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Old 09-27-2003, 04:54 AM   #1
markw
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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: UK
Distribution: Mandrake
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Installing Mandrake on a Thinkpad 600X


Hello,

I'm VERY new to this Linux game... in fact, i haven't really started yet. That is why i'm here.

I have an IBM Thinkpad 600X with an empty HDD and am wanting to install Linux and Windows onto it, but i am very unsure of how to go about this. I have searched the web for guides on what to do but have found very little that looks basic enough for me.

Could someone explain how i go about partitioning the HDD ready for a Linux/Windows dual boot and what order i should do things in (IE: partition, install Win, install Linux, etc).

I have a copy of Windows98 and Mandrake Linux (8.2) to use. I would get a newer version of Linux but i just don't have the means right now.

Many thanks in advance,
markw.
 
Old 09-28-2003, 11:43 PM   #2
quatsch
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Distribution: gentoo, gentooPPC
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install windows 98 first. Don't worry about the partitioning at this stage. It will probably take up the whole drive but don't worry. Then start windows and do a defragment.
Then start the mandrake installer. I'm quite confident that the 8.2 installer is able to do the partitioning for you. You will have to tell it to resize the windows partition and install itself on the room made available that way.
 
Old 09-29-2003, 05:20 PM   #3
markw
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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: UK
Distribution: Mandrake
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Thanks for the input quatsch.

I have partitioned the HDD into 4.5GB for W98, 3.5GB for Linux and 1Gb for Linux Swap.

W98 is installed OK.

And the Mandrake install went OK too... in fact, very simple, a lot easier than i had thought it would be... except that right at the very end i got stuck in a loop.

I got to "Configuring X Window System..." and then got:

An error occurred
XFree86 -rpm not found.


So i click OK and it asks if i want to do updates... I click no (i wasn't setup to go online) so it goes back up to "Configuring X Window System..." and i get the same error message.

and again. and again.

turned off the Thinkpad and when i booted i got the BootLoader thing, so i chose Linux and after a LONG wait got to a bash shell. I was able to log into that OK but didn't know how to get KDE or Gnome to run. Or did they not run because XWindows wasn't setup properly?

Any help appreciated.

i'm desperately trying to like Linux.......
 
Old 09-29-2003, 05:25 PM   #4
Nechos
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there's no way to get online? at this point mandrake has probably configured your modem/lan so if you could get upgrade online it should solve the problem...
 
Old 09-29-2003, 05:41 PM   #5
quatsch
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If X was installed properly you'll be able to start KDE by
startx
at the command prompt. If this doesn't work become root (by su) and then do
urpmi XFree86
This should install it. If it still tells you that it cannot find the rpm, my guess is that your installation CDs are broken. But do tell us the error messages you get if any when trying to install X.
 
Old 09-29-2003, 06:03 PM   #6
markw
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tried your suggestions.

startx gives...


xauth: creating new authority file /home/mark/ .Xauthority
xauth: creating new authority file /home/mark/ .Xauthority

execue failed for /etc/X11/X (errno 2)
giving up.
xinit: No such file or directory (errno 2): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.



so i did superuser and urmpi XFree86 and got...

everything already installed


Could this be a problem with the videocard? or some other hardware? I understand X is something to do with graphics?


Also, how do i turn off my laptop from inside a shell? Last time i just logged out and turned it off but when i just booted it said there were errors on the drive which it fixed for me. Is there a command i need to use?
 
Old 09-29-2003, 06:07 PM   #7
quatsch
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use
halt
or
shutdown -h now
you have to be root to do the latter. you can probably get it to reboot by pressing ctrl-alt-del.

As for X. If it says everything installed, I guess you'll have to trust that. Can you run
XFdrake
as root? This is a mandrake tool for configuring X.
 
Old 09-29-2003, 06:08 PM   #8
Nechos
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type halt
x is for desktop eniroments so, yes, it's got something to do with graphics
 
Old 09-29-2003, 06:22 PM   #9
markw
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Distribution: Mandrake
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Thanks for the "halt" tip guys.

Will try the XFdrake command.

Do i need to install/setup drivers (?) for the video card, chipset, mobo, etc? Or does Mandrake cover this in the installation?


Oh, and i can't get online (to do update, or whatever) anyway because Mandrake told me i needed to goto linmodems.org because of some of my hardware - i guess the URL would suggest my modem?
 
Old 09-29-2003, 06:27 PM   #10
quatsch
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XFdrake is a tool that is supposed to take care of the drivers. Hopefully it works.
 
Old 09-30-2003, 11:37 AM   #11
markw
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tried XFdrake... no joy.

it didn't produce any errors, but it didn't finish up and tell me all was ok... it just ran and ended.

and i still can't run a GUI!
 
Old 09-30-2003, 03:59 PM   #12
Nechos
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you've got to the 'summary' screen, with all your hardware listed next to the 'configure' buttons, have you? did you check if everything was right? you should 'configure' your video options (there's also a 'test' option)
 
Old 09-30-2003, 04:33 PM   #13
markw
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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: UK
Distribution: Mandrake
Posts: 7

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No, i have not seen this summary screen at all.
In fact, i am sure the installation process was "too" automated... i was told i would get the option to choose my BootLoader. I did not - it just chose one for me. I don't know which one.

Anyway, i think i have sorted the problem.

I found some info via Google about problems with the Thinkpad's graphics card being misconfigured by X... so i used "XFdrake --nonauto" and was able to manually select my card and i chose to use XFree86 v4.2 (not v3.2.2 which the auto config was using).

I rebooted and was able to do startx and got the Mandrake first-run wizard.

My only problem now is getting my head around all these Window Managers and themes...
How can i switch these btw? I am stuck with Gnome at the moment - how do i use KDE, for example?
 
Old 09-30-2003, 04:50 PM   #14
Nechos
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you've probably selected the 'really easy install' or whatever it's called - i had options to choose bootloader, partitions (size, name position...), all of my drivers, all packages...
but you resolved the problem and that's what's improtant, no?
i use kde, even though lots of people say it's too 'fancy' - you just log off, returning to choose user (something like that) screen, in the bottom of the window there should be a list of WM - choose KDE and login
threre are options in mdk control center to automatically load a certain wm with certain user...
 
Old 10-01-2003, 12:02 PM   #15
markw
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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: UK
Distribution: Mandrake
Posts: 7

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Thank you Nechos.

I was booting into a shell and having to run startx but i found the control panel in Mandrake to have the GUI login box.

Now, i'll probably get flamed for this... but i was under the impression that Linux was indestructable? it crashed on me last night when i tried to swap from KDE to one of the others. Go on, you'll tell me that that's actually X11's fault, yes?...
 
  


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