Unable to create swapfile

mam1 · 12-02-2006, 12:19 PM

When booting knoppix I get the message that I have only 79508kb of ram available.... and it is not large enough to run kde.

It says I can create a swapfile on an existing dos-partition.

The next screen then asks if I want to create a swapfile knoppix.swp. If I try nothing happens. The only way to get past this screen is to hit cancel and then it boots but says there is note enough memory to start kde.

Can anyone tell me how to create this swapfile????

thanks

Brian1 · 12-02-2006, 12:28 PM

Not sure of the minimum ram requirement, check knoppix docs for that, but what it is looking for is a fat32 type partition to tempory use as swap. Not sure if it can see a fat32 format USB drive or memory flash card. If you one of those give that a try. If still no luck then there are some switches that can be applied at boot. Not sure if that will help though.

Brian

mam1 · 12-02-2006, 01:15 PM

what types of switches are available? Also, can you explain where to do this (during the boot?)

Renars · 12-02-2006, 02:04 PM

It is also possible that you just don't have any existing DOS partition.
As it says, it can "create a swapfile on an existing dos-partition".
If there are only ext (the ones, that *NIX uses) partitions, there is no way to avoid this error.

pixellany · 12-02-2006, 03:10 PM

How much total RAM do you have? Other system specs?

If--eg--your RAM is less than ~256MB, you are going to have lots of issues--not just with a live CD. I vividly remember the quantum improvement in a P-III/Windows 2000 box when upgrading from 128M to 192M----night and day.

Brian1 · 12-02-2006, 03:35 PM

Checked into the info on knoppix requirements. It says it requires 32mb for text mode and 96 meg for KDE. 128mb better. The switch I was thinking of was for telling knoppix that you have a certain amount of memory when the bootloader did not detect all your ram.
Example: If system had 256meg and knoppix only seen 128meg you can use this boot option on the boot line. knoppix mem=256M

Brian

mam1 · 12-02-2006, 06:09 PM

This machine has a pentium II 350 processor w/ 96 mb ram. I did create a partition on the hard drive. I just can't create this swap file.

I also read about creating a swap partition instead of a file. I would try this if I knew how.

syg00 · 12-02-2006, 09:40 PM

If it were me, I'd get the Gentoo minimal liveCD (CLI only - no X), and setup (and format) a swap partition.
Then boot Knoppix - it'll find the swap once it's been formatted. No more problems.