Installing Linux from ISO
 

I am a noob-and-a-half. I need MS out of my veins.

My meager system is a 2001 Compaq "Pre-sorry-o", 5000 series. Intel Celeron, 1GHz, 512 RAM.

I have the following ISO's waiting for me on my XP desktop:

debian-503-alpha-CD-1

gnewsense-livecd-deltah-i386-2.3

My current hardware issues are:
No USB boot option in BIOS.
CD unit only reads, does not write.
DVD unit sticks out the side of the machine, like a colostomy bag.
It reads and writes DVDs just fine, and will read CDs just fine, but just will not write CDs, for some reason. I think I need a bigger hammer.

Should I make a Linux partition on my HD?

I seek to wipe out and never again use MS. How can I do this? Am I Phuked?

I am utterly, hopelessly lost when I read forums such as the following:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...or-nic-749320/

Who can help? Who will put up with all my questions?

Hello and welcome to LinuxQuestions,

One idea comes to mind. Why not download the Debian DVD iso, or any other distro DVD for that matter, burn that and boot from that, since you're stating that your CD/DVD does write DVD. Then you can take it from there and most likely once you get one Linux system up and running we can get your hardware functioning at a hopefully better level.

And I'm sure that all here at LQ will be glad to help you out with all your questions.

Kind regards,

Eric

Ok, I failed to mention:
My BIOS does not allow boot from USB OR DVD. It will not recognize the DVD drive, for boot.

Ok, that limits the options. Have you tried to disconnect the CD drive and connect only the DVD drive (in master mode), change the harddisk to slave, in order to see if the DVD drive gets detected by the system at bootup? In other words, swap the DVD and CD drives but leave the CD disconnected.

Kind regards,

Eric

Also before switching the drives, with what program have you tried burning the CDs in the DVD drive? I assume you have some burning program installed on your Windows. Is this computer the only one you have in the house or do you have the option to take out the harddisk and connect it to another computer with a working CD/DVD drive?

Kind regards,

Eric

Hello Lorax,

I may have found a possible solution, at least it's worth the try. This way you don't have to burn anything, no need for changing drives or nothing, that is if it works ;)

Read this Install any distro directly from harddisk.

Let us now if it works out for you.

Kind regards,

Eric

Would I be correct in assuming that is the machine that has Windows on it AND will the machine you want to install Linux on?

It sounds like a bootable CD is really your only choice. You could ask a friend to burn off the image for you. Or if that's inconvenient it is possible to buy Debian CDs (as with other distributions).

CD details for Debian;

http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors/

If you have enough room for it and you're comfortable doing so then I would say yes. While I think Linux (and specifically Debian) is a great choice for an operating system, some people do end up feeling like it's not for them. If that's the case, with second partition you'll be able to go back to what you know.


If you delete the existing Windows partition and install Linux ... then it's gone! A lot of people find the transition awkward to start with. There's nothing wrong with that. So as above try and add a second partition if you can. Try and use Debian for your day to day stuff (email, web, etc) and see if it fits your needs. If you dump Windows, go over to Debian and then discover there's a critical thing you can't do under Debian you'll just be annoyed. Make life easy for your self and move over slowly.

It'll all still be there next week :)

Many people on sites such as Linux Questions and forums.debian.net will try and help. But as always they're only doing so in their spare time. So don't be disheartened if you don't get a response. It's nothing personal.

Good luck.

Lorax,

Your resources are just enough, in my experience it can run a one (1) or two versions backward of any popular distros, like Linux Mint 5 or Ubuntu 7, without any trouble.

gnewsense is good but this time not much people are yet familiar with it, so when you come here for "help on the way" maybe only few can readily respond. You may install gnewsense later on when you have become familiar enough with how linux works. The mean time go visit distrowatch.com and there make your choice from among the top five (5) ranking on the right side column of the site page; you'll have Ubuntu, Suse, Fedora, Mint and Mandriva, these are the mostly used today, easier to install and learn from using.

