[RULE] Intro and installation question

[James Miller]

Hello Kevin:

Though I myself am brand new to the RULE project, I think I'll pipe in
with a few comments.  I've used Linux primarily for the last 2 years or
so, but still have incredible amounts to learn.  My interest in this
project stems from my involvement in another project that aims at running
Linux on old hardware - the Basiclinux project - that takes a bit of a
different approach ("Up2date" is not part of Basiclinux's philosophy: it
simply uses bits and pieces of an older Slackware release).  Anyway, here
goes on any advice/help I can offer on your questions.

>      A installation question: I have a Toshiba Satellite 200 CDS with
> 24MB RAM and a 800MB HD.  Even when I can get packaged distros loaded
> and running, they are SO SLOW.  I came across the R.U.L.E. Project in
> "Linux Format" magazine.  My last distro was Mandrake 8.2.  I have since
> fdisk'd and formated the HD.  However, even after installing RH 7.3 from
> the disk2.img and slinky.img disks, upon boot-up, I receive the "Stage
> 1" message and the machine freezes.  I am presuming that this is the
> remnant Mandrake boot-loader that I have somehow failed to wipe out.
> How can I do this.

Can't really help with this.  The questions that follow it do make
understanding what could be wrong here a bit more confusing.  Sorry :) .
I would think that installing Lilo from RH would overwrite and preexisting
bootloader, though.  Did you get to that phase of the install?

>      I read the installation page several times, however dumb questions
> follow:  What hdx do I install to?  hda is my 'c' drive, yes?  Do I need
> to use the slinky-v.1.0.7.img if I have the RH 7.3 disks?  Should I say
> install from cd with the slinky.img file on a cd?
>
In Linux, the main drive (i.e., the master of the primary IDE channel for
IDE drives) is always /dev/hda.  That's not quite enough for Linux to be
able to use it, though, since the device *must* have partitions on it to
be useable.  Primary partitions receive an additional number - 1-4 on any
given IDE device.  In your case, your "c" partition (using Win
terminology) is almost certainly /dev/hda1.  When you used fdisk to create
partitions, you must surely have created a /dev/hda1 - do you recall
seeing that during your fdisk execution?  I'm assuming you made yourself a
swap partition, too: on a machine like the one you've described, I would
definitely make a swap partition (of at least 50MB).  If you made one, and
opted for it to be a primary partition, then it would almost surely be
/dev/hda2.

The latest Slinky is slinky-v0.3.96.  You should definitely be using this
(I know because I just asked about this onlist myself in the last couple
of weeks).  slinky-v0.1.7 is quite old and has surely been superseded by
much-improved versions.  I think that version of Slinky covers RH versions
from 7.2 through 9, if I'm not mistaken.

I was a bit confused about how the CD's fit into the install routine as
well.  I asked about this just recently and got clarification as follows
(and confirmed it to be correct by using that clarification to install
RULE): to install RULE, you will always need RH CD's (1 and 2 at least, as
I understand it).  You may have noticed some talk about "Slinky ISO's"
among the install literature as well.  I was a bit confused about just
what the ISO was, and how it would fit in with the install.  I now
understand that the ISO contains what's on disk2.img - plus some other
really helpful (in some cases needed) stuff.  The ISO contains, among
other things, a slimmed-down version of X windows which cannot be found on
the RH CD's (apparently specially compiled for the RULE project).  The ISO
also contains the 486 kernel, which has been left out of more recent RH
distrbution CD's (8.0 >).  Thus, I think it's a much better option to use
the ISO than disk2.img (if you have a 486, you may have little other
choice in order to get a functioning kernel).  Anyway, here's a good
part of the way my RULE install went: 1) step 1 - boot from the slinky
0.3.96 floppy (I cannot boot from CD on my machine: one can boot from the
ISO if one has the option of booting from CD on their system - in which
case step 1 won't be needed); 2) I think the step your question refers to
is when one is asked about where to find files for continuing the install:
will they come from disk2.img (floppy disk) or from the ISO?  You answer
"CD" or "floppy" according to which you will use to continue the install
(which will again be dependent on whether you want to use the special
Xwindows package and/or the 486 kernel); 3) insert the media when asked
(disk2.img or ISO CD); 4) insert RH CD's when prompted.  More could be
said on how the installation goes, of course, but these are some key
points in the process related to your questions.

Hope this helps.  Apologies if I've made things too basic.

Sincerely, James


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