Alright, completely new to linux, spent last few hours after installing trying to figure out how to gain access to my fat partitions. ( if this is already answered apologies...it is way past bedtime and I don't have it me for another search lol ) I think I figured out the basics with the mount command and the fstab file. When booting up though I get the message fs fat32 not supported by kernel. I am supposing that the error means exactly what it says...if not lemee know. If I am indeed correct is their a module I can download or install to gain access to aformentioned fat32 partition ?

Welcome to LQ.org, WestNile!

FAT32 is certainly supported by Redhat 8.0. There's something you didn't pick during installation that's all. Can I suggest that at this stage, you consider re-installing (if it's a fresh install you just did) and you check the option "DOS partition tools" (or something like that). This will build support for FAT32 into the kernel.

The alternative is to rebuild your kernel although this is really recommended for the advanced user. If you'd like to try rebuilding the kernel, then doa search for "kernel" on this forum and you'll find lots of threads on it.

At this stage, reinstalling needs to be considered if you've only just installed the system.

Let us know which you want to do.

Bert

If you have enough space I would just reinstall it, and install everything. That way you have everything you could possibly need off the CD. The command for mounting a fat filesystem under Linux is "mount -t vfat /dev/hd?? /mnt/whereyoumountit

yea, its vfat, not fat32

Actually.....rebuilding the kernel kinda sounds like fun lol
I have 3 working Win2k machines and a Mac in addition to this one which is dual booted so it is not like I will be without a machine or backups if I blow it up. Part of the reason I loaded Linux was to learn how to use it to the full extent. If I wanted something canned I would just use Windows again

Now when I downloaded the .iso's I only got the first 3 disks and not the last two. Will I need to get those to rebuild the kernel ? Looks like I have got some research ahead of me...

i don't think you got it. linux calls fat32 vfat
if i type mount -t fat32 /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1, it
tells me fat32 not supported by the kernel too.
you just got the wrong name.

Redhat does usually detect other FAT partitions on the disk and build support for them in. As others point out, it does call FAT32 'vfat' so you would mount your FAT32 partition using that label.

Rebuilding the kernel is more fraught than fun - there's a lot that can go not quite right, and it often takes a few tries. It's best to wait until you absolutely have to do it - for example when you have to enable a new protocol in your kernel. There's lots of time for you to learn how to do that too - no need to hurry!

I'd strongly recommend trying to mount the partition first, because everyone here strongly suspects you might already have FAT32 support already.

Bert

I attempted an install of RH 5.1 on a Maxtor 40GB drive. When I got to the selection for Disk Druid or FDISK, I first selected Disk Druid. Hda was recognized as FAT16. HDB had nonsense characters in that field. Info from the summary line:
Total = 8032M, Used = 39205M, Free = -31173M.
Apparently, 5.1 has a problem with FAT32 and any HD space above 8.032GB. I backed up and selected FDISK, which had a similar problem. At this point I aborted the install without doing any partitioning, to avoid the possibility of HD damage.

I expect to receive my 8.0 disks this week. I have high hopes that it will install with no HD problems and that it will install without the previous xfree86 and mouse recognition problems of 5.1 I experienced on a 486DX66 Vesa system.

CybersaurusREXX, RH 5.1 is very, very old. It was released when 40GB disks were really rare. 8.0 will handle it much better.

Thanks, I have high confidence that it will.