Off to a bad start - whole lotta nuthin :(
Forum: User Feedback
Topic: Off to a bad start - whole lotta nuthin :(
started by: westburian
Posted by westburian on Oct. 12 2006,20:26
Thought I'd give DSL a try based on a recomendation, I perused the website, notice that it is supposed to run on a windoze partition...Background: Machine is a Pentium 166 w/ 32 megs RAM, my win98 partition has around 400 mb space, I thought this would be a good candidate.
I downloaded the embedded.zip file, something like DSL-3.0.1-embedded.zip or something like that... 50 megabytes
using winzip, I unzipped it to C:\DSL
here is the dos DIR listing after unzipping:
Volume in drive C is FREEGATE
Volume Serial Number is 3521-00DB
Directory of C:\DSL
. <DIR> 10-12-06 11:55a
.. <DIR> 10-12-06 11:55a
GERMAN KBD 256 05-27-06 5:17p
LINUX24 994,807 05-27-06 5:17p
LOGO 16 36,649 05-27-06 5:17p
MINIRT24 GZ 801,359 05-27-06 5:17p
README TXT 1,965 05-27-06 5:17p
SYSLINUX CFG 2,075 05-27-06 5:17p
KNOPPIX <DIR> 10-12-06 11:55a
QEMU <DIR> 10-12-06 11:56a
BOOT MSG 110 05-27-06 5:17p
DSL-LI~1 SH 226 05-27-06 5:17p
DSL-WI~1 BAT 364 05-27-06 5:17p
F2 1,592 05-27-06 5:17p
F3 1,595 05-27-06 5:17p
QEMU-L~1 TXT 468 05-27-06 5:17p
12 file(s) 1,841,466 bytes
4 dir(s) 274,751,488 bytes free
So after reading the readme.txt and everything else, I ran:
dsl-windows.bat from within windoze98
one DOS box opened....
@echo off
START qemu
then another DOS box opened on top of it, something flashes by WAY to fast to read, then
'press any key to exit'
and that's it.
I currently use slackware 7, a full install with KDE, as well as dragonlinux lite (cli prompt only), while not a linux guru, I have a pretty basic grasp of the file system, and use the lynx broswer, PINE email, JOE and PICO text editors, etc etc, and in KDE I installed the opera browser and do email just fine with KMAIL
I also use the BasicLinux BL3 distro, which also runs on the dos/win98 partition, and zipslack, and have used pygmy linux and maybe a few other small distros......
soooooo.....where do I got from here
?no, I don't have a cd rw drive
don't have a USB pen drive
not ordering a CD at this point.....
I was hoping this would at least work 'out of the box' enough for me to get a CLI prompt.....
Posted by roberts on Oct. 12 2006,22:11
Trying to run another OS, DSL, within a virtual machine Qemu while also running Windows in 32MB. Not going to happen. The basic Qemu virtual machine is requesting 64MB to even run. No wonder nothing happens.Personally, I find running Qemu in 256MB unbearable.
Even running DSL natively but frugally will not be optimal in 32MB. A regular hard drive install with these hardware specs would be better.
However, if you want to try DSL then do the following.
1. Download and create the DSL boot floppy use rawrite.
2..Copy the KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX file to c:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX
3. Change BIOS to boot from floppy
This is called running DSL in poorman's mode. The DSL image rsides in your windows partition and in a directory just off the C: root directory.
Check the Wiki for more information on creation of boot floppies and poormans instructions.
Posted by u2musicmike on Oct. 12 2006,22:12
I haven't played with the embedded version but if it is already on your harddrive see if the floppy bootdisk will find the Knoppix directory.If that don't work maybe you can download tomsrootdisk, a bootdisk, mount the .iso to a partition like a poorman's install.