Nothing of these can deny you from installing a Linux through a CD. Only that, be sure the installer is on a CD if you want to use the CD drive on the install.

You should provide at least an ext2 or ext3 formatted partition if you don't reformat the entire disk. Using Linux Mint installer CD I had no problem in partitioning my drives. Very easy. You can repeat redo alter as many times you can before finally installing the OS.
BTW, if you have data on an "ntfs" or "fat32" drives you can leave them alone or move them to a safe partition during disk preparation. Linux can read from that format anytime. Aside from an ext2 partition to house your linux files you should provide at least a Linux Swap partition to a size of about 256MB; linux system will need that to move faster as you have only 516mb of RAM.

CONGRATULATIONS. You have a made a wise decision. An evidence of maturity.

There are in fact better posts than this that could satisfy your need. If you try to Search effectively LinuxQuestions have already made solutions similar to this problems you present here now. Anyway, get familiar by frequently coming here.

You will put up all of it, with the help of good fellows around here in LinuxQuestions. You can do it. We can.

Good luck.

ericTRA, redgoblin and malekmustaq,
Thank yous for your help so-far.

Before I get into nuts-n-bolts, redgoblin spawned another question. If I can create a partition for Debian, can I also create a parallel partition for gNewSense? And another for Ubuntu? And another for...
Will multiple OS's, beyond the typical MS/Linux duo, cause any problems? If it's possible, I'd be able to ween off the toxic teet of MS, while exploring other OS's simultaneously.
The HD hosting my C: drive is 60GB. So, I'd be inclined to chop it 20/20/20, no?

What is "alpha"? Can I use it?

EricTRA, even as a Linux noob, I am aware of the master/slave pins. In this case, I failed miserably, to switch em... Feeling like an unitelligent donkey...

So, finally this brings me to the next important q: should I install diskless as per the link provided by ericTRA ( http://www.instantfundas.com/2007/08...ctly-from.html ) , or swap Master/Slave - HD/DVD?

Like I said, noob n a 1/2 !
(My computer isn't the project. I AM the project!!!)

Hi Lorax,

You can create partitions as you need or course, keep in mind though that for Linux, with your amount of memory it's bet to put some HD space as swap, say like 1Gb. The rest you can split up in three parts and install 3 different Linux flavors of course. When in trouble, just SCREAM.

Furthermore, I'd go with the option of trying the swap drives first. This only to check if that way the DVD gets detected at boot. If it doesn't you can still go for the CD-less install with Grub4Dos as explained in the link.

Small question, not to worry you but so we know, is this the only computer with internet access you have at home? Meaning, if you are able to install it with Linux but for example unable to connect to the internet, do you have a backup option at hand to post any problems?

Kind regards,

Eric

HA! No backup plan!
She-Beast here is my only computer.

To make the story ever-more interesting, my XP is a 30-day trial! I have been re-installing monthly for years! I call it, She-Beast's Monthly! All this work just to not shuck a few hundos to that billionaire!

So, I will go now and re-install. Yes, it's "that time of the month". During which process, I will partition 3-way, She-Beast will have a 3some.
Eric, my resulting configuration should approximate:
19/19/19/01 (with some leftovers)???

I will wait for the next reply, then run the re-install.

Thanks for all the help so-far. Don't run off to far, I'll need yous in a few hours! HA! Hey, if I can nail down all this Linux, I can do my part to spread the word, and the ISO's!

Peace!

Great, jump in the pool at the deep end at once!! I like that spirit, hope you can swim. :D

Just kidding, it'll work out.

That should do it what the partitioning concerns, three partitions of 19, a swap of 1 and some leftover for the beast.

I'm sure that with the animo you've got, you'll have Linux under the control of your fingertips in no time.

I'll be here for another two hours, then sleep for six and be back online around nine hours from now (from work on my Windoze laptop).

