Reinstallation: Doin' it right!

TheOneAndOnlySM · 03-07-2004, 06:15 PM

place this at the top of your fstab
/dev/hda1 /boot ext3 defaults 1 2

also, if you see my edit of my previous post, you may have accidently moved other files accidently as well (but this isn't too likely)

also, edit your /etc/inittab file and change the line that looks like
default::3::runlevel (may not use those words) and change the 3 to a 4 and reboot; you will now boot into a gui after the system starts up

*edit: btw, don't panic, you will be fine (and don't get frustrated when i say this, but worst comes worst, if things get too confusion, you can always reinstall and you won't have to recreate the partitions)

*edit 2: i think i may have been unclear; do both of the things i mentioned in this post (edit your fstab and inittab files)

mattp · 03-07-2004, 06:18 PM

I will try that in one second. What about those missing files?

mattp · 03-07-2004, 06:33 PM

I rebooted from the CD after I made the changes to FSTAB and INITTAB with the bare.i root=/dev/hda5 noinitrd ro command.

It started up KDE, but it froze with a grey screen and a little clock icon.

Im sweating profusely now...

TheOneAndOnlySM · 03-07-2004, 06:45 PM

get into a console (ctrl alt f6)

login as root
do
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/anything
cd /mnt/anything
dir

what do you see? if it is more than stuff than from /boot, then you may have had a problem from that mv * command

if that is the case, a reinstall is the best option (granted you haven't any necessary files that need to remain with you)

*edit: i may not be able to respond until tomorrow evening, i have just found myself quite busy

if it needs to come to reinstalling, just remember to start the setup process as normal, set swap as /dev/hda6, root as /dev/hda5, select /dev/hda1 as another partition and mount it under /boot (during the install process); format all these partitions when the installer asks (a quick format is all that is necessary)

finally, choose to install lilo into the mbr of /dev/hda as what i wrote in a previous post

fancypiper · 03-07-2004, 06:53 PM

And make sure you install mc (midnight commander), and links (web browser) for working in console. The HTML HOWTOS and the Rute guide are great learning tools that should be installed on any system, IMHO.

I haven't tried installing slack, but I have a general knowledge and if you can copy and paste results of commands and config files for examination, I can help screw you up further.

# System administration
To change to the full root account (system administrator), if you are running X, open an x terminal and use these commands from your user account. Note the change in the prompt. You can do the same from a virtual terminal as well, but you can't open an x terminal to do so.

Code:

[fancy@tinwhistle fancy]$ su -
Password: <give root password and press enter>
[root@tinwhistle root]#

Remember, now whatever you command in root (it's the "god" mode. You can bless or destroy at your whim) usually gets done if enough system is left to carry out the command.

Sit on your hands and read your commands you type at least 3 times before pressing the enter key when in root.

If you have Midnight Commander installed, type

Code:

mc

and press return and the Midnight Commander shell should run. Type CTRL-O and you are in the bash shell. Type CTRL-O again and you are in back in mc.

Code:

man mc
info mc

will give lots of info. You can use Midnight Commander in either user or root accounts.

You can do the normal linux copy/paste with the mouse from one virtual terminal to another by left clicking and swiping text in one, alt-FN to switch to the virtual terminal you wish to paste into, and middle click will paste the text that was swiped in the first virtual terminal into the file at the blinking cursor position. Using mc means you have to also hold down the shift key while swiping to copy.

To surf the internet from the command line, I recommend installing links as it displays most pages reasonably. Also, you can use it to post your questions about Linux here using it. Remember to refresh the posting page after login.

There should be no fear of the command line as it is actually easier to use than the gui. All that is necessary is to know the bash commands.

mattp · 03-07-2004, 09:06 PM

Thanks to both of you!! I think together.... we (I) can get through this

I dont have internet on the PC that Im going to be installing slack on. I hope this wont be too much of a problem.

I know bash commands fairly well (at school I use bash with mac os) and I used mandrake for a little while before slack.

I took a pic of my screen of the results of SM's instructions. I cant find away to post the image on the forum so Ill just give a summary of what I see...

All of the files there seem to be from /boot, only a few got me worried:

(in blue font)
recycled/
System\ Volume\ Information/

I dont recall seeing those in /boot, and I think they may be a result of my foolish mv * command.

Little Side Note: When I had Drake installed on my computer, I ran the command chmod 777 -r / which REALLY screwed up my machine, so it wouldn't be the first time I did something bad as root!

