My Experience With DSL
Forum: User Feedback
Topic: My Experience With DSL
started by: jerome2
Posted by jerome2 on Aug. 25 2004,11:12
I was eager to begin learning to use linux. Especially since I got a AMDk6 just to test the games and programs I write on.It took one night to download (I am 56k), but its much less than any other distro would have taken me. I installed it on the AMD k6 after burning it to a cd for the second time. (The first time the cdrw didnt burn properly because my little sister tried to play quake while it was going) After finally getting it to work I tried to set up the networking, only to find out after much digging that linux dosent easily (if ever) support win modems.
In the mean time I tried to install it on my dell box. It took me a couple tries to finally make it to the desktop. It seems if I dont use the failsafe option at the blue screen you have to press F2 to get to it would simply give me a black screen. And not respond to the keyboard or mouse.
So I tried to do a hd install and I had to modify my xp partition to ger it installed on the harddrive. It worked up to the point where it was supposed to show the desktop, but instead it just showed the black screen again.
So I give up and try to go back to xp only to find out that xp wont boot
. I try the fix disk option that the winxp cd gives you bot I dont know the console commands to use. So being impatient I reinstall xp and lose all my information, and about a week of coding since i only back up my projects every week or so.And I still havent figured out why it wont boot to the desktop unless I use the failsafe option
THis distro is definately not for linux noobs
Posted by mpie on Aug. 25 2004,12:12
its likely the dell is using the propriety intel chipset i8110there are other posts in the forum with more info on what to do......
as for loosing your xp partition it does warn you the hd install script writes to the MBR...... and use with caution....
sorry for your troubles but the warning is there for a reason.
as to dsl not being for linux newbies.....
it is my first experience and two months in I'm doing ok but I think that most people remain linux newbies as there are different things to learn for different distributions....
its only by sticking with a distro that you really get to know what your doing...
the support here is very good and people will help as much as they can but somethings are beyond helping e.g winmodems....
they use proprioty drivers that have not been made available to the open source community that's not the communities fault its down to mr gates...... so dont panic and judge as of yet search the formus for info on the chipset and there is a upgrade due soon that may also help, goodluck and i hope you stick with it!!!!!!
p.s. there is no malice in the above but notes are included that warn of certain issue a little research saves a lot of re-installing....
Posted by clivesay on Aug. 25 2004,12:13
Sorry to hear about your trouble. I reinstall the bootloader on my XP box all the time. Boot up your computer with the XP CD. It will take awhile copying windows files.
Eventually, it will bring you to a menu. You will want to choose "R" for Recovery Console.
The next screen will show you were Windows is located like
1. C:\WINDOWS
It will ask you want installation you want to choose so you would choose "1".
Next you will enter in your administrator password so make sure you have it written down somewhere!
At the prompt type "fixmbr". You will be asked if you are sure, choose "y".
Type "exit" and your PC will reboot back to XP (Make sure you remove your CD!)
HTH!
BTW - Before you do a complete reinstall, find a friend's PC and get online and search google or ask questions. We hate to see anyone lose their data!!
Chris
Posted by jerome2 on Aug. 25 2004,22:51
I am a 56k user, I dont have the time to download 1.2 gigs of software.I would like to know if I can turn this distro into a "real" one by downloading software for it over time.
BTW I am accostomed to backing up data so I didnt lose too much only about a week of coding at most.
thanks
Posted by mikshaw on Aug. 26 2004,00:47
Since you have a hd install, I'd suggest getting gcc & make, or apt. From that point you can add whatever applications you want.
Posted by jerome2 on Aug. 26 2004,00:56
The thing is I havent figured out how to get it boot to the desktop automatically, I guess this is a topic deserving its own thread.
Posted by ke4nt1 on Aug. 26 2004,03:07
There are already many threads available to help you..Search the forums for "desktop" or "icons" ...
Set your search for posts, all open forums, from the beginning ...
73
ke4nt
Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Aug. 26 2004,03:14
I'm beginning to think we need to have a FAQ stickied somewhere around here...-J.P.
SaidinUnleashed
Posted by ico2 on Aug. 27 2004,19:47
i was a complete linux newbie when i first used dsl, it was easy and worked nicely on my main machine but had(has) a few issues on my older machine, for me dsl took no effort at all to figure out and very very rarely crashes (and then it was because i stuck too much stuff on the ramdisk most of the time).i am now downloading 0.8 in the hope that it will work on the older machine.
my current project is creating modified versions of dsl (ie: server)
i love dsl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by jerome2 on Aug. 28 2004,01:44
Well the thing is I resided the partition on my AMDk6 and it worked (so it seemed).Now I know that youre not supposed to resize NTFS partions with cfdisk.