vector Linux is a good bet too..

[praka123]

while others haf answered ur other queries, i'll answer this one. there's a typo there. there is no space between 'mnt' and 'bin'.. since u've mount ur 'sda8' as '/mnt'... the command above should read 'sudo chroot /mnt/bin/bash' ^ it is wrong.the correct syntax is as in my post.it is not like /mnt/bin/bash ,but we are using /bin/bash from native env(live cd).similarly /proc/ etc too can be mounted.

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ oh ok... got it praka! :) how stupid of me.. i was thinking something else... the /mnt is changed to root here!!

[Cyclone]

Right, so I reinstalled Ubuntu - it took over an hour - and I carefully ensured that /dev/sda7, the 6GB partition, would get the "/". Continued with the installation. At 94%, I got the same error - Grub (hd0) failed to execute. This is a fatal error. I'm going through the three steps praka mentioned to change root, I'll let you know how it goes. Oh, and here are the new results of fdisk -l:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1217 9775521 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 1218 4865 29302560 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 1218 2434 9775521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 2435 3651 9775521 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7 3652 4439 6329578+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8 4501 4865 2931831 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 4440 4500 489951 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order


Why do I have the feeling that its gone and installed itself in the 2.7 GB partition again?

Oh, and while the first command - mount /dev/sda8 /mnt is working fine, mount /mnt /bin/bash isnt. Take a look:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo chroot /mnt /bin/bash
chroot: cannot run command `/bin/bash': No such file or directory

Is this related to the 2.7GB thingmie?

[praka123]

dude,if u want to install on /dev/sda7 which is a vfat(fat32) or ur windows F partition,u need to format it as ext3(Select the option) and use as "/" .
ur trying to install on 2.7 GB partn which cannot hold full data maybe.so if ur confused with Linux installer.go to ur windows xp and in control panel,try administrative(?sorry dont have XP near to me) and select disk management,delete the last fat partition number(be sure?).also view the ubuntu installing video here:
install as dual boot with windows:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6104490811311898236
installing ubuntu:
http://ubuntuclips.org/collections/3
http://www.ubuntuvideo.com/
http://ubuntuclips.org/
EDIT:these are all guided partitioning,u must select manual partitioning and delete partn /dev/sda7 or format it to ext3(linux file system) and use as root.
leave those grub chroot etc etc
manual partitioning:
http://www.hevnikov.com/blog/2006/11/13/triple-boot-xp-vista-ubuntu-with-single-boot-screen/

[Cyclone]

I wish it was that simple. I'd converted sda 7 to ext3 the first time I installed ubuntu, and the partition manager shows it as such. Thats why I'm trying to install linux on it. But after installation it shows up as fat32 in fdisk.

[praka123]

http://www.hevnikov.com/blog/2006/11/13/triple-boot-xp-vista-ubuntu-with-single-boot-screen/
^ may help.esp the manual partitioning section.invoke gparted from ubuntu livecd(read that guide)

[Cyclone]

don’t partition drive as part of your installation as it will mess up your mount points

Tell me about it!!!
<shakes head>

[praka123]

= Dont care.just partition ur hdd by selecting manual partitioning.format ur fat partition /dev/sda7 as ext3,installer can do this or u can manually partition by opening a terminal type:
sudo gparted in gparted /dev/sda7 can be formatted to ext3.then in the terminal type "ubiquity"-the installer to start installation :?
I think some geeks here can help u.done.

[Cyclone]

Here's the result of gparted:

damn, 54kb - can't be attached. Oh well, I'll type:

Device: /dev/sda7
filesystem: ext3
mount point: /media/disk
size: 6.04 GB
used: 2.63 GB
unused: 3.41 GB

Device: /dev/sda9
filesystem: linux-swap
mount point: <blank>
size: 478.48 MB
used: -
unused: -

Device: /dev/sda8
filesystem: ext3
mount point: /mnt
size: 2.80 GB
unused: 2.69 GB
used: 113.24 MB


Besides these, there are sda1, 5 and 6, of which 1 and 6 are fat32, 5 is ntfs, and all are 9.32 GB.


It looks like linux is installed in sda7 after all, IRDude. What next?

Oh, and lest we all forget, the problem here is that grub isn't getting installed/executed properly towards the end of the ubuntu installation, therefore ubuntu never shows up on the boot menu, and xp is loaded automatically. How do we get around this, thats the issue.

[anantkhaitan]

^^
U have mounted
sda7 to /media/disk
sda8 to /mnt
Where is '/'..

I recommend u a fresh installation following this during installation
Delete your sda7, sda8, sda9 and create following partitions
sda7 (swap) 500 MB
sda8 (ext3) remaining space mounted as '/' (without quotes)

[Cyclone]

Damn, you're right, where the heck's /??? :?: Damnfunk partitioning issues!!!

Right, I'll give it another shot. Here goes...

Oh, and meanwhile, could you guys try and come up with something to fix grub? Many thanks!

^^
U have mounted
sda7 to /media/disk
sda8 to /mnt
Where is '/'..

I recommend u a fresh installation following this during installation
Delete your sda7, sda8, sda9 and create following partitions
sda7 (swap) 500 MB
sda8 (ext3) remaining space mounted as '/' (without quotes)


I deleted sda7 and 9, now I'm left with two free spaces, with 6481MB and 3002MB respectively. How do I merge them into one partition?

