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Topic: Can't get to first base, ISO

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jpsimm

Group: Members
Posts: 12
Joined: Sep. 2007

Posted: Oct. 28 2007,07:00

I'd sure like to try DSL but cannot seem to manage it. Everytime I download the ISO and burn it to a DVD it seems OK but.... When I try to boot it something seems to always be wrong. Once I got the DSL splash (??) screen but usually I get an error saying "no system" disc or something like that.

My bios seems a good one and I have it correctly set. (I think)

Only once has this proceedure worked for me. That was when I was trying Puppy Linux 2.15ce. Their later versions don't work for me and so far DSL won't either.

My 'puter is not old though the motherboard is no longer in production. It's something like a Nivida 8NF_. Can't remember. The chipset is AMD64.

I do not have any other OS working.

The "minimalist" idea seems good to me. And DSL seems perfect! A small box with a fanless board and some USB thingies. Low power draw, run it off a solar panel/battery. First though I'd sure like to know more about exactly what is happening when an ISO is present on a DVD. What exactly is supposed to be included in that? Why only sometimes does it work? Is it true that one should not download an ISO using that same OS?

Arggguuuuuhhh!!!!

ps...

The secondary reason for "evolving" to a small efficient linux OS is to become a more competent user. I need to understand the answer to my question, not just have it fixed for me. How can I, in my retirement, be a Linux/computer hobbiest if I can't even download and install a friggin OS?

Juanito

Group: Members
Posts: 1601
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Oct. 28 2007,07:26

Perhaps the problem lies with the software you're using to burn the iso - are you using something under linux or windows?

Maybe you could try burning the iso to cd rather than dvd? I've found it's better to burn the iso to cd slowly - i.e. 2x or 4x - rather than at the full rating of the cd drive.

If you have software that can unpack the iso, you could perhaps try to make a hd or usb stick installation directly (without passing via cd/dvd)?

jpsimm

Group: Members
Posts: 12
Joined: Sep. 2007

Posted: Oct. 28 2007,08:01

I did my downloading from within Puppy Linux this last time and am now downloading once again.

I understand about the speed in burning.

I thought that "unpacking" was the proceedure for doing an installation but here I will just be booting from a live CD and will perhaps install later.

Thanks for your response.

WDef

Group: Members
Posts: 798
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Oct. 28 2007,13:46

Don't worry! - Many of us had these teething problems when we first started using linux. Help is usually available, and make generous use of Google.

Further to Juanito's advice:

1. Are you sure you understand what is meant by burning a cd from an iso? Some people do things like copy the iso to a cd and then wonder why it doesn't boot. You should use the 'burn from image' (or similiar) menu in your cd burning software. OR a good freeware program for Windows is BurnCDCC http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads/burncdcc.zip

2. Have you checked your iso file's md5sum? A free prog for Windows that I quite like is http://www.toast442.org/md5/

3.. Try your cd on another machine and see if it boots so we know if it's your hardware.