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05-21-2011, 01:10 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Mar 2005
Distribution: ubuntu
Posts: 74
Rep:
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try lots of linux on one dvd?
Hi! I'm back after a long break, seems windows is not going to be my thing anymore, viruses suck, although that might have been my fault, surfing while drunk can be hazardous to your pc's health...
Anyway, after going straight to the latest Ubuntu release and really not liking it, slow and clunky I thought, I am in the market for something really lightweight perhaps. I know they all seem to do live cd's now, which is great, but at the moment, I only have a few dvd's to spare, and I thought "can't they just put the latest releases of the lightweight ones together on a dvd or 2?" I know it's probably been done already and I just haven't found the right google search term for it, that's usually the case whenever I think of something, but so far I've drawn a blank.
Does it exist? A dvd (or a bunch of them) with the latest lightweight linuxes (is that a valid plural? :OS ) all clumped together so I can choose which live dvd to try when I boot it.
It'd make it a bit cheaper to burn, and a lot quicker and more fun to try out and find my perfect distro, I would love to try it if such a project exists.
Thanks for any help you can give, I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't happened yet, but I see no reason for it not existing.
cheers
Dave
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Click here to see the post LQ members have rated as the most helpful post in this thread.
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05-21-2011, 01:26 PM
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#2
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Moderator
Registered: Dec 2009
Location: Germany
Distribution: Whatever fits the task best
Posts: 17,148
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Two things come to my mind here:
1. Test the distros in a virtual machine.
2. Test the distros on your physical machine, but boot from USB.
Both ways you don't need to burn a CD/DVD and you will get noticeably speed improvements.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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05-21-2011, 01:49 PM
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#3
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Member
Registered: Mar 2005
Distribution: ubuntu
Posts: 74
Original Poster
Rep:
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Thanks TobiSGD, it's not a great machine, so VM is pretty much out I think, plus, I'm not sure how to do it in the linux environment. USB booting might be an option if I can figure out how to do it, more googling ahead I expect...
DVD booting, I'm very familiar with, I was hoping it may have been done already and I've just missed it so far, failing any good suggestions about it in the next week or so, I'll have to go with the usb thing, but I'm not even sure the target machine can boot from usb.
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05-21-2011, 02:56 PM
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#4
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Moderator
Registered: Dec 2009
Location: Germany
Distribution: Whatever fits the task best
Posts: 17,148
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It would help if you can post the specs of that machine. install lshw, run it from the commandline and post it here (between code-tags).
About that DVD-thing, the problem is that there are many distributions out there and they don't have a coordinated release schedule, so you have to remaster the whole thing every time a distro gets a new release. I doubt that anyone will do that work just for fun.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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05-21-2011, 04:17 PM
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#5
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Member
Registered: Mar 2005
Distribution: ubuntu
Posts: 74
Original Poster
Rep:
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Sorry TobiSGD, you're obviously trying to be helpful, and I very much appreciate your time, I think lshw is installed, however, running it from the command line means I have to access it from the new gui, which doesn't seem to want me to do it (I have to use sudo, and then remember how to pipe a command to an output file, my memory fails me a.t.m.) apparently putting a default shortcut to a terminal window is not the Ubuntu way anymore, which is a pity, because it could potentially help to solve many a problem very quickly, I will make a few attempts by Tuesday, but I have to sleep now, work requires me to be awake unfortunately :O(.
I take your point about the release dates and such, but it doesn't always HAVE to be the latest does it? I'm just trying to get an idea of what's going to work ok and what isn't, I'm thinking Minty at the mo [I'm pretty sure it'd work just dandy, but it seems like a popular copout ;O) ], I would very much like to see some of the contenders first.
I guess that I see a system screw up as a time to experiment, I want to capitalise on the moment of frustration in as little time as possible :O)
Thanks again, and if I get Ubuntu to co-operate, (and even if I don't) lshw will be coming.
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05-21-2011, 04:32 PM
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#6
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LQ 5k Club
Registered: Sep 2009
Posts: 6,443
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daveoily
I have to use sudo, and then remember how to pipe a command to an output file, my memory fails me a.t.m.)
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Code:
sudo lshw &> lshw-output
The file "lshw-output" will now contain the output.
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2 members found this post helpful.
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05-21-2011, 04:35 PM
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#7
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Moderator
Registered: Dec 2009
Location: Germany
Distribution: Whatever fits the task best
Posts: 17,148
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You should be able to go to a terminal easily with pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 , this should work at the log-in screen, so you don't need to log into the GUI. You can get back to the GUI with Alt+F7.
For redirecting output: will create a file output which contains the output of lshw.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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05-21-2011, 06:09 PM
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#8
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LQ 5k Club
Registered: Sep 2009
Posts: 6,443
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I would use "&>" instead of ">", so that error output goes to the file, too.
Last edited by MTK358; 05-21-2011 at 07:10 PM.
Reason: Typo
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1 members found this post helpful.