Good luck and hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards,

Eric

Ok great Eric! Thanks for the help. I most likely WILL find you on your next shift (midnight, EST)
Ciao!

I'll be here, keeping my fingers crossed. Best of luck.

Ciao, va bene

Kind regards,

Eric

I think Debian will be the easiest Linux distro for installing from hard drive for a newbie.

You can find the kernel (linux) and initrd (initrd.gz) to be used for your menu.lst and grub4dos here:
http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dist...nstaller/i386/
Don't worry about the pxelinux.0 for now.

Your menu.lst will look similar to this:
title Install Linux
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/linux
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.gz

Install only the base system just to see if you are able to do the install. Otherwise, install everything.


for Ubuntu
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...nstaller/i386/


Aside:
Instead of having a master and slave, I recommend you setup two separate master hard drives. Partition both the same way. Install MS Windows on both. Install Linux on one of them. This way, you have one hard drive to always fall to for a rescue boot in order to check in with Linuxquestions.org.

Hey friends. Ok, so far, She-Beast no longer has that not-so-fresh feeling.
Also, the platters are formatted: C: 18GB NTFS, 18GB FAT32, 18GB FAT32, 4.5GB FAT32, a few megs for sofa change, partridgeinapeartree.

Now I try to understand the tutorial provided by EricTRA. No matter what happens, I should be able to revert back to windows, my back window, to shout out if I funk it all up, I think.....

Good morning Lorax,

Well, I'm still crossing my fingers. I believe the tutorial is straightforward and easy to follow so you should be able to get it going. If not, like you said, you can always revert to Windoze to give it another shot.

Kind regards,

Eric

Good morning eric!
Before I can even get started, I notice that all my ISO's now look like ZIPs. They used to have Daemon Tools logos. Crap, what happened to the ISOs?

Hi,

That's still in your Windhoos environment right? Looks like the .iso extension has been assigned to the Winzip program or something like that subsituting only the 'automatic opening when double clicking'. The iso files have not changed in my opinion, so you can go ahead. If you want to change it back again then right click and select Open with... then the appropriate program you prefer (Daemon Tools?) and they'll have the same as before.

Kind regards,

Eric

Ah, yes, I installed Daemon first, then Winrar. So Winrar took the associations. No biggie... Workin fine so far..., still step-by-step

95% of the errors have a logical explanation, the other 5% are purely Window$ related :eek: and unexplainable for very dark reasons. Good you're changing to Linux.

Step by step is good, continue on the path my friend, you'll get there.

I will give up and walk away if I can't get help with step 5 on the following site ---> http://www.instantfundas.com/2007/08...ctly-from.html

I have the file menu.lst open with MS Notepad. Not sure what part needs to be changed on it. There are several paragraphs of code that are pretty much the same, aside from mentioning ...

Btw, I intend on installing gNewSense (a Debian derivative).

HELP!

Hi Lorax,

Don't panic!! Can you post what's already in the menu.lst file?

Step 5 is just there to add the correct reference and location to the boot kernel and image to be able to select Linux to start at boot.

Kind regards,

Eric

PS: Do you have only one harddrive in the She-Beast?

Yes, only one HDD.
Thanks for being my lifeline, Eric!
Here is the file, in original form:

# This is a sample menu.lst file. You should make some changes to it.
# Added items for installing GRUB [ which is on your DOS drive C: ] to MBR

color black/cyan yellow/cyan
timeout 60
default 0

title DOS/Win9x/Me/NT/2K/XP on (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,0)+1
rootnoverify (hd0)

title Mandrake Linux on (hd0,7)
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda8 quiet devfs=mount acpi=ht vga=788
initrd (hd0,7)/boot/initrd.img

title Red Hat Linux on (hd0,8)
kernel (hd0,8)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda9

title floppy on (fd0)
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

title memdrive duplicated from floppy image file (hd0,0)/sbm.bin
map --mem (hd0,0)/sbm.bin (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

