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I just can't get any love from linux

C

coolred

Diamond Member
I want to get to know linux and maybe leave windows for good if I like linux, or even a BSD. So I tried installing the FC4, the install went finr, but upon reboot, the system freezes at this line:

SELinux initialized (dev sysfs, type sysfs), uses genfs_contexts


Any help, ideas? System is an Asus A8N VM-CSM, Amd X2 3800+, 1GB Patriot PC3200, Fedora hard dirve is an old 30GB maxtor, Windows drive is a 36GB Raptor. Thats about it I guess. Need any othe rinfo, just ask
 
If it is an SELinux problem (which seems strange to me), you can probably get around it by adding "selinux=0" to your boot command. Probably you're using Grub for your boot loader, so at the Grub menu I think you press "e" to edit the command line. Just put "selinux=0" in at the end, and see if that helps.
 
Man I don't know, I don't know much about linux. The only other output it gives is all the stuff that loads up to the line I gave you. think it is a grub boot loader, but it doesn't actually come up, it just boots directly to FC
 
Originally posted by: coolred
think it is a grub boot loader, but it doesn't actually come up, it just boots directly to FC
Click to expand...
Try holding Escape while you're booting. That should bring up the full Grub menu.

 
selinux=0 returned an unrecognized command, but maybe I was supposed to include the quotes? Anyways, I realized that the boot loader does show up for about 3 seconds. It gives me the option of standard FC4 or an smp version. I think the smp is the default option. I chose the standard version and it booted.
 
Alright now that I am at the desktop(is it called that in linux?)I need a little mor ehelp. First, I think I prefer KDE to gnome, I installed both during install, how do I switch between the 2? Also it appears as though maybe it didn't see my network card(onboard from the motherboard). It is not letting me acces the nte, or get system updates. How do I check this out?


Now that I think of it, I don't recall it asking any networking info during th einstall
 
To switch between kde and gnome there should be an option somewhere at the login screen.

During the install you should have been asked if you wanted to use dhcp or assign a static ip. There's probably some networking config gui to be found in your menu somewhere. Otherwise, what does the command ifconfig print out? (That'd be at the command prompt. I think it's called a Terminal in gnome.)
 
ifconfig= command not found. There is nothing listed under network device control. I tried adding a network device, the only thing it shows is other network device. When I choose that it gives me a list of network devices to choose from, mine(marvell 88E1111 PHY) is not listed in that list.
 
Originally posted by: coolred
ifconfig= command not found. There is nothing listed under network device control. I tried adding a network device, the only thing it shows is other network device. When I choose that it gives me a list of network devices to choose from, mine(marvell 88E1111 PHY) is not listed in that list.
Click to expand...

You probably don't have access to ifconfig as a regular user. If you remember your root password then type 'su' at the command prompt, put in the password, and then try ifconfig again.
 
I am gonna try to reinstall, should I be installing as a desktop, workstation or server, or custom. I assumed desktop was fine, but maybe that doesn't include networking? Although that doesn't seem right.
 
It's all the same set of software, the designators of desktop-workstation- etc are just a starting point of software to be pulled from the install cd/dvd. In addition you should be able to put the installation media in while you are at the desktop and the auto-installer should come up prompting you if you want to add more packages. It should load the same installer that you had during installation, allowing you to pick networking if it was not installed by default. Typically you might take that for granted, so I'm not sure why it wouldn't install that.

From what I found for that particular controller was mentioning going to nVidia and grabbing the linux drivers from there. (here)

Looking at the directions if they do not have a pre-built driver in the installer, you will need to install the kernel source from your installation media. Other than that, it's fairly straight forward.
 
I just installed Fedora Core 4 as well - last week. I've used Linux a bit as a user at work, but they come all set up for me - installing it was a new experience. I had a similar problem to you with SMP - it some detected my Pentium 4 as being HT-enabled (SMP) when HT was disabled. I was getting stuck in the boot - I can't remember where but I think it was probably the same point. Anyway, I looked in Grub, saw what it was doing and I enabled HT and I could boot fine.

For the networking command, I think ifconfig is in /sbin.

Do "/sbin/ifconfig" (no quotes) - or update your PATH statement (in bash, do "export PATH=$PATH:/sbin" - which says 'change the variable PATH to be equal to what it is now ($PATH) and /sbin as well') and then run it.

For what it's worth, once you get it working, it's really nice. 🙂 It sure does feel fast when I run things. I have minor annoyances with it, but overall, I'm enjoying it.

On the login screen, there is a button in the bottom-left that lets me change the display manager.
 
Originally posted by: coolred
Even using the sudo option, I still get command not found for ifconfig
Click to expand...

I know this is probably going to seem frustrating or silly, but try this:
sudo /sbin/ifconfig

For some reason redhat (maybe others, I don't know/care) doesn't add /sbin and /usr/sbin to the paths of regular users. ifconfig belongs in /sbin, but it isn't in your path, so the shell can't find the ifconfig command.

