common reasons why people new to Linux have installation failures-noob must read :)

[praka123]

Some common beginner Linux installation issues
by Mark Rais, senior editor reallylinux.com
Readers of this article may also benefit from: Most Popular Beginner Linux Questions Answered In this cursory overview, Mark Rais, provides some of the common reasons why people brand new to Linux have installation failures. The brief article covers issues with Fedora, Gentoo, Mepis, PCLinuxOS, and Ubuntu.
Let me begin by declaring that this is a basic summary for beginners. I do not try to clarify solutions where complex issues such as bad disks and the need for fsck exist. However, in the past few months as I've tried to help more people totally new to Linux switch over, it became obvious that there is a common theme of installation failures that need to be addressed.
I've tried to give examples for specific flavours. But you will quickly find that problems occurring with one flavour also exist with another. I consider the ease of installation of Linux to be vital to its uptake, especially on the desktops, and hope this article helps at least one person avoid a potential installation pain and start using Linux productively.


...........
Conclusion
In most cases the key installation issue stems from bad burns or bad ISO downloads. Some new users get the two confused, assuming that a good md5check or a good DVD/CD burn indicates valid data. They are both required to ensure your installation is smooth.
Next, many new users get into installation muddles as a direct result of trying to manually configure the partitions and assign mount points like /boot, swap, /, and /home.
In some cases it makes sense to fiddle with these configurations, but often new users are trying to install Linux on an independent hard disk and are fine grain tuning the mount points. I strongly recommend new users, especially if they are using Linux on its own disk, simply use automatic partitioning. .....

read the full article:
http://reallylinux.com/docs/installationissues.shtml

[hailgautam]

That's true, a newbie should let Linux do what ever it is doing for the first few days, and then when he(mostly)/she should start tempering with it..

[mehulved]

Quite clearly the common problem between all distros seems to be partitioning. But it's not the fault of the distros the problem lies between keyboard and the chair. The partitioning part holds true for any OS in the world.

[freebird]

striked at the correct point @praka123 thanks for the link.

[mediator]

Well many times inappropriate burning of the disc also results in undesirable effects on installation. The installation hangs etc. When the iso is burnt at lower speed, it corrects the problem.

Neways, good find @parak123!

[desertwind]

Nice links prakash.

Sorry yar no reps for you. Stupid system.

[phreak0ut]

Very nice link. Repping you

[anandk]

[Pathik]

^^ agreed

[unni]

Nice find.
In my experience also, 8 out of 10 problems arise from partitioning. Quiet a few of my friends who have installed Linux for the first time ended up with a 100 MB boot, 800 MB swap and 73 GB / .

[mehulved]

100 mb /boot is more than enough. 800MB of swap is fair enough too. 73 GB of / could have been split to 15-20 GB / and rest to /home.

[unni]

Originally Posted by tech_your_future

100 mb /boot is more than enough. 800MB of swap is fair enough too. 73 GB of / could have been split to 15-20 GB / and rest to /home.

They choose the automatic partitioning option, according to them. The problem is that they got everything in their hard disk wiped clean. I remember atleast 4 of my friends saying this.

[mediator]

^^Ofcors, in automatic partitioning there's no user's preference. It does what is default. So u have to select manual partitioning.

[mehulved]

They must have surely selected use entire disk in automatic partitioning. What do you expect an OS to do with automatic partitioning? How will the software know what to use and what not. There are options like use free partition, which can be used.

[Ankur Gupta]

I recently installed ubuntu after my suse installation failed due to corrupted 3rd cd due to corrupted iso image...damn 5 cds wasted
And in automatic partitioning it suggested a clean wipe...had to manually do the partitioning but it was a breeze of a task...in the end installation successful...
But can someone tell me if ubuntu supports pppoe broadband connections or i hav to download some package for it...i am using bridge mode...

[mediator]

AFAIK, Ubuntu supports it!

[freebird]

@ankurgupta.me:use the command:

~$ sudo pppoeconf

and answer few questions ...after finished,if u set up connxn to be started manually,u can use "pon dsl-provider" and "poff" for switching net on nd off.

[unni]

I was by no chance blaming automatic partitioning. I just wanted to point out the major problem that I think is a major deterrent to Linux for newbies.