title memdrive based on win98 partition (hd0,6)
map --mem (hd0,6)+1 (hd0)
# map --mem (hd0,0)/win98.gz (hd0)
map --hook
chainloader (hd0)+1
rootnoverify (hd0)

title DOS/Win9x on (hd1,0) -- Do not use this to start WinNT/2K/XP
pause Warning: drive map used. Press any key to start DOS/Win9x on (hd1,0)...
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader (hd1,0)+1
rootnoverify (hd0)

title install GRUB on (hd0,0) to MBR (hd0) and reboot. Password: danger
pause You requested to install GRUB onto MBR. We highly recommend you NOT to do so, basically for two reasons: 1. For some non-MS-compatible boot loaders(in case you might be using), the install is INDEED dangerous and may cause your whole disk(and all your operating systems on it) unaccessible. 2. Even if you are using(in MBR)an MS-compatible boot loader such as LILO and GRUB, you may encounter problems like hard-disk-boot-failure when you move or delete the /boot/grub/stage2 file, or even when disk defragmentation operations are made. Press any key to continue...
pause A password prompt will confirm that you want the operation anyway. Press any key to continue...
password danger
pause This will install GRUB in (hd0,0)/boot/grub/ to MBR. Press any key to begin...
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
pause GRUB install OK! Press any key to reboot your machine...
reboot

title install GRUB on (hd0,1) to MBR (hd0) and reboot. Password: danger
pause You requested to install GRUB onto MBR. We highly recommend you NOT to do so, basically for two reasons: 1. For some non-MS-compatible boot loaders(in case you might be using), the install is INDEED dangerous and may cause your whole disk(and all your operating systems on it) unaccessible. 2. Even if you are using(in MBR)an MS-compatible boot loader such as LILO and GRUB, you may encounter problems like hard-disk-boot-failure when you move or delete the /boot/grub/stage2 file, or even when disk defragmentation operations are made. Press any key to continue...
pause A password prompt will confirm that you want the operation anyway. Press any key to continue...
password danger
pause This will install GRUB in (hd0,1)/boot/grub/ to MBR. Press any key to begin...
root (hd0,1)
setup (hd0)
pause GRUB install OK! Press any key to reboot your machine...
reboot

title mandrake ISO install (using vmlinuz and all.rdz)
pause Installing an OS is dangerous because it may overwrite all your disks(and partitions)! A password prompt will confirm that you want the operation anyway. Press any key to continue...
password danger
pause This will install Mandrake using iso files. Press any key to continue...
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=128000 acpi=ht vga=788 splash=silent automatic=method:disk
initrd (hd0,0)/all.rdz

My kernel is vmlinuz and my Ram is initrd.gz

No problem although you might have to wait sometimes for a reply since I'm at the office.

Just do what's indicated in step 5, add
to the menu.lst like so:
and go to step 6.

Make sure you don't miss a step, like copying the files to the correct directory and stuff.

Kind regards,

Eric

Not to doubt you, but just for clarity:
in (hd0,0) the first 0 refers to main (and my only) hard drive. Does the second 0 refer to the partition? Does (hd0,0) say "main disk, main partition"?

So I do NOT want to say (hd0,1), correct?

Eric, I want to make sure that I am only ADDING the text, and NOT DELETING any from the original. Is that correct?

And I need to add this in MULTIPLE places in the file?

ARRGGHH I so afraid of removing anything, or adding in the wrong places!

Hi,

Take a deep breath of air. :cool:

You don't have to remove anything from the menu.lst, just add the Linux boot option as indicated. The only thing the menu.lst does is present you with a list at bootup. From that list you choose your OS you want to start.

Just add the
part right above the DOS/Win9x/Me/NT/2K/XP part so that it will show up first in your list when booting.

And yes the hd(0,0) refers to first harddisk, first partition. If you partition your drive like you indicated you want to do, you'll have a hd(0,1), hd(0,2), and so on.

Kind regards,

Eric

PS: don't forget to breath!

