First linux box

**thePh@r@oh** · August 20th, 2003, 11:34 PM

ive never used linux before this is my first time using it as mentioned here reduse, reuse, recycle im gonna build a linux box from an old emachine MoBo. im thinking of using Mandrake cause i heard it was the most userfriendly but whats the difference between I586 and PPC?

**vass0922** · August 20th, 2003, 11:37 PM

i586/i386 = Intel
PPC = PowerPC (aka MAC)

Good luck

**thePh@r@oh** · August 20th, 2003, 11:41 PM

what about my driver problem any help?

**nukes** · August 21st, 2003, 11:20 AM

What drivers are you needing? Is it onboard Sound/Graphics or something? If so, its probably just dependant on the chipset. If its PCI cards, then you just need the drivers from these cards, which judging by the age of the machine, I'd say would be in the Linux kernel by now.
The chances are that Mandrake's installer will autodetect any extra cards or onboard stuff thats supported, and it will tell you in the control center the names of any bus devices that don't have drivers.
If its just the board though, with no onboard stuff, you won't need any drivers, it will probably just work, the only thing you might need is AGP drivers, which are probably included in the kernel as well.

**thePh@r@oh** · August 21st, 2003, 04:43 PM

its all onboard.

**tedroddy666** · August 21st, 2003, 05:04 PM

mandrake is user friendly, but suse is more stable.

i recommend:

www.redhat.com (simple)
www.suse.com (medium)
www.debian.com (impossible)

**nukes** · August 21st, 2003, 05:06 PM

Install Mandrake and see what it detects.
Don't you know what chipset it is even? i810 for example, or 440bx? Anything that pins down the chips can be used to track down a driver.

**nukes** · August 21st, 2003, 05:08 PM

Originally posted by tedroddy666
mandrake is user friendly, but suse is more stable.

i recommend:

www.redhat.com (simple)
www.suse.com (medium)
www.debian.com (impossible)

WTF?
DEbian is a great distro, but not great if you don't know what hardware is in the box. SUSE is fine, but you can't get an ISO or anything off the internet, although I hear you can do an FTP install. I say install Mandrake first, if nothing else to get the hardware sorted and figure out what drivers you need. Be careful about installing servers though, as they tend to be enabled by default, and don't turn on too much eyecandy as it will slow things down.

**tedroddy666** · August 21st, 2003, 05:15 PM

Originally posted by nukes

WTF?
DEbian is a great distro, but not great if you don't know what hardware is in the box. SUSE is fine, but you can't get an ISO or anything off the internet, although I hear you can do an FTP install. I say install Mandrake first, if nothing else to get the hardware sorted and figure out what drivers you need. Be careful about installing servers though, as they tend to be enabled by default, and don't turn on too much eyecandy as it will slow things down.

yeah, thats why i recommended it. i was saying that debian the hardest to install out of the three

**samwichse** · August 21st, 2003, 10:36 PM

As for the driver thing, I've installed Linux on two old emachines computers (a 400i and a 400ix), and everything on them worked right on the vanilla install off the CD except the soft modems, which were both HCF PCI controllerless softmodems, and you can download a double-click-to-install driver from here. Just pick the rpm that matches your system exactly.

Also, the install script can take quite a while to run, I'm not sure why...

Sam

**Mike** · August 21st, 2003, 10:57 PM

I would also recommend Mandrake as well.

You shouldn't try and play with Debian or anything else until you get some of the basics down.

Although later tonight I am ready to give Debian another go!

**thePh@r@oh** · August 22nd, 2003, 05:36 PM

ok started installing linux but right at the start it says that it cant read from my drive whats up? bad CD burn?

**tedroddy666** · August 22nd, 2003, 06:37 PM

Originally posted by thePh@r@oh
ok started installing linux but right at the start it says that it cant read from my drive whats up? bad CD burn?

??? i've never heard of that before.

what version are you trying to install, and where did you get the ISOs from?

**thePh@r@oh** · August 22nd, 2003, 06:37 PM

ok i reburned the CD and its still doing the same thing. it says it cant read from the CDROM drive but its booting from the CDdrive this isnt making sense. I've never done this before somebody help.

**thePh@r@oh** · August 22nd, 2003, 07:58 PM

so what do you guys think is happening?

**thePh@r@oh** · August 22nd, 2003, 08:11 PM

got the images from linuxiso.org. tried using a different CD drive..still nothing. should i get another distro? i should mention it does this after it detects the USB devices

**thePh@r@oh** · August 22nd, 2003, 09:06 PM

noone knows what i should do?

**tedroddy666** · August 22nd, 2003, 10:00 PM

what distrobution of linux are you trying to install?

does it say "Press any key to boot from CD ..." ?

if so, did you press the any key? (he)

you might want to try and different distribution. my brother said that when he was trying to install mandrake, he had that problem.

i recommend these distributions:

www.redhat.com (user friendly)
www.suse.com (user friendly, but you have to do an FTP install, which can get complicated if you have a slow internet connection)
www.debian.com (advanced)

you should try booting to knoppix or someother kind of boot-from-CD linux distribution too. to see if your computer can in fact boot to CD.

knoppix is available at:
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

pm me if your computer cant boot to CD.

**thePh@r@oh** · August 22nd, 2003, 11:08 PM

i can boot from the cd thats not the problem the instalation starts up fine. when it starts it says attempting to read from Cdrom drive it starts out then it says detecting usb devices then it says attempting to read from CDrom again. it is at this point it says unable to read from cdrom drive.

**tedroddy666** · August 22nd, 2003, 11:29 PM

is it a USB cdrom drive? and are you telling it to test the CD? what distribution of linux are you trying to install, and what version? ive asked about 5 times. its important.

if it asks to "test media" tell it to. i had that problem, and i told it no, and everything worked and works fine