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05-21-2011, 06:17 PM
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#9
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Moderator
Registered: Dec 2009
Location: Germany
Distribution: Whatever fits the task best
Posts: 17,148
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lshw lists the hardware in that machine, no need for redirecting errors here. But in general you are right of course.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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05-22-2011, 01:08 PM
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#10
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Member
Registered: Mar 2005
Distribution: ubuntu
Posts: 74
Original Poster
Rep:
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Thanks for that guys (or gals) I'd totally forgotten the ctrl+alt+f1 thing it has been too long since my last venture to linux. Anyway, here's my results, they are a bit on the long side, and don't mean a lot to me, but anyway, the question at the moment is, can the following machine boot from usb
Code:
dave-upstairs
description: Desktop Computer
version: System Version
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.5 dmi-2.5 smp-1.4 smp
configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop cpus=1 family=To Be Filled By O.E.M. sku=To Be Filled By O.E.M. uuid=007CC68B-8DFE-D511-AB62-00248C4FFEF3
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: P5KPL-AM
vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
physical id: 0
version: x.xx
serial: MS6C92B70504159
slot: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
physical id: 0
version: 0411
date: 10/28/2008
size: 64KiB
capacity: 960KiB
capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: 15.4.1
serial: 0000-0F41-0000-0000-0000-0000
slot: Socket 775
size: 3066MHz
capacity: 3800MHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 133MHz
capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx x86-64 constant_tsc up pebs bts pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl tm2 cid cx16 xtpr
configuration: id=0
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 5
slot: L1-Cache
size: 16KiB
capacity: 16KiB
capabilities: internal write-back data
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 6
slot: L2-Cache
size: 1MiB
capacity: 1MiB
capabilities: internal write-back unified
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 31
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 2GiB
*-bank:0
description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
product: PartNum0
vendor: Manufacturer0
physical id: 0
serial: SerNum0
slot: DIMM A1
size: 1GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 800MHz (1.2ns)
*-bank:1
description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
product: PartNum1
vendor: Manufacturer1
physical id: 1
serial: SerNum1
slot: DIMM B1
size: 1GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 800MHz (1.2ns)
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 10
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express PCI Express Root Port
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: 10
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm msi pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:40 ioport:c000(size=4096) memory:fea00000-feafffff ioport:e0000000(size=268435456)
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Redwood [Radeon HD 5670]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=fglrx_pci latency=0
resources: irq:46 memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:feac0000-feadffff ioport:c000(size=256) memory:feaa0000-feabffff
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5600 Series]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 0.1
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0
resources: irq:45 memory:feafc000-feafffff
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1b
bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0
resources: irq:44 memory:fe9fc000-fe9fffff
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:41 ioport:1000(size=4096) memory:80000000-801fffff ioport:80200000(size=2097152)
*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:42 ioport:d000(size=4096) memory:feb00000-febfffff ioport:fdf00000(size=1048576)
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:24:8c:4f:fe:f3
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=192.168.1.3 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:43 ioport:d800(size=256) memory:fdfff000-fdffffff memory:fdfe0000-fdfeffff memory:febf0000-febfffff
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: uhci bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:23 ioport:b480(size=32)
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: uhci bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:19 ioport:b800(size=32)
*-usb:2
description: USB Controller
product: N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: uhci bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:18 ioport:b880(size=32)
*-usb:3
description: USB Controller
product: N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.3
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: uhci bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:16 ioport:bc00(size=32)
*-usb:4
description: USB Controller
product: N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.7
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.7
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:23 memory:fe9fbc00-fe9fbfff
*-pci:3
description: PCI bridge
product: 82801 PCI Bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1e
bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0
version: e1
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master cap_list
resources: ioport:e000(size=4096)
*-multimedia
description: Multimedia audio controller
product: CM8738
vendor: C-Media Electronics Inc
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:04:01.0
version: 10
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=C-Media PCI latency=64 maxlatency=24 mingnt=2
resources: irq:16 ioport:e800(size=256)
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-ide:0
description: IDE interface
product: 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.1
logical name: scsi0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: ide bus_master emulated
configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=0
resources: irq:18 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:ffa0(size=16)
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: ST3200826A
vendor: Seagate
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: 3.03
serial: 5ND17RHG
size: 186GiB (200GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=000a8615
*-volume:0
description: EXT4 volume
vendor: Linux
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
logical name: /
version: 1.0