EDIT: You probably want /sbin/ifconfig -a to list your network adapters. You shouldn't need sudo for this (I just tried it in Redhat ES4 and it worked as a regular user).

The output will look something like (sanitized, of course):
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:99:35:e2😀0:0d
inet addr:0.0.0.0 Bcast:0.0.0.0 Mask:255.255.255.255
inet6 addr: blahblahblah Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0 GiB) TX bytes:0 (0 GiB)
Base address:0xecc0 Memory:fe6e0000-fe700000
Click to expand...

eth0 is the name of the first network card found in the machine (Linux names all network cards the same so that it's harder to figure out which is which).
 
That command did not show anything named eth0.

It showed lo, which looks like a loopback, and also sit0, not sure what that is.
 
I will check out the nvidia drivers


If i use the install cd to reinstall the packages I need, which ones do I reinstall?
 
That's were I would have to see the package list though, I would assume since you see a loopback "adapter" set up your networking functions are working. Once you grab the appropriate driver, you should be in business.

Just to double check you should be able to do a "ping localhost", and it should report being able to successfully ping 127.0.0.1.

Edit: As for the kernel sources, I think that's under development IIRC. It's been a while since I tried to install FC. I think FC3 was the last iteration, though the menus should be fairly similiar if not the same.
 
From Ars:

Linux Compatibility

The 2.6.11 x64_64 SMP kernel that shipped with the original Fedora Core 4 release will not boot with this board. Luckily the install also includes the non-SMP kernel, which works fine. After updating, the current 2.6.14 SMP kernel works great.

The forcedeth network driver in 2.6.11 does not recognize the on-board NIC, but the version included with the 2.6.14 kernel does. The nvnet driver included on the disk did not work immediately - since the latest forcedeth works, I haven't investigated this.
Update: There has been some instability with both the forcedeth and nvnet 0306 drivers - occasionally the NIC just stops responding. There are new nvnet 0310 drivers which I have not yet tried.

Unfortunately, the current 7676 graphics drivers for Linux do not work with the on-board 6150 video. NVidia says that this will be corrected with the upcoming 8xxx driver release. Since the Windows version of the drivers was released today, hopefully this will not take long. The nv driver also does not work, which means for now you're stuck with vesa - ugh.

I haven't tried the on board sound in Linux yet. Recent ALSA changelog entries mention the ad1986a chip, so I expect this should work.
Click to expand...

So unless you update your kernel, YMMV on the forcedeth.
 
It is a marvel ethernet adaptor, but it is from and nvidia chipset, so I assume it applies as nvidia. I tried the modprobe forcedeth, I got bash: modporbe: command not found. Thought maybe I need the /sbin/ again, tried it with that and got
Fatal: Error inserting forcedeth (/lib/modules/2.6.11-1.1369_FC4/kernel/drivers/net/forcedeth.ko): Operation not permitted.

So the I downloaded the nvidia drivers to my usb key and tried installing them. It says to type sh NFORCE-Linux-x86-1.0-0310-pkg1.run to get them to install. That did not work, I am not sure if i need to save it somewhere other then the USB key, or type something else to let it know its on the usb key. Do I need the /sbin/ in front of it? Do I need to be using the sudo command? Anfd when I try to log onto the sudo account, it says my username is not in the sudoers file.
 
Originally posted by: TGS
From Ars:

Linux Compatibility

The 2.6.11 x64_64 SMP kernel that shipped with the original Fedora Core 4 release will not boot with this board. Luckily the install also includes the non-SMP kernel, which works fine. After updating, the current 2.6.14 SMP kernel works great.

The forcedeth network driver in 2.6.11 does not recognize the on-board NIC, but the version included with the 2.6.14 kernel does. The nvnet driver included on the disk did not work immediately - since the latest forcedeth works, I haven't investigated this.
Update: There has been some instability with both the forcedeth and nvnet 0306 drivers - occasionally the NIC just stops responding. There are new nvnet 0310 drivers which I have not yet tried.

Unfortunately, the current 7676 graphics drivers for Linux do not work with the on-board 6150 video. NVidia says that this will be corrected with the upcoming 8xxx driver release. Since the Windows version of the drivers was released today, hopefully this will not take long. The nv driver also does not work, which means for now you're stuck with vesa - ugh.

I haven't tried the on board sound in Linux yet. Recent ALSA changelog entries mention the ad1986a chip, so I expect this should work.
Click to expand...

So unless you update your kernel, YMMV on the forcedeth.
Click to expand...



Well that helps, that explains why it wouldn't boot fromt he smp kernel. But how do I update the kernel with no net connection?


Also, I don't mean to throw so many questions at you, but I just realized it is running kinda odd or slowley. I noticed the mouse jerking somewhat, and also my wife tried to play a game and it took like 10-15 seconds to start.
 
I will consider that, but I wanted to try FC, since its more like red hat, which from what I understand is kinda like an industry standard. Not really, but you know what I mean.

I have tried ubuntu before, not saying it was bad, but I didn't see what the big fuss was all about, what am I missing with it. Also I would likely go with kubuntu, since I like the flashier KDE envionment
 
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