Guide To Finding And Installing A Linux Distro

The SR1120NX is not a laptop, it is a desktop. Here are the specs:
Celeron D
512Mb RAM
80 gig Harddrive(3 Partitions: Windows, Media, and Other(for other OS))
DVD Writer+Cd Writer
OEM Compaq mobo
Intel Integrated Graphics(845GV)Cant get parents to buy me a vid card lol
Thats all I can think of right now.

 

Sorry.. I did a search for your model number and all it threw at me was lappys.

What I suggest doing is finding how the drive is partitioned. The safest way to do this is with a live linux cd... something like puppylinux, http://www.puppylinux.org which has gparted. A nice graphic application for investigating partitions... I prefer the 2.12 version for stability, plus it's only 83MB total. .
If you can run something like gparted and post the partition sizes and labels we should be able to work out why the installer is crashing.
I still get the feeling there is a hidden system partition lurking which it is important not to damage. HP/Compaq like that kind of setup for some bizarre reason. I have a dead p2 series machine which lost it's drive and I have been unable to recover it.

@leicsey.. USB hmm? Sarge isn't so good with usb devices (though it's a lot improved from woody/potato) You will probably need to find the driver (from windows) and then bind it to hotplug, there should be a file somewhere like /etc/rc.d/hotplug which probably contains nothing. I need to play with some usb kit soon, as I don't have any usb devices. I need to download some pictures off my phone.

 

@phantom69 yer i triboot. I got 2 harddrives. One for my windows and one for experimenting with linuxs.

@janrocks I cant be bothered to put the effort into getting it to work seeing as im gonna get ethernet internet when we move in 3 weeks so its pointless!

Also thanks for your help with sarge. ALthough the packages are soo out of date! I have one problem though how do i get sarge to automatically startx to the log in screen of gnome?
Atm when i launch sarge i get a command propmt and then have to startx

 

Hmm.. interesting one. I think it's a line in /etc/rc.d that should read <startGDM=true> or something like that.

Then again.. my sarge installation is now so far removed from when it was installed (nearly a year ago) that it's probably more likely to be run from /etc/X11/default-display-manager which just reads </usr/bin/gdm>

TBH.. I can't remember it ever giving me any troubles apart from an annoying xserver error at boot about a known xserver bug because my keyboard config is too complicated???????? I got used to seeing it..

 

Think il wait for etch to go stable. Hopefully in the few weeks itl be until we move it should have gone stable by then.

Cant wait!!

Until then its microsoft till then grrr

 

someday i want to try BSD, but atm im stuck with fedora 4 even though i want to get 6 lol. is BSD any good?

 

There isn't any problem with etch.. Almost everybody is using it now, just a few of us with old hardware and well set up systems still on sarge because we don't feel the need to reinstall everything.
Next time I rebuild it's going to be etch.. stable or not.

Just to explain some of the terms in the *nix community a little better than they seem to manage..

Stable :- usually last years model, any still existing bugs are well documented and there are either workarounds, or we put up with them. Means a full safe release, no surprises, and it won't be changed apart from security updates.

Testing :- The current stuff.. not many bugs, most works perfectly. It really means things are liable to change before the release is actually fixed and finalised (stable) Not exactly bleeding edge stuff.
This contains the most up to date packages.

Unstable :- Out on the edge.. where the real development happens. Nothing is fixed, and anything can change from day to day, which can mean some pretty serious problems as everything depends on something else.. Only for the experienced user who likes living on the edge and developers..

If I was to install debian today it would be etch, not sarge that would be going on the drive. It just happens to be sarge now.. because it was the testing setup when I installed it, and then it went to stable.. Just like etch will sometime in the next few weeks/months.

more? http://www.debian.org/releases/

Now then phantom.. BSD? Are you sure? It doesn't even install a nice desktop unless you can get to grips with vi and get packages that then run from setup files you edit in a terminal. BSD is a server unix really. It's lean and fast, but not that much in the way of polish. If you struggle with linux then chances are it will be a very frustrating day or 2 before you change back to some form of linux or (heaven forbid) M$.. I ran with it for about 2 weeks until it just became too limited for every day home use unless you like spending 75% of your computer time tinkering with your OS and applications and not doing any "real" work.. A bit like gentoo eh Creaky?