Posted by westburian on Oct. 12 2006,23:43
okay...I'll see if I can make a DSL boot disk and move the knopix file to c:\knopixI have slackware root and boot disks handy...would that work ?
here is my hard drive setup
hda1 Boot Primary Win95 FAT32 (LBA) 4104.42
hda2 Primary Linux ext2 4203.12
hda3 Primary Linux swap 123.38
Pri/Log Free Space 172.74
I've got slackware 7 on hda2, and hda3 is it's swap partition, as you can see, I've got 172 megs free space, what if I use cfdisk or fdisk to make that a linux ext partition for DSL, is that enough room?
what's the procedure.....?
?I'm guessing download to 50 megabyte .iso image, and somehow use rawrite to get that onto the new hda4 partition??? can slackware share the swap partition with dsl
thanks guys
Posted by westburian on Oct. 13 2006,01:03
LIMITED sucess, here's where we are....grabbed bootfloppy.img and used windoze rawrite and made a bootable floppy,.....
booted up with floppy....and.....
it apparently found C:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX okay... got a picture of the
cute DSL penguin, and press <enter> to continue....then...
you passed an undefined node number (wait 30 seconds)
(connection reset by peer)
on X server ":0.0"
after 0 requests (0 known processed)
with 0 events remaining
dsl@tty1[dsl]$
...that's apparently the CLI prompt, root did nothing, no other consoles, was able to cd and look around all the dir's, and then type mc to run midnight commander and looked around, looked like a full distro to me....
sooooooooo......why no X ?????
doesn't like my video card?
where do I go from here?
btw, while cruising around with midnight commander, I hit CDROM to see if it would search my cd rom drive, instead, my C: drive came to live and then it showed all the dir's in my win98 fat 32 partition (where C:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX lives....
question....
if I were to enter the following at the prompt
touch this-is-a-file-i-just-made.txt
would it create that file?? where would it be stored ????
most of the bootup seemed pretty normal....
if found and apparently used my slackware's hda3 swap partition.....
what next guys ???????
this is my MAIN computer, I can't afford to have my MBR screwed up....should I stop now ???????
Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Oct. 13 2006,02:40
| Quote |
| you passed an undefined node number (wait 30 seconds) |
| Quote |
| would it create that file?? where would it be stored ? |
Modifying your hdd's MBR is up to you - if you don't like the idea of it, you can always use a bootcd/floppy.
Posted by westburian on Oct. 13 2006,04:35
well guys....damn small linux has left me pretty damn frustrated......seems like with linux it's ALWAYS major drama with the friggin video ! ! !
I tried all the options presented with F2 and F3 at bootup to avoid the 'you passed an undefined node number', only to be followed by the 'X10 fatal IO error'
the ONLY thing I could get to work was "dsl vga=normal"
I have a diamond stealth video card, I think it's 2 meg or 4 meg, VESA, works fine in truecolor / hicolor modes in whingdoze 98, DOS, and I got it working half ass in slackware 7 (another ordeal !!!!)
so, starting with dsl vga=normal the only 2 options that worked were:
4 bit color depth
8 bit color depth
I tried 4 bit first, despite how horrible it looked, I was able to find my way around, and was impressed by what I had seen, and it the ppp setup tool looked like it was gonna be okay....
so I tried the 8 bit color depth....this time I got the penguin wallpaper, which was very grainy and horrible looking, and dillo browser with the getting started html file came up, very hard to read, dark purple lettering on a black background....what is up with THAT ???????
tried going back to the 4 bit color depth - got the ppp configurater set up with my ISP's particulars, and tried to connect, nothing but script failure. I know what my settings are, as I have done a lot of ppp tcp/ip packet driver stuff in DOS internet apps. DSL wouldn't detect my modem, but I know it's on com 1 anyway, works fine with my other linux distros, DOS , and whingdoze 98. I was hoping to at least connect and give one of the browser a spin and try the telnet client to at least go to some telnettable BBS's I frequent....
anyway....I've spent a lot of time on this and am very frustrated, unless somebody knows something I'm missing to where I can get a decent screen, I'm gonna deltree c:\knoppix and don't see any point in making a /hda4 partition for this......
