I'm very new to Linux - I have a Live CD I've used to enough, to know that I'm ready for a Linux PC.

So I downloaded the image, burned it to DVD - and now, it doesn't install.

for one, i dont think it recognizes my hard drive.
for two, i think it sees my RAM as a hard drive, and is trying to partition it.

If any of this means something...

I have a Dell PC, with a 200 gig HD. I had Windows XP pro on it until recently - now nothing.

Help please.

I've just tried again, so i can post the warning message it gives me.

After it sets up my network for dhcp - it says it going to set up my partitions... or it's looking for partitions. here's what it tells me:

"Device /dev/sdb has a logical sector size of 2048. Not all parts of GNU Parted support this at the moment, and the working code is HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL."

I have 2 gigs of ram, so i guess that's what the 2048 is. I have no problem re-installing windows... i have everything backed up, and a Windows disk... so when i hit continue - to try installing anyway - it freezes at 36 or 38 percent.

Can you help?

Hi,

Which distribution are you trying to install? In other words, what's its name and version?

Also, can you post your hardware specifications?

Sam

Hello, Thanks for replying.

I'm trying to install Ubuntu Studio 7.04

My system is, a Dell Precision Workstation 370
P4 3.2 HT
2 G RAM
200 G HD
ATI Radeon X1950 XTX
Creative Soundblaster Live! 5.1

This morning, I partitioned the drive - into two 100 G drives... and Windows XP Pro is installed on one of them. I wouldn't mind installing Linux on the other 100... but I intended to have Linux as the only OS.

Oh sorry, forgot the thread title .

The 2048 refers to the partition sectors of your hard disk. Do you know enough about partitioning to try the manual partition in the install? If so, create a new partition map, and make sure it doesn't format any of the new partitions with a 2048 sector size. If in doubt, input a 1024 sector size - but the default should be acceptable.

There are plenty of partitioning howto's on the net. You will need at least a "/" root partition, and a 'swap' partition (the swap should be double your physical ram size, but it cannot exceed 2 gb size - you can, however, make 2 or more swap partitions)

Sam

i dont know what you're talking about... i know what partitions are - but i'm never prompted for that. it configured my network for dhcp - and then it told me that i had a logical 2048 - but there weren't any options to it.... i could continue, or go back to the network setup.

Ok, it looks like the partition manager that the install wants to use is "GNU Parted" but it can't deal with the partitions you created on the disk.

So, in the live cd, before you begin the install, open a terminal (Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal), and run the command 'fdisk /dev/hda'. If that doesn't work, try 'fdisk /dev/sda'.

Then you'll be given a prompt. From there, there are many guides to help you partition your disk for a linux environment. If you need help with the commands, like it says on the bottom, type 'm'. If you want to remove windows, it's as easy as removing the partition for it. You might actually need to remove all your partitions to solve the problem with GNU Parted.

You will need at minimum, two partitions to run Ubuntu Studio, or any linux distro, comfortably. One large linux partition, formatted as either ext3 or reiserfs (reiserfs being newer) and mounted as "/", the root partition, and a small swap partition - usually double the size of your physical ram, but smaller than 2 GB (you can have multiple swap partitions, not just one).

Some hints with fdisk - press 'p' to show your current partitions, press 'd' to delete a partition, 'n' to add a partition, and 'w' to finish.

Sam

Thanks.

I got Ubuntu Studio installed, thanks to your suggestion.

I had to install the Linux Live CD - that wasn't Ubuntu... it was, i think Aurox - when it installed, it set up all the partitions for me

Installing Ubuntu was very simple from that point.

I have a new problem, but I think I'm in the wrong forum to post it.

I have some video problem... I'll get into detail elsewhere.

Thanks again!

You're welcome, and good luck!

I'll have a look at your video post too.

Sam