no such file or directory for frugal install
Forum: HD Install
Topic: no such file or directory for frugal install
started by: lwmxynedtodth
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 08 2006,17:43
Hai,I just tried to instal DSL in Frugal mode, as told by the HOWTO "Frugal instal on HD."
This is what I do:
-mounting cdrom by bootflop provided in download section
-dsl 2 (text mode)
- created right partitions with cfdisk (hda1:80 mb, type 83, hda2:1740 mb, type 83, hda3: swap 320 mb, type 82), I am sure this is fine
- formatted the partitions with mkef2 command, all fine
-rebooting, dsl 2 mode, and trying to run the /usr/sbin/frugal_instal.sh
Now comes the bad part, it says "no such file or directory."
By my noobish linux understanding, this means there is no file like that. Obviously, it seems very logic, because there is nothing on the hd.
My first possible solution: I used the dsl-2.3-syslinux version. Now I'm burning the dsl-2.3 version, and try that one.
My second possible solution: the hash is not pointed to the proper drive. How can I, if this 'frugal_instal.sh' file is on the cd, or on the ramdrive, access it?
Any help in this misunderstanding (sorry, but noobs are meant to learn) would be very appreciated.
Ciao,
lwmxynedtodth
PS:
system specs:
p1 200mhz, 80 mb ram and a hd 2gb, cdrom, pcmcia, usb and a very old bios, so only floppy booting is available. Don't ask for the brand, it is brandless. (yes, pityful)
Posted by doobit on May 08 2006,19:57
You have enough hardware that you don't need to boot in dsl 2 mode. Go ahead and boot upto a normal desktop and run the install script from the desktop menu.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 09 2006,11:32
Well, there went on something really strange.I'm trying to install DSL to my hd in every possible option.
First I tried to use the "install" boot mode, this went fine.
Installed frugal, image on hda1, and booting. Booting went very slow, hangs on autodetection, notices bios, goes on.
The desktop loads VERY slow, and the memusage (etc) screen flickers all the time. Mention: my videocard doesn't support 1024/768/32, so this could be the reason. Need something to set it on 1024/768/16 or something like that.
Also, my touchpad does not work. When I try to scroll, it goes terribly slow. So, do I really have enough hardware?
Next thing. I thought, well, install on hd (without frugal) and see if this goes faster. Well, it took a while to copy all data, and when my laptop restarts, grub gives an error.
Grub was installed to boot frugal, and I thing it hangs because the frugal was removed when I installed clean to the hd.
You got it? Is there something to speed it up, or is it always that slow? And is there something like a howto on installing clean to the hd.
Is it a possible solution to instal grub to hda1, DSL system to hda2, dsl home etc to hda3 and swap to hda4, and make Grub boot dsl from hda2.
Any help would be appreciated.
lwmxynedtodth
EDIT: I only have 2 mb graphic memory.
EDIT2: When I am using the frugal on hd, ram looks fine and is mostly not used, and the swap too. But when I do something, like just scrolling down with the keypad, the cpu usage boosts to 100%. It is just 200 mhz, that should be enough.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 09 2006,11:58
I got it. While browsing this forum, I saw a screenshot during a hd install. I figured out, that my pc did not mention to configure lilo or grub. I do not really know, because I always do something else when a install is copying, or doing something that takes a lot of time. Just to do something in the spare time, instead of waiting. But mentioning, when the hd install completes the copying, it hangs, restarts or something like that. So what is wrong? I got the syslinux dsl 3.2 version, apperently the dsl-2.3 (do not know it was 3.2 either 2.3) image on the mirrors do not work. So what is wrong?
Posted by doobit on May 09 2006,12:45
If you can get a desktop with the one you have then there's nothing wrong with it. You need to do some setup for your machine before you continue to boot. The instructions are in the F2 and F3 screens after you reach the boot prompt. Yes, if you wait it will continue automatically at that point with the defaults, which are obviously not the correct settings for your computer. If you have 2MB of video RAM, then you can probably support 800x600 at 16 bits tops. When you get to the boot screen (that's the black one with the penguin under the magnifying glass and boot: at the bottom) type fb800x600 dsl norestore base apm=off noapci vga=785 and then enter. That will get you into a proper desktop hopefully.The F2 and F3 keys and the Getting Started page and the Wiki are your friends
Use them, read them, Love them.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 09 2006,12:56
It supports at best, 1024/768/16.Boot mode: fb1024x768 dsl norestore base apm=off noapci vga=785
is this right? and what are the other options doing?
-lwmxynedtodth
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 10 2006,11:50
Hey,It works finally. Just ran xvesa, choosed the resolution and stuff and everything went fine.
But there is another problem. It is awfully slow.
My mouse is functioning, but when I use it, it skips over my screen.
The statistics on the desktop are refreshing, and when I start something like aterminal, it takes a while to start. The cpu usage boosts to 100%. Also the screen is not responding very fast, so when I press a button, it takes some time when I see it on the screen. I got a 200 mhz laptop, an Intel P1 MMX, this should be enough, right? The ram is ok, uses 25% of phys. ram and 0% swap.
