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Best Linux hard drive install?

S

SickBeast

Lifer
Suggestions are welcome.

I know Red Hat has been the traditional "de-facto" Linux build.

What do you guys suggest as a "Windows XP Replacement"?

Further to that, do I need to partition and format my hard drive before doing it? I've got an old 40GB IDE drive that I'm using to attempt it.

Thanks!

-SB.
 
I haven't used Red Hat for a while (used Fedora Core 1, IIRC). Currently running SUSE 10.1, no complaints. I think Ubuntu and Debian are also fairly popular distros.

I think nearly every linux installer comes with partitioning software, so you can take care of the drive allocation during your installation.
 
Ubuntu is great for a beginner and poweruser alike. You can either download the ISO, or order some CD's (free). But if you do order the CD's, you're required to get like, 10 or more, so give some out.
 
Ubuntu was REALLY easy to install.
Its been a few years since I've done a Red Hat install though, and they may have improved since then.

 
Originally posted by: spacelord
Ubuntu was REALLY easy to install.
Its been a few years since I've done a Red Hat install though, and they may have improved since then.
Click to expand...

I just tried and failed with Ubuntu! 🙁

There is a glitch w/ the graphics subsystem...it will only allow me to use 640x480, which prevents me from getting past the first screen during installation.

Any other suggestions? I suppose I would prefer drivers and stability over fluff. Something that works with an X800Pro and a 2405FPW. Anyone out there with experience with said hardware?

Thanks Again,

-SB.
 
There have always been a few problems with ATI and Linux, however, I am sure you will be able to get Ubuntu working without much effort - that's quite a common card... And what's wrong with 640*480 anyway, just until you get it installed? Then you can get new drivers...

A quick google for 'ubuntu x800' brings up threads where people have similar problems and are pointed to the install instructions here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI

and here:

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Breezy_Installation_Guide
 
You can use the debain like installer too with ubuntu, you dont have to do the liveCD install. THen you can configure xorg for your video card and start X.
 
There is a glitch w/ the graphics subsystem...it will only allow me to use 640x480, which prevents me from getting past the first screen during installation.
Click to expand...

How does it prevent you from doing the installation? If you can't see the buttons just hold alt and click anywhere in the window and you can drag it around.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
There is a glitch w/ the graphics subsystem...it will only allow me to use 640x480, which prevents me from getting past the first screen during installation.
Click to expand...

How does it prevent you from doing the installation? If you can't see the buttons just hold alt and click anywhere in the window and you can drag it around.
Click to expand...

Thank-you very much. 🙂

It's on my hard drive. Now how do I get it to 1920x1200? 😀

It's pretty slick, by the way. Knoppix is nice too.
 
Originally posted by: SickBeast
Originally posted by: Nothinman
There is a glitch w/ the graphics subsystem...it will only allow me to use 640x480, which prevents me from getting past the first screen during installation.
Click to expand...

How does it prevent you from doing the installation? If you can't see the buttons just hold alt and click anywhere in the window and you can drag it around.
Click to expand...

Thank-you very much. 🙂

It's on my hard drive. Now how do I get it to 1920x1200? 😀

It's pretty slick, by the way. Knoppix is nice too.
Click to expand...

System -> Preferences -> Resolution
 
Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: SickBeast
Originally posted by: Nothinman
There is a glitch w/ the graphics subsystem...it will only allow me to use 640x480, which prevents me from getting past the first screen during installation.
Click to expand...

How does it prevent you from doing the installation? If you can't see the buttons just hold alt and click anywhere in the window and you can drag it around.
Click to expand...

Thank-you very much. 🙂

It's on my hard drive. Now how do I get it to 1920x1200? 😀

It's pretty slick, by the way. Knoppix is nice too.
Click to expand...

System -> Preferences -> Resolution
Click to expand...

It's locked at 640x480, dispite everything looking ok in the strange string of settings that exist within Linux (both the graphics card and the "screen" are listing higher resolutions than 640x480).

Perhaps I should just try gentoo. 🙂
 
It's locked at 640x480, dispite everything looking ok in the strange string of settings that exist within Linux (both the graphics card and the "screen" are listing higher resolutions than 640x480).
Click to expand...

