Linux Install-NEED HELP

[Gamingphreek]

Ok so i took a little test-thing, that recommended Linux Distros based on my responses. It came up with SuSe 10 as the top choice for me.

I went to the site and am downloading SuSe-10.0 OSS. It is 5 CD's. Am i downloading the correct thing. IIRC is OSS not Open Source Software/doesn't come with any add-ins preinstalled?

Also is SuSe a good Linux Distro to start out with. I started with Fedora Core 3 a long time ago, and i couldn't get the hang of it, so i gave up. I want to give it another shot so i figured that i wouldn't start out with the most advanced version first

Finally, i have 1x 160Gig HDD. Will i have to format and partition the drive into a C and D drive, or is it possible to run the OS's off of the same partition. If it is the former, can someone tell me if there is anyway i can partition the drive (For free) without reformatting and reinstalling windows?

Thanks,
-Kevin

Update: Ok so im trying to install SUSE10.0 x86-64, but the first disk keeps giving me errors when copying the files. It keeps claiming that the files are not on the disk. All i can do is ignore them. WHats more, I got the OS from Novell, so i know that the ISO's had all the files in them. Is this normal, or did something go wrong on the burn process.

Update 2: Ok, i have linux working. I just downloaded the latest Nvidia Video Drivers.

Can you guide me through everything that i should do right now (Which drivers and what not). If not can you point me towards a good site that will give me a run down of what i need to do in Linux?

I have a 120GB blank (Not Formatted) partition open for windows. Should i go by your last post to install windows or is there someway i can install it without wrecking the bootloader and everything?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Suse is fine, I'm considering playing with it a bit.

Linux doesn't use a C or D partition. You must create, at a minimum, a / and a swap partition. You should create a number of other partitions on top of that, but a lot of people don't (including me sometimes).

If you want to dualboot (ick) with Windows, install Windows to a partition that does not use up an entire hard drive. Partition the unallocated space during the Linux install and install there.

If you don't want to dualboot, but can't give up Windows or get a second computer (I can't believe people still only have 1 computer :Q), use Qemu or VMWare.

 

[xtknight]

I love my OpenSUSE 10 (SL-10.0-OSS)... Easiest distro I've tried. Easier than Fedora, Mandriva, and Debian from my experience. I converted my n00b friend to it and he likes it better than his Debian or Ubuntu and even did some things by himself under OpenSUSE.

I think using the same partition for both Windows and Linux is virtually impossible. (/me waits for somebody come in here with the 30 page "HOWTO" on it. ) Even if it is possible I really, really recommend you don't do that.

What's best is to split up your hard disk. That's called partitioning.

Right now you probably have one big partition with Windows on it? You will not have to reformat or reinstall Windows, if you have enough free space residing on that one partition for Linux. If you do, you can use PartitionMagic or the open-source CD bootable gparted utility to size down your Windows partition. This will leave you with some 'unallocated space'. I recommend you reserve at least 25 GB for Linux if you plan to actually use it often. Linux has poor and unstable support for writing to the Windows partitions (at least if they're NTFS). Read support is great by now though.

After you have your unallocated space, just start up the Linux installation and you can create partitions in there. Do not use the resize function in there because it's destructive and usually hidden away in an 'advanced section', at least that's what I've heard. Use PartitionMagic or gparted to resize. But with the unallocated space it's perfectly safe and the easiest to just use the Linux installer's partition manager. In that, you should choose the 'manual partitioning mode' and you need to create at least two partitions to mount.

Assuming 25 GB unallocated total, one should be 23 GB (most of the space) and mounted as / (one single forward slash). I just use 'primary partitions' to make it simple. It may ask you if you want primary or extended ones. I think you need to use extended if you have more than 4 partitions. But primary should work for less than that and keeps it simpler to manage. Another partition probably needn't be more than 2 GB, regardless whether you have 600 GB unallocated. This should be called the swap partition. That's what you choose under 'mount as' or 'filesystem' for that one. This is Linux's "page file".

Then it will ask you about bootloaders. I choose GRUB and install the MBR to /dev/hda or /dev/sda which I believe are always the defaults. If your hard disk is SATA or SCSI it should be /dev/sda, if it is the first SATA disk on the controller. Likewise, the first PATA drive would be /dev/hda. After installation it's vaguely possible you may need to screw around with BIOS boot order in terms of HD priorities, to get the right HD to kick in at boot time. Good luck.