 

speaking of problems in M$-hit software you know i turn on computer and once gets to desktop, completely freezes, so go to safe mode, try to click user to login as, computer auto restarts.

linux is still the moststable, thank god for dual boot otherwise would be in so much trouble lol, ntfs plugin saved my life lol but cant be bothered to fix windows tonight so will do sometime next week.

 

Cool im downloading etch now. Also this is the only download i need right:
debian-testing-amd64-DVD-1.iso

I dont NEED the 2nd and 3rd?

Is that correct?

Lecsiy

 

Disk 1 is all you will need. During setup there will be a screen to configure apt. Select http and a fast local mirror. At the packages selection screen (remember the screen with the list desktop, server, print server etc) it will then go search off the net instead, and you will get all the latest packages.

 

Cool thanks Il get back to you with how it goes!

 

--------Update!----------

Installation went smoothly. Running etch of gnome it rocks!

Now another problem for you jan!
How would i be able to browse my current windows partition when im on mine?

 

Personally I have never done it.. no need.. no windoze.. no NTFS drives

I do have some know how though..

On Debian Etch


First, download NTFS-3g. 2 packages are needed here : ntfs-3g and libntfs-3g, which are both available on any Debian mirrors. You can use wget to download them :

Then install the dependencies :

Finally you can install ntfs-3g (using the 2 Debian packages you just downloaded) :

Now I have never done any of this personally, so don't come moaning at me if it goes wrong ;-)

I believe the drive will need mounting like so..

(Of course replacing the /dev/sda1 with your partition specifics.)

Give it a go and report back.. I wouldn't try writing anything to an NTFS drive.. It's apparently very risky.

 

yeah listen to janrocks, i read that if you use the ntfs prog you should not write to disk.
oh btw, im farly sure the mount command is:

as you may have guessed, the su is to enter super user cause cant mount unless root, and replace hda1 with your windows partition, create a directory called windows in the /mnt/ directory as super user, and where i put username, enter your username so that you actually get persmission to access the drive (learned that the hard way lol).

the -r tag from memory will make the disk read-only so no boo-boos and the -t ntfs just states the filesystem, which it sometimes doesnt need but it doesnt hurt to include it anyway

hope this helps, just expanding on what janrocks said

 

I get this error??

alex is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.

<<EDIT>>

Fixed that problem but not working. I changed the code you gave me to have x86-64 at the end but it didnt work. Forget it im gonna work more on it when i get ethernet cable propely hardwired.

 

Try as root.. I don't think debian uses sudo. It doesn't work on mine. You normally need to be root to mount drives.

I don't know anything about 64 bit stuff. There may be a serious compatability problem trying to mount a 32 bit file system on an x64 architecture.. I don't even know where to start looking for answers. Maybe the debian forums is a better place for answers.

 

Update

Gone back to mint. I prefer it like the interface. Although dont like there new start bar but anyway thats besides the point.

Been bogged down by school work soo havent got to play round with it too much. But hopefully il be back on in a few weeks or so.

Anyway thought you may like an update!

Lecsiy

 

Mint is pretty nice.

I'm on etch now.. most problems seem to have been solved, all except one really big issue that I'm tinkering with when I feel like messing with system files.
Don't use the same net-install iso you d/lded months ago.. get a new current daily build.

I think a decent 3rd party firewall instead of iptables will be easier and more secure in the long run. Not sure if I even need one really.. over a year on sarge with none whatsoever (picofirewall..and then disabled it) and because I set up things more server like with things in not the usual places, no exploits. A hardware firewall is a lovely thing.. It can make life so easy.