ZipSlack 10 + LOADLIN give error message(s) --INIT: Cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"--
 

My computer configuration:

CPU: AMD Athlon 1600+ XP
RAM: 256 DDR
VGA: GeForce 2 Ti, 64MB
Hard drive: Western Digital 30GB
DVD-ROM: Sony... something
CD-RW: Plextor 24x... something
Display: Sony Multiscan G220

I am a newbie, but I have tried Linux for some times in the past, I now want to make the big step! But the passage must be "smooth". I don't want to make a re-partitioning, so ZipSlack seemed a good choice.

I downloaded the 45MB .zip from ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/slackware/slackware-10.0/zipslack/, then decompressed, and figured out a LOADLIN cmd line like this:

loadlin.exe vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 rw

I can see messages running very fast on my display, I guess the Kernel is loading stuff. I can see the Kernel detecting all my hard drives and IDE CD-ROMs.

Then.. it halts, and I get this:

INIT: Cannot execute "/sbin/agetty"
(repeats many times)

INIT: Id "c5" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes
(repeats many times for "c5" and for "c6")

INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel

After that, I cannot type. When I press CTRL+ALT+DEL it prompts:

INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/shutdown"

I downloaded again to prevent a curruped .zip issue but I got the same thing. :( Checked the /sbin/agetty file.. It indeed exists and it is not read-only.

I read in the README that it would be preferable to download a Kernel without any SCSI support because I have only IDE. So I did. I downloaded the file "bzImage" from ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware/kernels/bare.i/. Same message.

I got desperate and tried to load 3 Kernels from Mandrake 8.x or 9.x CD (compiled of cource). Procedure halts with completely different error messages. Guess there is incompatibility between Mandrake and ZipSlack/Slackware Kernels, no interest to further investigate that.

The question is how to make ZipSlack work?

And something else.. Is it possible to LOG all those things that appear in my screen while the Kernel loads?

Any help welcome.

This error results from a bad unzip. Be sure you are unzipping directly to your FAT partition.

Thanks for answering gnashley.

Beafore your recommendation I had ZipSlack into C:\LINUX.

Both of the times I downloaded the zipslack.zip, I decompressed it as path C:\LINUX, so the Kernel image location was "C:\LINUX\vmlinuz". I never got a "currepted .zip archive" message from WinRAR 3.40.

After your recommendation, I copied all the files in D:\ and tried to start LOADLIN from there (changed properly the command line of cource), but I still get the same messages.

I am very disapointed as I have no idea of what I am doing wrong :(

Try using winzip or alzip. One of my AmigoLinux users reported problems with winrar

Indeed! Thans gnashley.

I downloaded WinZip 9.0 from www.winzip.com, decompressed and worked fine.

What is that WinZip does differently from WinRAR?

Since I am a native WinRAR user, I wonder of something: now that I have ZipSlack on my hard drive, I can pack it in a .rar and don't have to use WinZip next time I need to unzip it. Is this possible? If this is not possible, maybe I could do a TAR+GZIP or TAR+BZIP2...

I am very anxious to get rid Win32 :-) , but I am afraid I still need it for PC games :-(. However, some hame titles exist for Linux too. Is it true that 3D games (e.g. Unreal Tournament 2004) run better on Linux because of better resource management?

Can I change the refresh rate of my monitor in command line (beafore entering X-Windows or KDE)?

I remember back in Slackware 3.1 (Slackware 96) there was a way to change the font in command line (beafore entering X-Windows or KDE). Is it still there in ZipSlack 10?

Hi, I'm having the very same problem, but using Winzip didn't solve it. What else could I do? Thanks.

I had this issue, but it was because I forgot to edit the linux.bat file to where the vmlinuz was correctly.

I play UT2004 on an amd/2500 overclocked to 3200+ speed's. I've played the Unreal games since they first came out, LOL an old foo playing games.

The UT2004 I've played since it first came out, but it was in Windows and I got used to how it plays, so any deviation now 2 years later really catches my eye.

Personally I am very excited to see that Epic released this title for gnu/linux. Yet, while Epic truly made a nicely running game on linux; it in no way compares to the way that this game runs in windows.

I believe this game is merely ported over, and not really optimized and/or scrutinized for linux. They only have one man in all of Epic running the linux project, so I guess we should expect a lesser polished game, and that's fine with me. It is not like a team of engineers is working on it and that is according to the readme file that is included on my store bought cd.

For example, if I'm not playing in the league ( LOL an old foo in a league right LOL) I turn all my details on high in windows, and the game will never skip a beat ever. The audio is perfect, sound incredible, and without flaw, even on dolby surround sound after they issued a few patches after the game officially released. For league games, all details off audio is on safe mode.

But if I play the game in linux, I have my details at medium when I'm just playing for fun. For league games, they're all the way down. Open gl is not friendly on this game at all. Especially trilinear filtering and coronas..linux does not like them at all. And open-al sound for this game in linux is horrible. You can hear foot steps all the way accross the map but nothing near you. I found that if you go into ut2004.ini and turn the rolloff way up this fixes it somewhat. And turning off the ambient too.

But I guess I should keep in mind that I'm using an ATI card, which does NOT have anywhere of good performing video drivers in linux compared to what it does in windows. Maybe if I had an nvidia card I'd see no difference. So my opinion could easily be changed and I could be falsly stating my opinion of the graphics. But I do notice that and FOV of 90 in Windows is an FOV of about 105 or so it looks in linux.

But here is the incredible side to the linux version IMO. The netcode is incredible!!!!! There is no lag, I actually ping better to my favorite servers better. The pc never crashes, even with everything running in the background. The mouse is super responsive, no input buffer locks like in windows. And it is so nice to use an operating system that locks your darn monitor at 60 hz which is horrible for gaming. This game wants and needs 85 refresh rate (assuming the server admin is locking it out) and linux runs bitterly sweet for me at 85 vert refresh. When you cursor over something and fire ...even at a high ping of 80 ping...you get the shot every time. Windows was way different, even at 40 ping you have to lead your shots.

I think Epic if they wanted to, and if they see enough interest could easily put the man hours in to get the game to be even better than in winwdows because of the inherit way that linux does do a lot better with resource management and netcode.

The sad thing is that Epic does not even report how many downloads of linux there's been. they dont report if they are happy with the linux people running it. To that effect I dont understand as they know your game version as soon as you click join online game.

I can tell you that there are vicious rumors that they may not release UT2007 for linux. And that if you do like the game be sure to send them an email and tell them you like the game.

There was an article over at linuxtoday or linuxnews one of them, that talks about the fact that opengl could actually be sold off. What that would mean, I dont know, but kind of weird.

I think as long as we keep see the forward motion of gnu/linux on the desktop and people asking the manufacturer's to port their games over we'll see more active development on the open-gl and open-al side of things. Just look at the reported success of quake. It's huge in linux, and that has to be catching the eye's of gaming company's even MS. A game that old to have thousands of players on at any time over the course of a weekend is a true statement.

I did edit the linux.bat file. Since zipslack is in C:\Linux I set root=/dev/hda1. I guess the kernel is found since linux does boot, it just can't find any files in the fs.

I thought it could have been related to the emm386.exe and himem.sys devices, but I added them to the config.sys file and still no change.

Any ideas?

you do have the vmlinuz sitting in the top of the directory right? in the '/' and not in a folder correct.

cuz the linux.bat is kind of like a mini lilo if you will. it has linux code to get you started till it grabs your real vmlinuz. if you ain't pointing to your real vmlinuz you will get a kernel panic.

that's what happened to me, just thought I'd clarify that again a different way in case my words didnt come to the screen here as I meant them to before.