Check out /etc/X11/xorg.conf, in there should be a bunch of lines starting with Modes and listing resolutions like "800x600", see if the ones you want are in there.

Perhaps I should just try gentoo.
Click to expand...

Sure, if you have a lot of time to waste...
 
Originally posted by: SickBeast
Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: SickBeast
Originally posted by: Nothinman
There is a glitch w/ the graphics subsystem...it will only allow me to use 640x480, which prevents me from getting past the first screen during installation.
Click to expand...

How does it prevent you from doing the installation? If you can't see the buttons just hold alt and click anywhere in the window and you can drag it around.
Click to expand...

Thank-you very much. 🙂

It's on my hard drive. Now how do I get it to 1920x1200? 😀

It's pretty slick, by the way. Knoppix is nice too.
Click to expand...

System -> Preferences -> Resolution
Click to expand...

It's locked at 640x480, dispite everything looking ok in the strange string of settings that exist within Linux (both the graphics card and the "screen" are listing higher resolutions than 640x480).

Perhaps I should just try gentoo. 🙂
Click to expand...

If you can't fix this problem in Ubuntu, you're in for a world of hurt with Gentoo..

Did you try booting Ubuntu in safe graphics mode? (The second option) This basically uses the vesa driver instead of automatically detecting a driver for your card. Normally the default nv and ati modules give me problems, but vesa works well. Just boot up the Ubuntu livecd and select that option to see if using vesa will work better. If it does I can explain how to correct the issue in your current install.
 
Originally posted by: SleepWalkerX
If you can't fix this problem in Ubuntu, you're in for a world of hurt with Gentoo..

Did you try booting Ubuntu in safe graphics mode? (The second option) This basically uses the vesa driver instead of automatically detecting a driver for your card. Normally the default nv and ati modules give me problems, but vesa works well. Just boot up the Ubuntu livecd and select that option to see if using vesa will work better. If it does I can explain how to correct the issue in your current install.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks very much. :thumbsup:

I think I'm at 1920x1200 here and would like to switch to VESA mode for the hard drive install. What do I need to do?
 
Originally posted by: SickBeast
Originally posted by: SleepWalkerX
If you can't fix this problem in Ubuntu, you're in for a world of hurt with Gentoo..

Did you try booting Ubuntu in safe graphics mode? (The second option) This basically uses the vesa driver instead of automatically detecting a driver for your card. Normally the default nv and ati modules give me problems, but vesa works well. Just boot up the Ubuntu livecd and select that option to see if using vesa will work better. If it does I can explain how to correct the issue in your current install.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks very much. :thumbsup:

I think I'm at 1920x1200 here and would like to switch to VESA mode for the hard drive install. What do I need to do?
Click to expand...

Ok open up the terminal and type "sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf". Scroll down near the bottom and look for Device. It should list your graphics card along with other information. Then look for the Driver entry. In the quotation marks it might list ati or nv or something of that nature. Replace that with vesa (make sure its in the quotation marks still). Then save and the next time the x server starts (like logging out and back in or restarting your computer) it'll run with the vesa driver.

Now this may be a solution, but there are other approaches. Like instead of the vesa driver you can install ati's or nvidia's proprietary driver. They may give more features than the generic vesa driver and might even support higher resolutions.

To install them make sure the universe repository is accessible through apt-get. This can be done by typing "sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list", looking down for the line that mentions the universe repository (it'll have universe all the way at the end of the repository) and uncommenting the line (remove the # sign in front of it) then save it. Then update your sources by typing "sudo apt-get update"

Now type "sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx" if you have an ati card or "sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx" if you have an nvidia one. Then check the xorg.conf file again and look down where the Driver entry was listed. Instead of vesa or what it was before, it needs to be "fglrx" if you installed the proprietary ati drivers or "nvidia" if you installed the proprietary nvidia drivers. Then save and you're done.
 
I think SuSe is pretty much just SuSe now, it may have started from Slackware way back when but it's so far from there that I don't think it's worth mentioning now.
 
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