 

[P0ldy]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
I went to the site and am downloading SuSe-10.0 OSS. It is 5 CD's. Am i downloading the correct thing. IIRC is OSS not Open Source Software/doesn't come with any add-ins preinstalled?

Also is SuSe a good Linux Distro to start out with. I started with Fedora Core 3 a long time ago, and i couldn't get the hang of it, so i gave up. I want to give it another shot so i figured that i wouldn't start out with the most advanced version first

You could grab a DVD ISO if you have a DVD burner. It's also best to grab ISOs with BitTorrent for future reference because it puts no load on the servers. OSS *is* open-source software, and it *does* come with "add-ins" preinstalled, if by "add-ins" you mean a lot of programs.

Like n0c said, it's a decent enough distro. First I started with, but gave up on it soon after when I had trouble with nvidia drivers (my nvidia card was somewhat new at the time and nvidia had special instructions for SUSE). It's a "pretty" distro out of the box... lots of GUI for configuration.

 

[xtknight]

OpenSUSE 10 does not come with a DVD ISO, unfortunately. There is a utility that will assemble a SUSE DVD out of 5 CD ISOs though. I have successfully used this once. What I just did was use the small CD net installer. It's great if you have a fast Internet connection. I was up and running from one ~64 MB net boot CD in less than 2 hours with a 6 Mbps downstream Internet.

The net installer needs an FTP IP address (hostname will not work). It also needs a specific path. Here is what worked for me.

216.165.129.140 (suse.mirrors.tds.net)
/pub/opensuse/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source

But you will lose everything and have to redownload it if the installation fails so that's a possible downside. If you think your Linux install skills are a little shaky then I'd recommend just staying with the CDs for now especially since you've already started downloading them. BTW, which architecture are you downloading? i686 or x86_64? Your rig sig says you have an A64 so I'd recommend x86_64, not i686. I am using x86_64 now and it works great. 32-bit can be emulated under the 'linux32' command. The net installer grabbed the 64-bit version for me (I'm not sure how to get the 32-bit one on a 64-bit processor with the net installer).

A cursory look at your rig says 64-bit Linux will work fine. NVIDIA has 64-bit graphics drivers. Your onboard audio is probably supported by the ALSA driver, which is open-source and easily compile-able for a 64-bit architecture. That's worst case... I know mine has a 64-bit ALSA binary all set. Worst case you will have to compile one specifically for your onboard audio chip but I 99% doubt you will have to do that. SUSE should autodetect it and set it up for you.

I'm pretty sure your CD/DVD burner will be fine (it is simply emulated over SCSI in Linux I believe which already has a 64-bit mode). I have burned a DVD ISO in Linux first-try with no configuration at all on my 64-bit installation using the k3b burning program.

Oh, there was one problem I encountered with my 7800GT card, unfortunately. Graphics corruption and hard-freezing that required me to go into a Rescue mode and manually edit a config file. If you have the opportunity to select to install a package called nvidia or nvidia-driver or something like that, you should do that. Search for 'nvidia' and it should show up, I think. If it has the word 'nvidia' in it, then I'm pretty sure that's the right package. This package may not be available until the 'update' phase which is at the end of installation. Do install it there if you can. There is a difference between the 'nv' and the 'nvidia' driver. The nv one I believe isn't even in a separate package so that shouldn't confuse you, but if you come across a driver selection, choose nvidia, not nv. NV is the one that crashed mine. Worst comes to worst, just choose the 'vesa' or 'vga' driver if ever prompted. If there is ever an opportunity to run 'SaX2' or select a video driver, please make sure you do that to avoid this problem. It was right in the release notes that I read, and I wasn't surprised when it happened. Hopefully it won't happen on your system but if it does I can help you fix it even after installation (that's when I had to do it) if you can still access Windows (you really should be able to).

Also if you experience a freeze-up on the installer in the beginning loading stages, you may have to disable ACPI or APIC in your BIOS. That is what I had to do on my nForce 4 board. Enable ACPI again after installation is completed so that Windows will work (most Windows can not boot up without ACPI). Linux should work with ACPI enabled in BIOS after the installer is done. Just leave ACPI alone though unless you have this freeze-up issue.

