Need some Help with Linux

[BarnyardMonkey]

Ok this is my first time messing around with Linux OS.

so i thought i would try it out for the heck of it and see what it was about.

i installed Linux Mandrake 7.2 last night.
after install,was ready to boot for first time,and get the "Non system disk error" deal.
seems like the MBR isn't setup right or something.

so was wanting to know how i can boot up with either a Floppy boot disk,or the Cd install disk,and do something in the lines of like a windows command "sys c:" to make the drive boot.
and i also found out that the commands aren't the same as windows/DOS.

So if someone can help me get this drive to boot/and tell me exactly what to type..hehe..i'd appreciate it.
big time newbie here.


(I have no Floppy boot disk just Cd/and i also have Lilo if needed)



Shawn.

 

[Phil21]

bleh, never messed with mandrake much, but any linux boot disk w/ lilo on it should do the job.

Get a boot disk, and when the LILO prompt comes up type: root=/dev/hda1 (for your root drive (which is mounted as /) being the first partition of your first IDE drive.. hda2 would be first IDE drive, second partition, hdb1 would be second drive, first partition, etc.)

hit enter and it should boot up into your OS, so you can install LILO (the linux boot loader) on the hard drive. To easily do this try stuff like liloconf lilosetup setup, etc. etc. I dunno if you want to manually install it, but heres some basic directions that will require you to fill in the gaps.

edit /etc/lilo.conf (with vi, pico, etc.)

you should see something like this...

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/sda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 50
# Normal VGA console
vga = normal
image = /vmlinuz
root = /dev/sda4
label = Linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

set boot = to whichever drive you have your boot partition on (usually what your / drive is, but could be anything) and set root = whatever your root drive and partition is. (i.e. boot = /dev/hda root=/dev/hda1 for a system with one partition)

then save, and quit the editor and just type "lilo" on the command prompt

you should see something like
Added Linux *
and it should exit. Try rebooting w/o the disk and hopefully things worked.

-Phil

 

[BarnyardMonkey]

Now i'm really confused..hehe.

Ok heres what i have:

I'm booting with the install Cd.then when the prompt comes up to where i can go to Rescue disk,i do that.
then it takes me to a screen with the linux logo on top left,and says something bout loading keyboard layout,and smoething about modprobe.
both are highlighted in yellow.

and have a blinking cursor at bottom that says Root@??.can't remember what ?? says again.not by the system right now.

but i can't seem to get no command to work exept for fdisk.
i have Lilo on floppy disk,but can't even figure out how to get to the floppy drive to start Lilo up.

and i tried to do the update feature of the setup disk,but it won't let me choose what i want to install.just starts installig packages by itself.

This may all sound confusing,but this is all german to me right now.
don't understand alot of it.



Shawn.

 

[Rakkis]

Don't expect commands to be the same in linux. It IS a different OS after all.
Look up guides for newbies in google. There are a few very helpful places out there