Hey people, i am a complete newbie to this whole linux thingy.
It seems rather strange that this OS is just unusable. i am sure that isnt the way to get more people to migrate to what, in theory is a great idea.


my quibble is with mandrake linux 9.1 - which is meant to be one of the more 'user-friendly' distro's? i have installed it FIVE times on my PC, and everytime after installation, the mandrake screen comes up when it seems to be loading up more things than i remember windows xp doing (and taking a LOT longer in the process, too) and then just suddenly my monitor sorta blanks out, and nothing happens. what am i supposed to do?


this is nothing short of shoddy work from the people at mandrake - it wont run with my pc, which isnt so new as to lack support i would have thought.



my spec:celeron700@1050, 768Mb ram, ATI Radeon7000PCI64MbDDR, liteon52246s, hitachi dvd, hdd1 ibm 80gb and hdd2 maxtor 40gb both on Sii680RAID card.


please, can someone help me out, i dont know what to do - it would really take the cake if i had to download some other distro (i hear red-hat is like 6cds - i only have a measly 512k broadband connection!)

1) You can enable/disable as much as you want
2) My guess is that windows just deosn't tell you what it is doing.
3) It sounds like you have a graphics issue (I assume you installed a gui since you say you are a newbie)

Edit your bootloader arguments and add " 3" no quotes to your kernel arguments. This should get you into a CLI where you can configure your graphics hardware.

Sounds like you installed a lot of servers/deamons/services which you probably dont need.
What exactly happens at bootup? Do you get a login prompt?
Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1, or Ctrl+Alt+F2

Try the startx command after you've logged in if nothing more happens

The X server might not like your monitor as it's currently set up, try reading about configuring XFree86

Considering dial up speeds that ain't too bad

You can download another if you'd like, or you can work out your problem with your current distro, it's up to you.

What I'd do is force it to NOT start X after the startup, from that point you can troubleshoot problems easier than where nothing loads at all

You can do that by either going into rescue mode and reconfiguring it in /etc/inittab OR re-install and when you get to the point where you configure your graphics tell it not to start X by default.

Cool

AAAAGH - i dont know what to do - this is all soooo bad.
there is no such thing as a command line - i havent seen one, and how do i do this boot thingy configure? moreover, how do i stop this thing from messing me about? i installed the bootsector onto my windows xp main drive (called hde) - and i cant find the boot config things - how do i do this?

Surely even if the X server fails you'll be handed a command line login?

i dont get any login prompt - no nothing - you get this fancy box with things in the middle that it says [OK] at the end of them - then randomly, it the monitor goes black, and then powers down like it isnt having a signal sent to it - no input from me - it just keeps doing it!

Sounds like the monitor doesnt like the current X settings so much that it trips out.
Did you try those keys to get a text login prompt?
Did you install Lilo or GRUB? Can you type a 3 after your OS selection?

You're 512K cable is fast compared to my 56K, so dont complain.

Same here - Do people think that 56k is extict or something?

RH9 is ony 3 CDs - there are 6 but you only need 1, 2 & 3.

After the screen goes "blank" can you press:
CTRL ALT F2
And have it switch to a console (a black screen with a "Login" prompt at the top)?

If not, then you either need to enter rescue mode (as described on your install CD) OR re-install and follow the directions above.

Cool

ZipSlack is what ,40MB? Gentoo, 58? TomsRTB>1.44MB.



I think his mere 512 could handle those

Cool

hello,
right, i think that i did something i shouldnt have done before turning xp back on again - somehow - i dont know how, i got into this configuration page thing - like the olden days with dos - it looked like that - and i changed something from level 5 to level 3 - i dont know if this is good or bad.
now i have a login prompt.
when i log in what do i do?

1)Run:
redhat-config-xfree86
2) Set your graphics harware properties
3) Test your settings by running "Xtest", you will get a message on your screen asking if it has worked. If it hasn' then just leave it for 15 seconds and it will exit automatically. You can then go back to step 2 and reconfigure your hardware.

but i am not running redhat - i am running mandrake 9.1 - is it the same or different?

Oh - you need to login as root too.