If Windows is not available or doesn't work, you may have to trash your Linux and do a 'fixmbr' from the XP recovery console to get the Windows boot loader back (among changing it back to the previous hard disk priority). Then next time you try to install Linux you may have to install the MBR to a different hard drive if applicable. If you only have one hard drive and the MBR refuses to work I'm really not sure what to do. This shouldn't be a problem though.

SUSE was the only distribution I've tried that detected both of my onboard Ethernet controllers so you're probably all set network-wise with SUSE too. Others detected one of them so I was hardly screwed though.

Here is the free utility that can resize your FAT or NTFS partition (among lots of other file systems): http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

That's a bootable CD.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Wow!!

Thanks for all the help you guys.

I did download the x86-64 version of the OS.

Ok so im downloading gparted and will deallocate 25Gig of space from my current NTFS partition. Of that unallocated space ill do the suggested 23/2 method. This may be a little less overwhelming once i begin the installation.

Last time the GRUB Boot manager failed on me after my Fedora Core installation failed. I had to run the "fixmbr" command which fixed everything.

Hopefully, in about 30 mins or so ill post and let you guys know how things are going.

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Ok its not working.

Im trying to load gparted from a CD and i get a fatal error. I dont know why? I guess i can try Partition Magic

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Ok i managed to get into the GUI but it was very screwed up. The NV driver wouldn't work at all, it was all corrupted. There was no Nvidia driver. VESA and Software drivers didn't work. Generic VGA worked but it was enormous and off the screen no matter the resolution. Also i had to, for some reason use 8bit Color Palette no matter what. That was with GParted.

I tried partition magic but all it gave me was an error. So i went into the disk management in windows and it gave an error when i tried to access the information. I think i may have to just reformat (Nothing is running too well here -_-)

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Ok so im trying to install SUSE10.0 x86-64, but the first disk keeps giving me errors when copying the files. It keeps claiming that the files are not on the disk. All i can do is ignore them. WHats more, I got the OS from Novell, so i know that the ISO's had all the files in them. Is this normal, or did something go wrong on the burn process.

Also, i manually created my partition. I made a FAT32 for Windows (I cant format as my windows disc was damaged) and then i made a 25Gig Partition for linux which AFAIK was named something like /. I then made a 2Gig Swap partition. Did i need to make any other partitions?

-Kevin

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Ok so im trying to install SUSE10.0 x86-64, but the first disk keeps giving me errors when copying the files. It keeps claiming that the files are not on the disk. All i can do is ignore them. WHats more, I got the OS from Novell, so i know that the ISO's had all the files in them. Is this normal, or did something go wrong on the burn process.

Also, i manually created my partition. I made a FAT32 for Windows (I cant format as my windows disc was damaged) and then i made a 25Gig Partition for linux which AFAIK was named something like /. I then made a 2Gig Swap partition. Did i need to make any other partitions?

-Kevin

Did you check the md5 of the iso? If not, do it now. I'll wait.

/ (root) and swap should be enough for newbies.

 

[xtknight]

OK...how did you fix the partitioning problem? How were you able to create the partitions?

You could try installing from the web if you wanted to, if the CDs aren't working for you. Personally I've never had my CDs corrupt on me but it's definitely possible. My guess is that the MD5 of the ISO is just fine (but check), but your CD has physical errors on it.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Don't bother with qtparted or gparted, I believe Suse can do this for you.

I'd HIGHLY recommend downloading Suse from bit torrent. You'll be guaranteed that the version you download will have the same integrity as the version that was originally uploaded. If I download an iso from an ftp server, I always grab the torrent and check against it. Sometimes its corrupted, and if it is then it automatically downloads the parts that are corrupted.

Here's a torrent for the DVD version of Suse 10.0 x86_64 Eval. The Eval is the same exact thing as the OSS edition except it has java, flash, mp3 codecs, etc. If you are against the Eval I can probably make you a dvd of the OSS x86_64, but it'd take a long time for you to get it from me, or you could just choose not to install java, flash, and the mp3 stuff.

http://linuxtracker.org/torrents-details.php?id=850

 

[Gamingphreek]

Ok, i already have it burned onto 5 disks.

