Linux OS Installation Help
 

I have built a system to run Linux OS only. I am attempting to install Red Hat 9 because it came with a text book I bought.

Question:
During the install setup, I come to the option:
"What type of media contains the packages to be installed?
Local CDROM
Hard drive
NFS image
FTP
HTTP"

So, I choose the CDROM because that is where the install cd is located. I then receive this:
"Unable to find any devices of the type needed for this installation type. Would you like to manually select your driver or use a driver disk?"

My DVDRW drive is HP DVD 1070i and is not listed. So, I choose the manual option.

Now, I have this response:
"You have multiple devices which could serve as sources for a driver disk. Which would you like to use?
fd0
hdb"

I've been to hp.com to locate a driver download to create a driver diskette for a floppy, but they don't have a driver download there. So, how can I install the driver at this point? Thanks for any help with this issue; I can't wait to begin using Linux OS [if I could only learn how to install it;)].

Hi,

And welcome to LQ!

To give you targeted support we'd need more info on your hardware
(mobo, controller types, ... )

That said: RH9 is ANCIENT, and you should try to get a current
Fedora, if you want to stick with the redhat family.

Cheers,
Tink

if your CDROM is connected to the slave port on IDE0 then hdb is probably your CD drive. this doesnt need a driver , its not like windows so forget the driver disk business.

your version of the linux kernel is naming drives as hdN where :

hda = master device on primary IDE
hdb = slave device on primary IDE
hdc = master device on primary IDE
hdd = slave device on primary IDE

note: if a device is not connected, the hdN is still claimed but does not interface with anything

select hdb from the menu

RedHat 9 is from 2003 - it is severely outdated and has for a long time now had no updates or support (and never will have). The availability of a text book for it will not make up this now huge disadvantage.
http://iso.linuxquestions.org/red-ha...inux-9-shrike/
see the red text!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Linux
There is good documentation on linux in general available online i.e. here:
http://tldp.org/
and also for Fedora in the form of wikis, forums, community website etc. - and probably also books.

I agree with above colleagues. If you really must use the text book and install the accompanying Red Hat CD then if I may, I would suggest that you are missing out on 4 to 5 years of linux desktop developments.

I use Fedora 8 (9 is out now) and most Red Hat manuals are still relevant.

Fedora is the community based linux distribution that developers explore new technologies with and if successful they find their way into the next versions of Red Hat. So fedora is Red Hat + stable extensions that will be backported into future Red Hat releases.

The Fedora project has excellent manuals and resources (WiKi)

That RH9 is so old that it hasn't got the drivers to run your box. As suggested by others, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches by getting a replacement. The book can still serve you because Fedora still has quite many similarities to its ancestors.

Continuation of this thread
 

First, thanks to all responders for taking the time to help a newbee to get Linux OS innstalled. To breifly respond about my ancient textbook (and corresponding cd), I am not obligated in any way to install this particular distribution (Red Hat 9). I really just want any Linux distribution that I can use as my OS. So, it sounds like I'll get the recommended Fedora 8(9). As long as there is CLI in the distibution, I'll take it.

By the way I have another computer in my house with a floppy drive and internet access to download whatever I need to get up and running.

Aside from that here is the hardware I have compiled for this system.

Motherboard:
Asus P5GC-MX/1333 ----->

Link to spec sheet:
http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...68&modelmenu=2

______________________________________________________________________
CPU:
Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor E2200 2.2GHz ----->

Link to spec sheet:
http://www.intel.com/products/proces..._dual-core.htm
______________________________________________________________________
RAM:
Kingston DDR2 PC5300 (2 x 1Gb) Speed 667MHz
______________________________________________________________________
PSU:
375 Watts (taken from Dell XPS-420 computer)
______________________________________________________________________
Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320Gb SATA -----> [Connected to the SATA1 Master(Red) mobo connector.]

Link to spec sheet:
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2879-001144.pdf
______________________________________________________________________
DVD ROM:
HP DVD 1070i SATA 20x ----> [Connected to the
SATA2 Master(Red) mobo connector.]

Link to spec sheet:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01291963.pdf
______________________________________________________________________
Zip Drive:
Iomega Zip 100 Atapi IDE -----> [Connected through the slave(middle) of IDE ribbon cable to the only IDE port on mobo. Jumper is set to slave.]

No specs for this device. It is kindof an older device.
______________________________________________________________________
Floppy Drive:
Mitsumi D359M3 -----> [Connected to the floppy IDE type mobo connector.]

No specs for this guys; I borrowed this floppy drive from an outdated Win98 system. It once belonged to an HP Pavilion 6553 computer.]

_____________________________________________________________________

Your problem basically is that your DVD-ROM and HDD are so new that Red Hat 9 doesn't have drivers for them (the list fails to find your HDD and DVD-ROM, it finds your floppy drive and zip drive), it's unsupported now so as others have said I'd consider something like Fedora (I myself use CentOS but only because I deal with enterprise level stuff almost everyday at work). I'd get the latest version of fedora where you will be looking in the 9s.

As for a CLI, install the desktop and you'll be able to open terminal windows, alternatively their will be shortcut keys that will allow you to switch to a full console screen (ctrl+alt+F6 on centos, like fedora, centos is red hat based so I'd assume it's the same, ctrl+alt+F7 returns me back to desktop). Just to re-iterate I would advise like everyone else you go for Fedora.

Thanks Everyone.
 

Great advice. Thanks you guys!

If you have a fast internet connection, downloading and burning a small (~40MB) net install cd will allow you to install your system from the repository. I did this to install SuSE on a PowerPC. The DVD drive had issues even after burning 2 DVDs. Installing from the net didn't seem to take much longer than from a DVD would. I'm assuming the FC has a net install CD image. Most distros do.

Yes, Fedora has a netinstall cd but it seems to support only installing from a local/home server. And you'll still need the full dvd to do that. Getting only the first of the six cds is just as impractical.Of course, I may have overlooked something but it certainly isn't as straightforward as other distros.

just to clarify guys...

are we saying that the linux kernel modules (cdrom, idedisk, sg0, etc) in RH9 cannot handle interfacing to IDE HDDs and CDROMS ?

surely not?

No - I don't think that is what was said.
But as soon as there are any problems while installing RH 9 onto todays hardware it is just not worth trying to troubleshoot.
There are also no updates available - which essentially would give you a system with a lot of holes you cannot plug - if you succeed setting it up.

Where did you see that IDE HDD?

Both his HDD and DVD-ROM are SATA. The only thing on IDE is his zip drive what was what Red Hat assigned as hdb. It was easy to assume that'd be the HDD but it turns out it was not and that his HDD was SATA as well and not detected. You don't even want to get into the potential issues that brings up of using unsupported drivers on HDDs, it usually does not end up being very pretty.