SuSE 10 install

[peahouse05]

Hello All,
Have been reading up on SuSE 10 and got really keen. Installed 5 CD set on AMD k6 367 MHz but not really in control of events. Intended to install it on second HDD but it chose to shrink XP on the first HDD, which I accepted.
After some hours, particularly with the online updates, we got right to the very last line - hardware devices. The black screen of death is even more worrying than the blue one, as it's like the end of black and white tv without the national anthem and the white dot.
But wait a minute! The CD ROM still works, the monitor shows a solid light (not flashing) so it hasn't crashed, I think? Xp boots fine on reset and tried booting SuSE 10 in safe mode but without success.
Checked some SuSE 10 websites and found the same problem addressed and tried the following...Advised to Ctrl-Alt-Backspace when black screen appeared - no good. Tried it just before black screen appeared - things happened. Followed advice... login as root.....enter sax2 -m 0=vesa - things happened, got very excited... you've guessed... black screen of (not quite) death. Too ignorant to go any further without help.
Thanks in advance and apologies for length of thread.
Regards,
peahouse05

 

[muckshifter]

No, it is not a BSoD ... but it looks like your graphic card may not have been found correctly.

Linux is there and running, you just need to start X so you can 'see' it.

Do you see a curser top left of your screen?

 

[Techy]

Suse is gonna be dead slow on that machine. its worse that windows!

 

[peahouse05]

Thanks Techy - I am just using this machine to learn - new hdd, cards, ram, etc and will be asking for info re not new (too expensive) MB soon. You are correct, as shown by the SuSE 10 installation.

Thanks Muckshifter - There is no cursor but it looks like a card problem as my new (used) graphics card shows its own BIOS on booting and Linux is definitley installed. Should I revert to the onboard graphics card?

Cheers both,
peahouse05

 

[floppybootstomp]

My own guess here is that the Suse 10 installation is fine but that the system just doesn't have the power to run it.

In fact I'm surprised that XP is running on a 367Hz machine.

Sorry Do you have a faster machine you could try Suse 10 on, cos it really is a fine little Distro.

 

[muckshifter]

Thanks Techy - I am just using this machine to learn - new hdd, cards, ram, etc and will be asking for info re not new (too expensive) MB soon. You are correct, as shown by the SuSE 10 installation.

Thanks Muckshifter - There is no cursor but it looks like a card problem as my new (used) graphics card shows its own BIOS on booting and Linux is definitley installed. Should I revert to the onboard graphics card?

Cheers both,
peahouse05

You can try any card you like, but try "alt + F7" first ...

 

[peahouse05]

Thanks for your replies guys!
Muckshifter - as usual the Konqueror! Just before black screen Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, things happened. Then alt+F7 as you suggested and here we are on SuSE 10.
Cheers,
peahouse05

smilies inserting hyperlinks?

 

[muckshifter]

Smillies ...

, no the smillies do work but you're going to need to do it the "old school" way ... or use another browser.

peahouse05, all the "F" keys invoke different 'consoles/teminals' from F1 - F6 accessed by using Ctrl+Alt+F1 ... Ctrl+Alt+Backspace is a "short-cut" to loging out of X ... X is your graphic desktop.

So, if you have a program crash, you can use Ctrl+Alt+F1 that will take you will go out of X, and get an empty terminal screen, fully black with a login prompt.

Then log in as "root" ( not "su" this time ) and type "top", you will get the process-table with the PID numbers, find the number that's hurting, close top with the"Q" key, press Alt+F2, you will get a second black screen ( terminal ) to log in to, log in as root and type "kill 4246" or whatever the offending program is, then returning to X, press Alt+F7 !

That is if a Linux program ever does crash on you, that can happen but is very rare.

Pleased to see you in Linux.

 

[peahouse05]

Thanks Muckshifter,
Just the kind of info I need to get the first mental picture of what is going on. Install has detected printers but I have not had time to try them yet and have not checked whether Suse will boot all the way to the desktop.
Cheers,
peahouse05

 

[peahouse05]

Hello All,
Using SuSE 10 for this but re-installed it to try to get over the problem of failing to configure hardware on booting. Can get it working from advice kindly suplied by members, but booting takes me to 'users' and then through 'cleanup', 'release notes' and then fails in 'hardware configuration'. All of this takes about 15 minutes, which is a bit of a pain.
Any ideas most welcome.
Cheers,
peahouse05

 

[muckshifter]

You is a stubborn bugger ay,

Suse 10 is great for a modern PC, or one a couple years old ... for something as old as you have there you are pushing the boat out ... you need to go to Here and look for something that is better suited for the older PC ... in essence Linux is Linux under the skin, the difference in "distros" is they add, or not, as the case may be, their own 'stamp' on the distribution.