I solved the partition problem by using SUSE's manager. I actually got it installed. Now i am having the problems you had XTKnight. It loads and then i get a weird corrupted graphic in the center of the screen, and it freezes. I told it not to install anything but the default VESA driver for the video. When i try failsafe mode it just freezes and the last line of code says that it is disabling IRQ11, and it just hangs there.

I am installing WinXP as we speak, so hopefully i will be able to do something once that computer is operational again.

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Ok i cant get windows installed. It finished copying files and then after it says Verifying DMI pool..., it just hangs. I have to redo everything once again.

I am about 3 seconds away from putting my foot through the side of the case right now.

I would install 2000 (Undamaged CD so i can format) but it has a problem. I can only selected max or up to 99999MB. I cant get it partitioned correctly. If i can get it formatted with 99GB and 60GB will i be able to rearrange those as i need to later?

-Kevin

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Ok, i already have it burned onto 5 disks.

I solved the partition problem by using SUSE's manager. I actually got it installed. Now i am having the problems you had XTKnight. It loads and then i get a weird corrupted graphic in the center of the screen, and it freezes. I told it not to install anything but the default VESA driver for the video. When i try failsafe mode it just freezes and the last line of code says that it is disabling IRQ11, and it just hangs there.

I am installing WinXP as we speak, so hopefully i will be able to do something once that computer is operational again.

-Kevin

That's really strange. My brother has the exact same motherboard and graphics card you have and I think he got his working somehow.

From a google search, it seems that its a problem with the sata hard drive. Can't remember if you can do this, but try to pass in 'noapic' at boot. That might be it.

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Ok i cant get windows installed. It finished copying files and then after it says Verifying DMI pool..., it just hangs. I have to redo everything once again.

I am about 3 seconds away from putting my foot through the side of the case right now.

I would install 2000 (Undamaged CD so i can format) but it has a problem. I can only selected max or up to 99999MB. I cant get it partitioned correctly. If i can get it formatted with 99GB and 60GB will i be able to rearrange those as i need to later?

-Kevin

I believe you can use ntfsresize to resize the partitions so it should be possible.

edit: ugh hate making links here, so illogical.

 

[xtknight]

Hmm. Do you have only one hard disk? It sounds like Windows is fine but we just need to kick it to boot somehow. Try fixmbr.

Is ACPI or APIC enabled in the BIOS? It must be for Windows to install/work, AFAIK. (Well, it should be unless you want to end up with some peculiar MPS HAL.) I think I told you to disable that if you had problems installing Linux, but did you do that or did the Linux install start fine?

My failsafe freezes too and I don't know why. Stupid nForce 4 board.

In fact I can't remember how I changed the video driver so it booted properly. I think I used rescue mode and got to a console somehow. But I can't remember if I used my Debian disc or something. What you may want to do is get a LiveCD, which btw will come in handy for debugging any future problems. With the LiveCD, mkdir /mnt/ then mkdir /mnt/suse. Then mount your SUSE drive to there (mount /dev/sdx /mnt/suse) and then rm /mnt/suse/etc/X11/xorg.conf. Replace sdx with whichever your SUSE's / partition is. This will force SUSE to stop trying to boot X. Reboot and attempt to get in SUSE. If you're in, login as root and then type sax2 and go through the wizard and select vesa or vga, whichever works.

 

[Gamingphreek]

I got the Linux installed fine. However, i am having video corruption like you said. And then the FailSafe mode wont load for me to somehow get it running.

So therefore i am installing 2000 and since the HDD is already partitioned, i am formatting the 130GB partition. After i do that, i still have the 25 and 2 gig partition for Linux. After i get windows up and running i can worry about getting linux up and running.

If i install windows, it shouldn't mess up the GRUB boot manager should it.

-Kevin

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
If i install windows, it shouldn't mess up the GRUB boot manager should it.-Kevin

Unfortunately it probably will. (I know you didn't want to hear that.) I will check my SUSE 10 disc and find out the best mode for fixing your problem.

Oh, if you can access GRUB at all, then there is an option to add kernel parameters to the boot. You need to add a command to get to a BASH terminal. I believe that is init=/etc/bash but let me verify that. This will make it so you can boot SUSE and it will take you straight to a terminal where you can login as root.

