need tutorial...

Forum: HD Install
Topic: need tutorial...
started by: mannetje

Posted by mannetje on April 15 2006,15:17

i need to have damn small linux installed to my hdd but i don't know how... i have a live cd and it boots but when i do right click > apps > tools > hdd install it asks me to what device it should be installed for example hda2... what is my hd? so far i know it doesn't evern recognize my hdd... (it does in bios) but how do i format it to make a linux partition and install damn small linux to it? i need a clearly tutorial... (i have searched but i can't find a good one)

~sven van de scheur...

Posted by piccolo on April 15 2006,17:23

I assume that you will install DSL and no data of interest stored in the hard disk.

You need format hard disk using a utility called: "cfdisk".
The hard disk is called "hda", so you will create two partitions called: "hda1", "hda2", respectly.

Procedure:
1. Open up an xterminal window (Click on Aterminal icon on desktop) and type:

sudo su
cfdisk /dev/hda

With cfdisk you must create the two partitions with following features:

- hda1 Linux Swap Type 82 Size (at least 128mb)
- hda2 Linux Type 83 Size the rest of the disk space or at least 2gb.

3. Reboot your system, again with the DSL livecd

4. Again open up an xterminal window and type:

sudo su
mkswap /dev/hda1
swapon /dev/hda1
dsl-hdinstall

The last line will execute the same install script that you saw before when did: apps > tools > hdd install
Follow the instructions...
....
When it ask you where DSL should be installed, the answer is: hda2
....
When it ask you if Lilo o Grub, not worry, choose any. Anyway the configuration will be automatic
....

5) Shutdown DSL, extract DSL livecd and boot again:
It will ask you a "user password" and "root password" that you must create.
The "user name" by defect is: dsl

Posted by mannetje on April 16 2006,15:57

Quote (piccolo @ April 15 2006,13:23)

FATAL ERROR: Cannot open disk drive
Press any key to exit cfdisk

Posted by mannetje on April 16 2006,16:04

well i found a possible cause of the problem...

my linux pc doesn't have a harddisk...

Posted by green on April 16 2006,16:05

Do this at a command prompt:

sudo su

cfdisk

Post the results here.

What does the Mount Tool show you? It's the neat little square in the lower right hand corner of your desktop. You can click where it says "fd0" or "cdrom" or whatever. It should cycle through hardware it knows about.

Why do "have" to have a HDD install ?

EDIT: Just saw your latest post. Please disregard this one.

Posted by mannetje on April 16 2006,16:10

Quote (green @ April 16 2006,12:05)

just installed a hdd... so i hope it goes better from now on...

Posted by mannetje on April 16 2006,16:22

Quote (piccolo @ April 15 2006,13:23)

wich one must be bootable i took the big one...

Posted by piccolo on April 16 2006,19:36

Your DSL installation will go to partition hda2. Therefore the answer is: hda2
A interesting online encyclopedia to learn about computer terminology like:
Boot Loader (Grub, Lilo)
MBR (Master Boot Register)
Swap Partition
....and much more

www.wikipedia.org

I it recommend highly for all, specially for Linux newbies.

Posted by init-5 on April 16 2006,21:17

Quote (piccolo @ April 15 2006,13:23)

Hi

I am trying to install DSL on an IDE HDD inside Vmware Workstation 5.5. I tried using the SCSI virtual disks (sda1) but that didn't work and I read somewhere on the forums that there were issues with that. So I created a new Virtual Disk, this time IDE and followed steps to install to the HDD (frugal).

After running cfdisk and creating hda1 and hda2, I reboot the OS and the next time the system does not boot. It just hangs at a black screen with the cursor. This happens in place of the Tux image that one sees during booting from the CD. I have tried SCSI disks, IDE disks but nothing works. I have been trying for almost 2 days with different options now.

So basically I am stuck at step #3 as specified in the quoted text.

Any idea whats going wrong?

Thanks much

--KC

Posted by piccolo on April 17 2006,09:56

Sorry, even i have not experience running DSL on emulators.
Any idea: Perhaps (in step 3) you must explicitly specify what boot from CDROM (VMware Documentation). But literally i'm shooting in the dark.
Perhaps better if you post your question on DSL Embedded Forum