Anyhow, whats the diagnosis? Reinstall? I will try to mess with MC. I do have one concern with it tho, I don't want to work with too many tools that abstract the details of Linux. If the cost of learning Linux is running a few reinstallations, so be it. My main goal is to learn linux.

fancypiper · 03-07-2004, 09:36 PM

It's a PITA without internet access with the Linux system, isn't it? That's the reason I chose an external serial port modem on my box, specifically so that I could do everything in console if I had to.

Personally, at your level of experience, I would do a re-install with a printed copy of the install instructions at hand, taking copious notes of what you commanded and the result so you can post them if needed.

Remember especially your chosen partitioning scheme when mounting your partitions for install, making directories if needed, then mounting, then doing whatever your install calls for. I especially like to have a separate /home partition for anything I need to keep if I need to re-install or if/when I decide to change distros. Then I don't lose my hard earned info like the notes I took of install command and my errors that I happened to paste into a text file. Hey, you could look at that from the live CD, can't you????

Midnight commander is a command line tool that will actually help you learn how to use the command line as you have all sorts of commands available at the touch of either a key or mouse and it has a double pane file display for easy move/copy/compare when you can't remember the command or haven't taken the time to alias the command and flags to a simple command I can remember. More confusion for you to consider:

Code:

# Duron 950 uilleann .bashrc file for user fancy
# User specific aliases and functions

# Change bash prompt. See the article:
# http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork.../l-tip-prompt/
export PS1='\d \@ \[\e[32;1m\]\u\[\e[34;1m\]@\[\e[36;1m\]\H \[\e[34;1m\]\w\[\e[32;1m\] $ \[\e[0m\]'
# For the root account I use this
# export PS1='\d \@ \[\e[31;1m\]\u\[\e[34;1m\]@\[\e[36;1m\]\H \[\e[34;1m\]\w\[\e[31;1m\] # \[\e[0m\]'

# Set paths
alias path='echo -e ${PATH//:/\\n}'

# Start the screensaver daemon
alias saver='nohup xscreensaver &'

# Allow local users to use my X session
# xhost +local:

# Dialup, start fetchmail daemon and startx
alias x='/sbin/ifup ppp0;fetchmail -d 300;startx'

# Alter the ls command
alias ls='ls -ac'
alias lls='ls -lac'

# Become system administrator
alias god='su -'

# Connect/disconnect the internet by modem
alias dial='/sbin/ifup ppp0'
alias hangup='/sbin/ifdown ppp0'

# Launch links with my linux links page
alias links='links /home/fancy/bookmarks.html'

# Power down/reboot
alias off='shutdown -h now'
alias boot='shutdown -r now'

# For nano editor because I forget which one I use in which distro
alias pico='nano -w'
alias nano='nano -w'

# Script needs to be on the bottom of the file or RH updates will fsck it up
# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
	. /etc/bashrc
fi

mattp · 03-08-2004, 08:43 AM

HEY HEY! I DID IT!

I reinstalled a 3rd time (following directions very cafefully) and got it to go. I edited inittb to boot into the GUI, and Mr. Google helped me boot to KDE instead of Gnome.

I do have one question tho...

I set lilo to give me the command prompt at 1024 x 798. How can I change it to 800 x 600?

TheOneAndOnlySM · 03-08-2004, 05:41 PM

edit your /etc/lilo.conf file (with a tools such as kwrite); if when you do su and it tells you "kwrite" could not be found, give the explicity pathname (i believe it is /opt/kde/bin/kwrite /etc/lilo.conf)

you can always, of course, use vi...

but anyway, in that file it will give a list of options for the vga mode (which is what tells the prompt to be a certain resolution); fine the entry that states the number for 800x600x256 and change the vga=773 (or whatever the number is) to this new number

then, run the command lilo (you may have to run this while su -, or give the whole pathname)

btw, glad you could work things out

mattp · 03-08-2004, 06:05 PM

Thanks to both of you guys for all of the help. I gave you both some nice affero ratings.

mattp · 03-08-2004, 10:20 PM

Man, I love Linux. To learn how to install programs I downloaded a small program called bmp2html. Once I got it installed I didnt quite like the output it printed so I just opened up the source code, and modified it to my liking. For someone who was born into DOS, and then Windows, it was pretty cool to see my will show up on the program I downloaded.