Edit: sorry, it's: linux init=/bin/bash. You may or may not need the linux command in there. If it says you are adding parameters then you don't need the linux.

 

[xtknight]

If you have not started the Windows install here is what you can try.

Get to the GRUB screen like usual then press F2 to specify extra boot options. In that, type init=/bin/bash (don't need linux prefix). Then once there, and in root mode (I think you don't even need to login), insert a floppy. Then type grub-install /dev/fd0. This will install grub and back it up to a floppy. Now proceed to install Windows. Windows will probably replace GRUB. If that happens, insert that floppy and use that to access GRUB. Then do the same F2 thing to get to a console (bin bash command above). Now we can fix your video. Once in the console, type rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Then reboot and with the floppy still in boot Linux with no F2 options. Hopefully you will get to a login where you can type in root and the password and get to a command line. Now type sax2 and select either vesa or vga, whichever driver works.

If you have started installing Windows already it's probably easiest just to reinstall Linux and then do that F2 thing to fix video (remove config+sax2). One thing you might try is the rescue mode on the SUSE CD and "boot installed system". Maybe it will disable the X server that way and you can get to a terminal but I'm not sure. If you can then you type grub-install /dev/sda to reinstall GRUB. Hopefully it will add the Windows boot for you. If you need to reinstall I suggest you only install a minimal installation in case it fails. Once you get the minimal Linux up and running you can proceed to install the rest of the packages with YaST2.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Ok, i have linux working. I just downloaded the latest Nvidia Video Drivers.

Can you guide me through everything that i should do right now (Which drivers and what not). If not can you point me towards a good site that will give me a run down of what i need to do in Linux?

I have a 120GB blank (Not Formatted) partition open for windows. Should i go by your last post to install windows or is there someway i can install it without wrecking the bootloader and everything?

-Kevin

 

[xtknight]

You've got Linux loaded and you can access the desktop fine? If the desktop still corrupts, just press F2 in the GRUB boot loader and add init=/bin/bash to the Linux command each time you need to boot Linux into root mode (even from Floppy) until we get that driver fixed. We can fix the desktop after installing Windows.

Even if you have another blank disk, unfortunately Windows is still going to overwrite the other bootloader, AFAIK. So you should back up your boot loader to a floppy before doing any Windows installation. Start Linux as usual and get in a root mode. Then insert a blank floppy and type grub-install /dev/fd0. Then reboot and set your BIOS to boot off the floppy so you can test it. If the floppy works (and boots Linux successfully) you're all set and you can proceed to install Windows. Take out the floppy and set the BIOS to boot off your Windows CD and proceed with installing Windows to the 120 GB partition. When the Windows installation is done, try booting regularly without the floppy first. If you see a Linux boot loader you're probably all set. If Windows replaced the boot loader like I expected, then boot off the floppy into Linux, get in to root, and type this: grub-install /dev/sda. That will write the GRUB bootloader to your hard disk and hopefully recognize Windows again. Take out the floppy, reboot and try both Linux and Windows to make sure they boot. Good luck.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: xtknight
You've got Linux loaded and you can access the desktop fine? If the desktop still corrupts, just press F2 in the GRUB boot loader and add init=/bin/bash to the Linux command each time you need to boot Linux into root mode (even from Floppy) until we get that driver fixed. We can fix the desktop after installing Windows.

Even if you have another blank disk, unfortunately Windows is still going to overwrite the other bootloader, AFAIK. So you should back up your boot loader to a floppy before doing any Windows installation. Start Linux as usual and get in a root mode. Then insert a blank floppy and type grub-install /dev/fd0. Then reboot and set your BIOS to boot off the floppy so you can test it. If the floppy works (and boots Linux successfully) you're all set and you can proceed to install Windows. Take out the floppy and set the BIOS to boot off your Windows CD and proceed with installing Windows to the 120 GB partition. When the Windows installation is done, try booting regularly without the floppy first. If you see a Linux boot loader you're probably all set. If Windows replaced the boot loader like I expected, then boot off the floppy into Linux, get in to root, and type this: grub-install /dev/sda. That will write the GRUB bootloader to your hard disk and hopefully recognize Windows again. Take out the floppy, reboot and try both Linux and Windows to make sure they boot. Good luck.