I sure wish I could get this going, as I'm always looking for an excuse to not have to use windows ! ! ! !
Posted by westburian on Oct. 13 2006,04:44
| Quote (^thehatsrule^ @ Oct. 12 2006,22:40) | ||
|
Thanks.... I just now saw your post. I did try several of the vga=### codes to no avail Now that you mention it, I did see 'cheat codes' in the wiki section, I'll check that out. Pardon me if my other post sounded negative in any way, I'm just tired / frustrated and it's late. Thanks again for the help guys!
Posted by Trog Dog on Oct. 13 2006,12:23
G'day WestburianFrom a terminal window run xsetup.sh and have a play with the video modes and depths until you find something acceptable. I'd probably start with 800x600 16 bit, then 24 and finally 32 then try increasing to 1024x768, etc.
Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Oct. 13 2006,13:52
For xsetup, you can also pass that during bootup as well - try around the setting like how Trog Dog suggested. Try changing the X server if your display only looks messed up in X (gui mode). You may also want to try booting up with th fb codes.For your modem, make sure it's recognized and the driver's loaded before trying to configure it... I haven't used the ppp config stuff before, but most of the time the problem is about the driver. Which one do you have?
Posted by westburian on Oct. 13 2006,19:00
Hi again ya'll....I'll try to change settings with xsetup.sh ---you said to do that in a terminal window while in X ???? interesting....changing video modes 'on the fly' ????
tried 'fb'...I'm assuming you mean 'frame buffer'....
when I use what DOES work, dsl vga=normal and 4 bit or 8 bit color depth, it prompts me for a pixel value, any suggestion on that ??? Someone suggested I try vga=771 haven't done that yet.
If I can get it halfway useable, I'll make an hda4 linux native ext2 partition like the welcome/start message on dillo says, so I can save my settings.... unless I can save them somewhere on my already existing hda2 partition for slackware? I see that DSL is taking advantage of my linux swap partition when it loads....
as for my modem, I don't need a driver, it's not a winmodem!! It's a zoom hardware modem, 56K, no jumpers, it's just fixed on com 1 irq 4. I boot to DOS, and use several DOS internet programs with ppp dialers just fine, for one, the ARACHNE web browser, I also use DOS version of lynx, the text browser, in different 'flavors', such as bobcat, lynx386, and DOSLYNX, I also can telnet in DOS using the lsppp.exe dialer/packet driver (0x60) and ms kermit for DOS. also on this box I have BL3 (basic linux 3), a very small distro which let's me do email and has the 'links' text browser, and of course, I can reboot, i have LILO and by default it loads slackware 7, or I can boot to DOS/ Whingdoze 98. Soooooo i don't know why DSL doesn't seem to recognize my modem, I KNOW for a fact it's com 1, irq 4, and my serial mouse is com2, irq 3, which does, btw, work okay on DSL...
I'll keep playing with the video....
btw, if I boot DSL into CLI prompt only, is there a ppp configuration program?? in slackware, you have to be in root to run pppsetup. Anything similar in DSL ????
also....no 'consoles' ??? (alt f1 / alt f2 / alt f3 / alt f4) ?????
Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Oct. 13 2006,21:40
No, you have to restart the X server. ("startx" will start it up again)Yes, use like fb800x600 - with or without vga stuff in combination with this.
...
I agree with you to make sure you like it before you install it...
I don't understand this section, afaik drivers are the software used to communicate to the hardware...
...
No idea about this one, as I don't use ppp...
You can add this in one of the startup scripts - I think there was a guide floating around in the forums. See < http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....;t=7936 >
Posted by u2musicmike on Oct. 13 2006,22:37
To see if your modem works you can try Microcom. It is a little terminal program that comes with DSL. Just right click your desktop choose Apps->Net->MicrocomIf it finds your modem type ati3
I use dial-up right click your desktop again choose System->Net Setup->dial up PPP
type provider and enter in all the other stuff. Works great for me.