= Dont care.just partition ur hdd by selecting manual partitioning.format ur fat partition /dev/sda7 as ext3,installer can do this or u can manually partition by opening a terminal type:
sudo gparted in gparted /dev/sda7 can be formatted to ext3.then in the terminal type "ubiquity"-the installer to start installation :?
I think some geeks here can help u.done.


And gparted shows a locked icon next to my devices, and I can't modify them from there. So I used manual partition, now how do I merge two groups of free space into one partition?

[praka123]

locked bcoz they are mounted by ubuntu livecd.u can try unmount as follows(ofcorz in a terminal):
umount /dev/sda7 now try formatting.
resize options are there.but u can try it later.free space are automatically formed if u delete any partition.while resize option works,but a little try u may need.
also make sure /dev/sda7(ur / ) be not mounted as /media/* .

[anantkhaitan]

I deleted sda7 and 9, now I'm left with two free spaces, with 6481MB and 3002MB respectively. How do I merge them into one partition?
Is it "sda7 and 9" or "sda7 to 9" bcoz AFAIK u will have to delete sda8 to for continuous space allocation .. even if you have done the latter one make a new partition on 6481 MB space formatted as ext3 and mounted as '/' bcoz 6481 MB is for than enough for Ubuntu

And before anything... do visit the links mentioned by praka123 in post no #46 (http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=552648&postcount=46)

[infra_red_dude]

ok there's some confusion here... lets do it again. one step somewhere is causing the whole thing to mess up! as ananth said.. u need to delete sda7, 8, 9. but now don't do it thru ubuntu. do it thru windows. boot into ur windows and goto disk management. now right click on these partitions (except the fat32 other linux paritions will be shown as unrecognised, but it lets u delete the parition anyway). delete these 3 partitions. now u should haf full free unpartitioned space after ur 9gb fat32 partition.

now proceed to the ubuntu install. when u come to partitioning, select manual partition. hmmmm... i'm feeling too lazy to type... here follow this guide for further steps.:)

step 1: http://www.easy-ubuntu-linux.com/ubuntu-installation-606-9.html (this guide assumes u start wid an empty hdd, however ur system already has fat32 and ntfs partitions, hence the unallocated space will be shown in as the last entry). let the size of this 'first' ubuntu partition be about 7500mb.

skip the next page there and treat this as step 2: http://www.easy-ubuntu-linux.com/ubuntu-installation-606-11.html... here give all the remaining space as swap partition.

step 3: now specify the mount points as shown here: http://www.easy-ubuntu-linux.com/ubuntu-installation-606-12.html
the changes for ur system are: the 7.5gb partition has the mount point '/' in ur system (instead of the 3gb shown in the pic) and the remaining space of about 500mb is ur linux swap. the /home mount point doesnt exist for ur system. don't bother about it.

apple the mount points for only these two partitions and do not touch anything else. proceed forward.

in the last screen ensure this in 'Advanced...': http://img519.imageshack.us/my.php?image=feistydual18cv5.png now proceed wid the installation.

[Cyclone]

Right ladies, funs over. Orders from HQ - bye bye Ubuntu. With just a few days more before I have to catch the train to college, Mum and Dad feel its about time I give up this little project of mine. They've got loads of important stuff crammed in it (and all un-backed-up, I might add. Living dangerously, they are.), and after spending the last week watching my experiments with free software and multiple formattings with their hearts in their mouths, the strain's finally become too much for them to bear. All further activities are to be postponed till December, when I return on winter break. "Be strong," I told them, "Ubuntu wasn't built in a day." "Neither was all our work", came the reply, along with the order to pull the eject cord and vacate my seat. Oh well. Many thanks to all of you who've spent so much of your time and bandwidth on helping me out, and I'm sure all this will come in handy to many future newbs who'll turn to the ThinkDigit forums when faced with the daunting task of installing Ubuntu in dual-boot mode, when they have tons of priceless un-backed-up data. It sure will come in handy to me - I'm gonna have a great semester messing around in the college computer centre - they've got Ubuntu installed there! Rub-a-dub-dub, Thanks for the GRUB, Yeah Linux! :D

[?doubtfire?]

Sorry to Bump in an old thread...came up in search.....noticed the starter has the same config but with 20 gb HDD....

I have a 10 gb HDD [P-I ,196MB Ram,USB 1.1]

Experience: I am new to linux
Expectations : Open office,mp3,speed & effortless usage ...since its a 10 year old PC i dont any other items to stress it out

I want a distro fulfilling all my needs....i noticed 4 distros in this thread ...xubuntu,DSL,dreamlinux,antix..which one to choose ...are there any other distros

please guide me in transiting to linux world on ol' PC...I am quite sentimental about this Computer [Acer] as she guided me into Windows 95 & through which the Computer world

Help me out

[hullap]

get slitaz
its MUCH lighter then all these (25MBs flat:D)

[?doubtfire?]

i kinda want Out off the box use....except off course Open office & easy to use ....availability of tutorials

[praka123]

Antix is a good option :|

[?doubtfire?]

ok praka123 i am going for Antix-Spartacus ...will download it today & get ur opinion

Edit:::

I have started to download it ....What is the first step

I have a 10 gb FAT32 HDD....i will erase all partitions

Kindly advice me step by step

[praka123]

make a / partition of type "ext3" of size 7GB .make a partition type "swap" of 500MB or >r .
now show the installer these partitions.thats it! :)

[?doubtfire?]

Ok....I am new in linux....what is / partition...is it root ....
and what is swap mode :(

[hullap]

yes / is root,
and swap memory is like virtual memory in windows,
like virtual ram

[praka123]

remember /root is root(admin)'s directory.