Excellent. I dont have a floppy installed. Is there anyway for me to burn those files to a CD or something? Furthermore, i have to install Win 2000 first in order to be able to format the 120Gig partition; but when i install that it hangs before GRUB when trying to go into the main part of the windows install. Would i use the CD/Floppy there as well? Is there anything else I can use to format the 120GB to NTFS, so i can go straight to the XP setup?

Also, how do i update programs like Mozilla. It came with Firefox 1.0.7 and i want to update it to Ver. 1.5.02? Also, what do i use to watch DVD's and what not. On Windows i had WMP with the Purevideo Decoder. On Linux I dont even know where to begin.

Thanks for everything so far,
-Kevin

 

[xtknight]

Since it sounds like you have your desktop up and running, you can actually just forget about the floppy as long as you keep your SUSE CD1 nearby so you can boot Linux and perform the grub-install command.

You should just be able to install Windows now and once it stops at DMI pool, follow that procedure to get GRUB working. After GRUB works, you can boot into Windows and it will continue installation of Windows, I believe.

As for installing/updating applications:

You probably want to uninstall the older Firefox first. The new one likely won't be installing to the same directory.
FireFox: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ (should autodetect you're using Linux and give you the right Download Now link). Download that anywhere, we'll say to the Home directory. The FireFox you have may be set to download to Home by default without prompting you for a download location.

Find a program called YaST in the start menu somewhere. For GNOME this should be in Desktop->YaST. This is your add/remove programs tool (among other things like device manager). Enter your root password when it prompts for it then it should come up with a dialog. At the left, select Software, and at the right, choose Software Management. YaST2 will come up and at the left will be a search. Type in: FireFox (Linux is case-sensitive so in this case the Fs must be capitalized) and press Search. At the right, MozillaFireFox will show up with the version. Click the checkmark on the MozillaFireFox package until it changes to trash can and click Accept to uninstall the current FireFox.

Now, you will need to get into a terminal. Right click on the desktop and click Open Terminal, or it is also accessible in the start menu in the System section (in that section just choose any terminal that it lists). Type:

cd ~ (this will take you to your home directory)
tar -xzvf firefox-1.5.0.2.tar.gz (this will extract the FireFox 1.5.0.2 tar gunzip package)
su (enter root password to get into admin mode)
mv ./firefox /opt/firefox (move FireFox directory to somewhere more suited)
ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox (add firefox to PATH, pt. 1)
ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox (add firefox to PATH, pt. 2)

Now it works, but there may not be shortcuts to it. Silly IMO why Mozilla doesn't provide an installer for it like every other program. But anyway... to add a shortcut to your desktop in GNOME: right click desktop, click Create Launcher. Type in firefox for the command and make sure Application is selected under Type and the rest is your choice. Under icon a dialog will load and type in /opt/firefox/icons and press enter to load the FireFox icons. Then select mozicon50.xpm (this is the appropriate size icon for most desktops). Click OK and the shortcut will appear on the desktop, and it should operate fine.

DVD playback was disabled by default for legal reasons (as was MP3). For DVDs in SUSE 10 go through this brief HOWTO: http://www.mysuse.org/modules/articles/article.php?id=5
As for MP3s you need the xmms-lib-mad package to enable xmms (like Winamp) to play mp3s.

I don't think NVIDIA as a PureVideo decoder for Linux but Linux is lucky to be the birthplace of ffmpeg, which is the predecessor to the Windows ffdshow decoder that you've probably heard of. I think most applications use ffmpeg already. SUSE should provide a media player called xine, which can be used to play DVDs.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Wow, thank you so much!!

I do have a problem right now though.

Whenever i hit F2 and type init=/bin/bash to get to that console you were telling me about, it goes through the standard initialization procedures and then the black prompt shows up with all the initializations on it. At the end, after it said ReiserFS: Using r5 hash to [2 more words i cant read from my writing]. After that a "(name):/#" is at the bottom with a blinking underscore. I tried typing in my password or hitting buttons or something but it doesn't work. It just sits there. Did i do something wrong?

-Kevin

Edit: And after doing the DVD thing, all i get is Error Reading NAV packet.

Im beginning to think that Linux is just too hard to learn

 

[xtknight]

Hehe...you are already at the console. No password needed. The # / signifies that. Hmm I'm not sure about the DVD problem though.