serial: fca3456f-0aa2-4268-858c-f2a1ce154e7b
size: 184GiB
capacity: 184GiB
capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
configuration: created=2011-05-19 11:34:16 filesystem=ext4 lastmountpoint=/ modified=2011-05-19 11:53:25 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,barrier=1,data=ordered mounted=2011-05-22 18:39:34 state=mounted
*-volume:1
description: Extended partition
physical id: 2
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
logical name: /dev/sda2
size: 2046MiB
capacity: 2046MiB
capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
*-logicalvolume
description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
physical id: 5
logical name: /dev/sda5
capacity: 2046MiB
capabilities: nofs
*-cdrom
description: DVD writer
product: DVD_RW ND-3530A
vendor: _NEC
physical id: 0.1.0
bus info: scsi@0:0.1.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/cdrw
logical name: /dev/dvd
logical name: /dev/dvdrw
logical name: /dev/scd0
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: 2.01
serial: [
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
*-ide:1
description: IDE interface
product: N10/ICH7 Family SATA IDE Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=0
resources: irq:19 ioport:b400(size=8) ioport:b080(size=4) ioport:b000(size=8) ioport:ac00(size=4) ioport:a880(size=16)
*-serial UNCLAIMED
description: SMBus
product: N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: latency=0
resources: ioport:400(size=32)
*-scsi
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@1:7
logical name: scsi4
capabilities: emulated scsi-host
configuration: driver=usb-storage
*-disk
description: SCSI Disk
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sdb
size: 7648MiB (8019MB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: signature=c3072e18
*-volume
description: Windows FAT volume
vendor: MSDOS5.0
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sdb1
logical name: /media/6EF7-CD94
version: FAT32
serial: 6ef7-cd94
size: 7647MiB
capacity: 7647MiB
capabilities: primary bootable fat initialized
configuration: FATs=2 filesystem=fat mount.fstype=vfat mount.options=rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0022,dmask=0077,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,showexec,utf8,flush,errors=remount-ro state=mounted
if it can, I'll be looking into how to do it very soon, or if anyone can suggest a really really good distro for such a computer, I'm all ears 
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05-22-2011, 01:24 PM
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#11
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Moderator
Registered: Dec 2009
Location: Germany
Distribution: Whatever fits the task best
Posts: 17,148
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The ASUS P5KPL-AM is a board well known to me, it has absolutely no problems with booting from USB.
I am somewhat astonished that you have problems with running Ubuntu on that setup, should run fine.
Sidenote: I would recommend to buy a cheap processor for that machine, may be a Pentium E Dualcore from the 2000 series, should speed up things a lot, and they are really cheap.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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05-22-2011, 01:30 PM
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#12
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LQ 5k Club
Registered: Sep 2009
Posts: 6,443
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TobiSGD
lshw lists the hardware in that machine, no need for redirecting errors here. But in general you are right of course.
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Not to derail this thread, but this is what happens on my Arch Linux installation:
Code:
$ lshw
bash: lshw: command not found
$ sudo lshw
Password:
sudo: lshw: command not found
$ su
Password:
# lshw
bash: lshw: command not found
# /sbin/lshw
bash: /sbin/lshw: No such file or directory
# /usr/sbin/lshw
bash: /usr/sbin/lshw: No such file or directory
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05-22-2011, 01:45 PM
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#13
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Moderator
Registered: Dec 2009
Location: Germany
Distribution: Whatever fits the task best
Posts: 17,148
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MTK358
Not to derail this thread, but this is what happens on my Arch Linux installation:
Code:
$ lshw
bash: lshw: command not found
$ sudo lshw
Password:
sudo: lshw: command not found
$ su
Password:
# lshw
bash: lshw: command not found
# /sbin/lshw
bash: /sbin/lshw: No such file or directory
# /usr/sbin/lshw
bash: /usr/sbin/lshw: No such file or directory
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From post #4: Maybe you should try the same? 
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05-22-2011, 01:49 PM
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#14
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Member
Registered: Mar 2005
Distribution: ubuntu
Posts: 74
Original Poster
Rep:
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Thanks for the tip on the processor TobiSGD, I seem to recall that the RAM could do with a little beefing up as well. It's not that it doesn't work, it's just a little on the unresponsive side,
MTK358, that is a curious error, to my admittedly untrained eye, it would suggest that lshw is not installed on that distro, or they use another command to do similar things (I really don't know my way around dependencies and packages, what works with what can be very confusing to a newbie!), but taking a look at your rep, I'd guess you'd thought of that already.
Pah! Beaten to it!
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05-25-2011, 03:01 PM
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#15
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Member
Registered: Mar 2005
Distribution: ubuntu
Posts: 74
Original Poster
Rep:
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For usb booting I've tried the linux way with no luck so far, then I stumbled across this one
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/home
it's a windows thing, but I tried it under wine anyway (you can always hope) it failed miserably.
Moved it over to a windows machine and made a boot disk of slitaz, and I'm pretty impressed, (couldn't find how to set screen resolution though, it was a touch too small for my liking) I'll see what else works with that, maybe I'll set up as a multiboot machine, even though it scares me a bit, small linux can be quite tweaky it seems about plugins and so on.
So I think I'll need to keep a full on Ubuntu on the same drive. My biggest problem with Ubuntu is the application starter, which is quite a thing to have problems with, it hangs sometimes, doesn't start at others and (thankfully) works quite often.
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