DSL or Damn Small Linux may be a good start ...

 

[peahouse05]

Spot on as usual Muckshifter!
Think I have got every last bit of use out of the old clunker and learnt a lot with members' help and thanks for that.
SuSE 10 runs quite a bit slower than than XP as Techy suggested but will stick with it in a new build.
Cheers,
peahouse05, thumb

ps can't work the smilies in suse

 

[muckshifter]

If you do use Suse for a new build PC then upgrading Firefox to 1.5 and the smillies will work ... the "old" way is to us their keyboard short cuts ... put to gether : ) and you get and ; ) gives you

A lot of people have moaned that Suse is a tad on the slow side ... but give it a nice PC and it will last for a long time.

 

[peahouse05]

Thanks Muckshifter,
Have downloaded Firefox 1.5 to get Google toolbar - it is so tempting to make everything look like it is in XP - really good fun.
Have seen a used Pentium 3, 1GHz MB, but that will be another thread - cannot afford new or too late..
Cheers,
peahouse05

 

[peahouse05]

Hello,
Still playing Linux with old pc until I sort out a build. Muckshifter identified the graphics card as the problem in incomplete installation and, as usual, is right! Used Control Centre - Hardware to configure printers ok and tried Graphics and Monitor - screen went black with no cursor. Looked at process table which appears ok (in my very limited opinion). Tried Sound Card and it sees one in pci slot which is no longer in there , but this does appear in BIOS. Can 'old things' be cleared from BIOS?
Very impressed with detailed information in System. Sees this old pc as a i386 at 133MHz just like XP does but I remember it showed as 367MHz with Win 98.
Cheers,
peahouse05

 

[muckshifter]

peahouse, yes you can 'disable' things in the BIOS, it is probably on-board sound that is being seen. They are PCI devices hard wired onto the MB.

Linux checks the hardware every time you reboot for changes, so if you do add something, or take something away, it will do its best to install it for you. If it doesn't, that is where I come unstuck also.

Try and set your sights a little higher than a 1GHz system if you can.

 

[peahouse05]

Thanks Muckshifter,
I see what you mean about onboard pci. The sound is now working but not properly. Looking at the offers currently available, something near 2GHz and 1GB of RAM seems possible.
Cheers,
peahouse05

 

[peahouse05]

suse10 install

Hello All,
Will soon have 1Gb RAM and 2GHz CPU to run Linux. Thinking about installing it on daughters laptop but have two questions.
Can I network with XP and Linux separately, I know they cannot talk to each other.
My old pc automatically boots Linux, could the laptop be configured to boot xp as default?
Cheers,
peahouse05

 

[muckshifter]

Hello All,
Will soon have 1Gb RAM and 2GHz CPU to run Linux. Thinking about installing it on daughters laptop but have two questions.
Can I network with XP and Linux separately, I know they cannot talk to each other.
My old pc automatically boots Linux, could the laptop be configured to boot xp as default?
Cheers,
peahouse05

Peahouse, you'll have to forgive my "fun" but ... a separate network ?? Yes, XP can 'talk' to Linux, though you'll find Linux will talk to XP a lot easier.

You can network any PC you like, and laptop, and it will not matter what OS is on any of them ... they can talk/see one another.

The "trick" is to use the right tools ... look up Samba for Linux.



The Internet is mainly run by Linux servers ... you can still talk to anybody in the world you like.

 

[peahouse05]

suae 10 install

Hi Muckshifter,
No, that sentence did not come out right - and not a drop had been taken before I wrote it! Looking forward to 'mixing' OSs - just for fun.
Upgrade hardware arrives tomorrow - bugger - have to mend my garage flat roof first.
Much more serious! Daughter will not let me install suse 10 on her laptop unless it boots XP by default. I was a hero when I learnt how to add OE and IE to the start menu - she presses the button and walks away.
Help please.
cheers,
peahouse05