Ok so I am now adding that info to the file, while breathing! Since MS Winderz is on (hd0,0) , I am installing gNewSense to (hd0,1) . Stop me now if Im wrong!

Little doubt here.

Which distro have you unpacked the two necessary files from? Have you already partitioned your drive? Since you're referring to hd(0,1)?

The Grub4Dos installation you are performing now is only to be able to select a Linux boot environment.

The Linux files you unpacked and put in C:\boot are on hd(0,0), the same as your Windoze. Just perform first with ONE Linux to get it up and running. Next you can clean other partitions and install other distros.

Don't try to add the others at once, since you can only boot from one at the time and perform the installation. Once you booted into Linux it will ask you for your source location, so keep that handy since you'll have to type it in. After installing the first Linux you can add others easily.

Kind regards,

Eric

Ahh, fugadug...
I just realized that my ISO is a liveCD. Does that matter? Im all set to install now. Lets see...

If the LiveCD is a problem, I also have a Debian (alpha), and others..

Well here it goes Eric! I will post back here as soon as I am successful, or as soon as I fail!!!

Peace!

I don't think the LiveCD will be a problem, but if it is, just change to another distro.

Good luck!!

Kind regards,

Eric

Yes, all partitions are formatted. I want to keep MS Windbag in place, untouched. So I do NOT use (hd0,0), is that correct? I would assign the next partition (hd0,1) in the menu file right?

No, you have unpacked the two files into C:\boot which is on hd(0,0). You have to leave it to hd(0,0) in order to be able to boot the Linux environment. Then once booted you'll be asked for the source location of your media. Type that in and you'll be able to install Linux to another partition of your harddrive, for example hd(0,1).

When you reboot after Linux installation was successful then you'll be able to boot either in Windows, the first Linux boot environment, or the one you installed completely onto another partition.

If in the menu.lst you change hd(0,0) to hd(0,1) then the bootloader will look on that partition for its boot environment and will exit with an error since the necessary files are on your Windoze partition hd(0,0) in \boot directory.

Got it?

Kind regards,

Eric

By the way, you didn't format the partitions as NTFS now did you? If detected by the installer then it's best to let the partitioner that comes with the installer take care of the necessary actions to format it to ext3 or so.

Sorry Im such a pain!

Thanks for clearing up the (hd0,0) issue for me. Good thing I didnt go ahaead with it!

I formatted the extra partitions destined for Linux as FAT32. I guess I should let the installer re-format ext3?

Here we go!

Great, looking forward to the results. And yes, let the installer do its thing in regards to the file system format.

Kind regards,

Eric

Im back! How convenient! No-go, buddy. It was spittin all kinds of DOS-type errors at me. Judging by some other forum entries, the liveCD may be the problem. There was at least one such entry on that tutorial site, near the bottom.

But Im excited! I got so close (failed at the last step), and now I know how to do it! Next time you're in Florida, I'll buy ya a beer!

Next question, one in which several noobs have asked, but never answered: What is the matrix? Just Kidding! What does alpha mean, in this ISO? ---> debian-503-alpha-CD-1 Can I use that?

Btw, if I do not pre-format the partitions, how would I get any files there in the first place, like the instructions say?

Hello,

Well at least your She-Beast didn't blow a fuse :eek: so that's good.

You'd probably have to go with another distro that's not a LiveCD then. The Debian alpha refers to the architecture of the computer, I believe it was DEC. If you're beast is a regular PC then you'll have to go with the i386 image. Based on your hardware specs I'd go with the xfce image instead of Gnome or KDE, which would be a bit heavy.

You can get the image you need directly from this link.

So just download it, repeat the steps to extract the files you need and try again.

About the matrix: that still is a well kept secret, if you want to find out, just go down the rabbit hole :D

I'll take you up on that beer, but might take some time before I get to Florida again.

If you do not preformat the partitions the Linux installer will detect them as available space, and you can then indicate to use it.