What can I do to let it boot faster (takes over 7 minutes) and to make the desktop faster.
Posted by kerry on May 10 2006,12:21
hmmm, I'm guessing you got the system installed now? So you need to edit grub to turn dma on>just change the nodma to dma. Your first post say you have 80mb ram, did you make a swap? If i was in your shoes i would load into ram and run from there, also make at least a 1gig swap so your computer has plenty of extra mem to use. I think you add toram and from=hd(your hd #) to grub to load it toram at start from your hd. That's all i can think of to get it faster running from ram with no moving parts should give some speed.I'm not sure if it will help but, what i do is run my laptop from ram(no install) and just leave it on and let the screen sleep when not in use,it also sleeps when you close the lid. To wake it up i just move the mouse or if i closed the lid it will wake up when i open it. This way i don't have to even wait for boot.
Posted by kerry on May 10 2006,12:25
OH, almost forgot. Try running xsetup.sh from a running system or xsetup cheat code when booting. This will give you the option to setup screen,mouse,dpi,etc... all in one go.What i do to load my laptop is put the cdrom in and boot at start i hit F2 than i just use the cheat code > dsl toram xsetup
That's it after that i just add my dsl extensions and customize to my likeing. pic-> < http://img287.imageshack.us/img287/8315/fluxbox9rj.png >
My laptop has s 256mb ram and i'm using a 512mb usb key as swap. I have no harddrive and my floppy and cdrom are if'y(may or may not work). My desktop just has 1 gig ram and that's it no hd or swap.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 10 2006,13:52
Ok. Looks great. But my laptop has a 2 gig hd, so 1 gig swap is too much. But I'll try something.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 10 2006,18:29
But what is the difference between the syslinux dsl distro and the normal dsl distro. And what are the tested system requirements for dsl? I've seen nobody on this forum with the same system, talking about slow speed. I've read about people who got a lesser system, and still not talking about slow speed. So what could be wrong with mine? And do I really need 128+ ram for toram booting? Or is 80 mb, with 320 mb swap also enough?Ciao,
lwmxynedtodth
Posted by kerry on May 10 2006,21:12
I think 80+swap will work for to ram, it dosen't hurt to try.If you run from ram like i suggest you do, that 1 gig will be xtra mem, you can use the other 1 gig for saving stuff,like your myDSL extensions so you don't have to keep installing them if you pop the newst dsl in. With DSL you can actually be installed and running with out actually installing, that's the great feature of running in ram, it will only use the hd swap when it needs more space for storage, other than that your hd will be sitting there doing nothing, that's why you would get more speed with no moving parts. It's the same as a frugal install with out actually installing. If somthing goes wrong you only have to pop the cd back in and reboot and just use the cheat code again( dsl toram xsetup ) and your system will be back up, plus if you make a myDSL folder and put the mydsl extensions you download you won't even have to reinstall your extensions, dsl will find and install them while booting, you can also use the backup feature to save your settings.I keep my info on a usb drive because i have no hd's to save to. Here's a pic of what i save on my drive.->
< http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/4597/desktop4pb.png >
You've got to at least try it, than you will understand why it's a great way to use DSL.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 11 2006,07:43
Well, I tried booting the cdrom from floppy, goes fine, used "dsl toram ram=80M xsetup" went fine, but the system is also slow. I'll try a frugal install to hd then, with the toram options for booting. Just 1 gig swap is ok. But are my settings stored fine at frugal install? And how do these dsl extensions work?EDIT: ow, when doing the toram from cd, I saw in the statistics the ram usage was 17%, so it didn't use my ram for the image at all.
Posted by kerry on May 11 2006,09:24
It's just> dsl toram xsetup , not> dsl toram ram=80M xsetup. One thing at a time, get it working to your satifaction first before thinking about adding extensions to it.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 11 2006,11:10
Well, that's oke. I only thought, lets tell dsl how much ram I have, so it doesn't try to write more data than 80 mb.I'll try.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 14 2006,16:16
Okey, I did. Just booted the cd with 'dsl toram xsetup."Booting went fine, but dsl is still slow like I figured before. And the RAM use is still on 17%, which is 12 MB. The weird thing is, it should be filled up to 60 mb, because the image is set in ram.
Does anybody know what's going on?
Posted by kerry on May 14 2006,21:00
No it shouldn't be filled, most should go into your swap. Only the programs you are useing at that moment will be in ram and stay there till there bumped by other programs. What does your swap say? It might be that dsl checks for a minumum of 128 and ignores the cheat code if it's less, which would be stupid, but it's possiable. Did you try turning on dma(dsl xsetup dma) to speed up the hd.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 15 2006,06:10
Uhm. There is still windhoos on, so there is no swap part set.And dma was off. I'll try it on with a swap partition.
Posted by lwmxynedtodth on May 20 2006,16:20
Well, I finally figured out why it was so slow. The autoconfigure failed every time. That was just the cause, it couldn't figure out my usb or pcmcia. The "nousb" and "nopcmcia" boot time did the trick.Anyway, thanks for help, and I post a solution in the 'tips & tricks.' Maybe others could use it.
Sayonara,
lwmxynedtodth