I might try that BL3 if it will work on an old 386 that I have but don't use.
Posted by u2musicmike on Oct. 13 2006,22:41
It repeated
Posted by westburian on Oct. 14 2006,08:13
well, I spent quite a bit of time today playing with everythingusing xsetup.sh saves a lot of time and I tried everything possible...bottom line, I can't get anything beyond 4 bit or 8 bit color.
in either one, I can go to desktop / style and select 'minimal' and at least the menu's are better,
using the 4 bit color:
some apps seem okay, some, like dillo, or firefox simply won't come up, xpaint looks horrible. I enjoyed the xtris tetris game and got a kick out of the 'ace of penguins' solitaire game :)
using the 8 bit color:
this would be usable except everything is like a 'reversed color', and I get dark purple letters on a black background, IMPOSSIBLE to see the ppp configurator menu for example. firefox fires up, takes about a minute to load, I was able to look at some web pages (.htm files) on my C: drive --- which I get to by going to the "cd-rom", and again, dark purple letters on a dark background, the images look like film negatives and are very grainy.
I think this might be a VESA issue or something, I went through quite an ordeal getting slackware, also on this box, to give me a halfway decent screen in KDE. I think it even had my video card listed, and I still had to hunt down the vert and horz sync freq for my monitor... a MAG innovision 17". DOS graphics are fine, and in whingdoze98 I got the manufacturers driver and have truecolor or high color on an 800 x 600 screen.... I think I mentioned it's a Diamond Stealth 2 meg...or maybe even 4 meg ISA video card.
I simply don't think this box is a good candiate for DSL because of the video issue.... but at least I've got slackware and BL3, and I can look for some other small distros to play with. Does anyone know of a link to the OLD version of dragonlinux version .8 ?? The full zip file - with X - is about 50 megs, Googling for dragonlinux I can only find the new version which is about 250 megs - anyway, I digress. A long time ago I think I tried pygmy linux and peanut linux - can't seem to find those anymore either.
I got a 40 gig maxtor HD I'm going to put in a P-200 as a slave drive, that box has a built in SIS video chipset, it's a pcchips mobo, we'll see how that goes....
yes....you should definitely give BL3 a try on your 386 ! ! ! I always download the 3 meg .zip file and install to hard drive, but you can also download the version you put on 2 floppies. Never had any luck getting the mouse to work, it's got X, but with no mouse it's not much good. I like conlsole stuff anyway. It's got the 'links' browser, a nifty little email program, works fine, a text editor sort of like pico, a word processor - I actually typed and printed a letter, and some networking stuff, pretty amazing for something so small. Just google for 'Basic Linux BL3 download', it's on a page hosted by ibiblio.org or something like that, can't miss it.....
I'm still mystified on the ppp problem with DSL, but I'll try microcom and run some hayes AT commands and see how it goes... I think maybe DSL would rather be run from a CDROM than the c:\knoppix\knoppix file....also, when trying the fb frame buffer video mode, the path / file it's looking for doesn't seem to exist.... again, I'm not gonna worry about it, I'll get around to trying it in my other box with the maxtor 40 gigger - I'm a little more at ease 'experimenting' with that box instead of my main, anyway....
One of the reasons I was looking for a small distro like DSL, is I've got a couple of pentium 150's - complete - just collecting dust. My gf has a fairly new computer with whingdoze XTRA PANTS and I don't know WHAT she does, but she's always calling me, " I can't do email, I can't surf the web"... she just gets it loaded up with spyware and crapware and ends up taking it somewhere to get it fixed, formatted, reinstalled- or crying to me - cause it's screwed up....
I figured if I could fix up one of my boxes sitting around with a linux distro I could surprise her with it next time she has a micro$loth meltdown <g>
cheers!