Kind regards,

Eric

Ok Thanks a bunch man! I have the proper torrents comming down the pipe right now. Should be ready when I wake up.
I think other Noobs will learn from all this, too.

Ciao!

You're welcome!

Have a nice night, talk to you later.

Kind regards,

Eric

Hey Eric, you around? I never got that CD-less GRUB trick to work, after several attempts, and several proper ISOs. So I played around with my ISO prog, DaemonTools, and was successful the first time! WHEW!

I installed Ubuntu 9.10 gnome. It seems like a child's art program, that doesn't function very well. I don't get why there are no X's in the corner, to conveniently close a window. And I can't understand why the OS won't let me move windows around the screen. Annoying. And where ever I leave the curser, it leaves "debris", like an image error in that spot. The whole thing has been pissing me off for a few hours!

Any suggestions for the next distro, since I likely won't sign on to Ubuntu ever again...

Please note Lorax that you CAN boot your USB using Plop bootmanager
its called "plpbt"
I include it in almost all my downloads

It also works on Windows, but I dont have windows and thus would not know how to boot it on dindows:)
see here:
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html

NOW; do you still have the Grub menu?
Can you boot to a grub menu?

If you can get to the ubuntu-9.10 boot menu
you can use plpbt without reaing all that at the plop site

I can give you link to plpbt and show you grub menu.lst setup

Hello Lorax,

Great you got something to work somehow, congrats.

Seems to me like the first problem at hand with Ubuntu install had to do with the videocard/driver combination. And the fact that you're looking for the X to close a window is a Windows thingy but should be available in Gnome, KDE, xfce, all the DEs I encountered have it. I can only assume it has something to do with the videocard/driver combo.

One small piece of advice, don't blame a distro at once if something is not working the way you expect it to. Most distros might need some tuning and tweaking to be completely as you expect.

So next time you do an install and encounter a problem, before installing an other distro and putting the fault with the distro, post the problem you have here at LinuxQuestions and we can help you to solve it.

It would be a shame if you let go of a distro you like because of a small problem that could be easily solved. After all, that's the way you learn Linux, by trial and error but never giving up.

Well, suggestions,.... you could try DreamLinux, LinuxMint. I've had them installed on 'older' hardware in the past. Also have a look at http://distrowatch.com. I can only advice you to try out as many as you can. This way you'll learn a lot about Linux. And as someone here on LinuxQuestins (don't remember who) once said: the best distro for you is the one you end up using.

Kind regards,

Eric

Linus and Eric, Thanks a hella-lot for all the good info! Eric your words are simple and wise! After I wrote my rant on Ubuntu, I realized that my old beast likely wasn't in the jive. And you nailed it with the hardware comment. Linus, I did manage to go out and get some CDs made, so hopefully won't need USB boot, or the rest of that suggestion. BUT, I do WANT to learn it. I, well I, just want to learn everything, and those techniques seem handy when one is in a bind.

Update:
Kubuntu! Installed! JIVES! And it ROCKS!!!!
I will keep experimenting with distros, though. I'm gettin to like this! And I'm learning, so I'm happy! My only real reference OS, though, is that proprietary behemoth window-PAINS, and I'm sure


CDs ready to try:
Ubuntu (again, properly, this time!)
Mandriva
Debian, gnome
Debian, kde
Slackware
gNewSense

So now, to make my long-winded post even longer, I have a real question, friends. With all the install attempts I've made, my OS selection menu has old choices, that are invalid, or that I just won't use anymore. How do I clear that list? At this point, my non-winderz partitions are clean. It annoys me to start the computer and see the first screen with that "junk". If winderz is my only OS, for now, why do I get the list instead of just booting straight to winderz?

Lorax
I can show you how to "frugally" install your entire list of distro's above; except slackware
with persistency
they will run in livecd/usb mode

As for the "list"
do you mean the Grub boot menu??

If the GRUB menu is the initial black screen, with OS choices on it, then yea, that!
Please explain your frugal proposal