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I am not sure but I believe that was probably a utility check he ran to see if the computer knows it is there(some of the linux sites showed similar code sequences) but yet linux itself still won't see it.
Of course In windows I have seen such happen... so maybe it happens in linux as well?
Well with gentoo, if you do it properly, you end up compiling everything from source code, including configuring and compiling the kernel - which can take days, especially on a slow computer :p This is all done from a command line too, including setting up internet access so you can download the source code before you can start compiling, and a lot of other settings (basically all settings) to fine tune the installation to your specific computer. There's also things like portage, the package distribution system, which you need to learn to use, to get software. I'm sure I've missed a lot of stuff, since it's not easy to condense the huge installation manual into one paragraph :p This is the "quick" install guide, if you're wondering (needs quite a bit of background knowldge in linux to use) - the walk-you-through one is at least 20 times the size, but it does literally walk you through what to do. I suggest you look through the second one fully before attempting anything if you do choose Gentoo and you're not too familiar with linux.Quote:
Originally Posted by ShunNakamura
If you want to try installing something easier, I suppose Fedora Core 3 (new name for the free version of Redhat) isn't bad for a relatively new user - it has a nice GUI installation too instead of command-line based. Alternatively, just download Knoppix and burn that to a CD, and boot it - Knoppix doesn't need installing and runs off the CD completely without touching the HD if you don't want it to, so is good if you just want to look around and preview linux with a graphical environment (great for troubleshooting/recovery purposes too :p ).
Right... I think I'll stay away from compiling it myself for now.. I am familar with command line... but not overly so. Could be a fun experience when I get around to it.
The biggest problem for me getting linux right now.. is the fact that I don't got any CD-R's.. wonder if I can get around that somehow? heh, I shoudl have 1 or 2 of them I can scare up somewhere.
I think I must be doing something wrong now...I'm trying to mount the drive through
the terminal since I know the terminal sees the partitions. I unmounted hdb, which is
actually hdb1 and tried to "mount -t /dev/hdb2" but I get this:
mount: can't find /dev/hdb2 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
Is there any way to add the other partitions to fstab, or am I just completely off. I'm
not exactly sure about what everything does or what it means, I guess this is the
awkward period when you first get into a new OS or video game or card game....
you know the basics but you can't really link everything together yet. :p
.opt
I'm also having a hell of a time with GTK+ so i might have to come back for some
more tech support later. heh...
If the partition's not in fstab, then as root, you do
You didn't need to unmount hdb1 if you create a new empty folder and mount hdb2 there instead, unless you spefically wanted hdb2 mounted where hdb1 used to be.Code:mount /dev/hdb2 /path/to/someemptyfolder
If you want to add it to fstab so you only have to speficy /dev/hdb2 and not the place to mount as well, just copy the syntax of some existing line and modify it appropriately (the device, the place to mount, and possibly the filesystem type, though the last could work if left as auto) :p
Also, I don't actually think you can mount /dev/hdb2, since it's your extended partition, looking at your fdisk output earlier. You want to be mounting hdb5 and hdb6, th logical drives, instead :p
HEY HEY HEY!
Seems like it's working now...just need to do some fine tuning. Thanks man, I'll
reply again when I figure this all out and tell you exactly what was wrong...haha.
.opt
Don't you just love how that works out?
it just seems to fixes itself... but yet you know computers don't fix themselves.... or do the? :eek:
anyways, yes please do tell us.. that way I can store it for future reference.
Meh, I can't figure out exactly why it didn't work, but all I did was add those lines
to the fstab and now it recognizes that there are a number of partitions and can
load them all. Small victory but I'm going to try to get my hands on a copy of Windows
because Linux is pissing me off at the moment. I love how versitile it is but I don't
think I can seriously get into it yet. Seems like everything I try to do is a hastle and
takes up hours of my time, eventually ending in me giving up and not actually
finishing what I was trying to do. This happens pretty much every time I try to
install something. I need like 2 other libraries to install it, and I need 2 others for each
of those 2, then eventually one of them doesn't recognize that the others are installed
and the whole thing is dead in the water. I think I'll go watch some TV. haha
.opt
Yeah, that's why I hate the .rpm package system :p
It happens with the sources too, all the time. And those are a bitch to install. ;\
.opt
I find sources easy to install :p
for a lot of them :pCode:# ./configure
# make
# make install
[qq=Optium]Small victory but I'm going to try to get my hands on a copy of Windows
because Linux is pissing me off at the moment. I love how versitile it is but I don't
think I can seriously get into it yet. Seems like everything I try to do is a hastle and
takes up hours of my time, eventually ending in me giving up and not actually
finishing what I was trying to do.[/qq]
If you buy a computer with Linux on it already, even if you want to keep Linux, I'd say format the hard drive and install something from scratch so you know what you have.
Gentoo handles dependencies, that's why it's nice. If you want programs worth using, you're going to need literally hundreds of libraries, so you can go find RPMs for all of them, or type "emerge packagename" in Gentoo and come back in a few hours and it's done. It figures out what you need including all dependencies, it fetches the files from the internet for you, it installs them all in the right order, and it provides you a method for knowing what you've installed and also a way to uninstall them later.
Manually doing ./configure && make && make install will end up killing you. It blasts files all over your hard drive at random. You don't know what, where, or why, or what you just replaced by accident, and sometimes you don't know how to undo what you just did, if it's even possible. And you shouldn't have to know; that's what computers are for, so you don't have to think about that crap.
Linux in general takes massive amounts of time and effort to learn and set up. It's good if you're a "set it up once and never touch it" kind of person, but most people who use Linux for their desktop probably aren't that kind of person. Depending on what your goals are, it can be worth the effort.
That's exactly my problem. For instance, I just downloaded bittorrent because onQuote:
Originally Posted by Dr Unne
this computer I can actually watch some videos without the sound being half a
second off from the video in like 5 seconds, but after it installed I had no idea
where the hell it was. I've been doing ./configure, make, and make install all day
and it's really painful, especially when one of the pieces doesn't recognize that
you've already installed the needed dependencies for it. I'd definitely like to try out
a good version of Linux though, but I am hesitant to get Gentoo. I figure I'll
probably format the master harddrive, reinstall the version of Linux that's on here
right now, but that will be on a small partition, then I'll have a bunch of other
partitions for XP and some other versions of Linux, hopefully some of them will be
good enough to get me away from Windows for good. :p
.opt
There's no reason not to get Gentoo. It's not hard. The install guide tells you what to type, each command, literally letter by letter. A bit of time to get it set up will save you hours and hours of crap later.
yes I have been playing around with gentoo.. and it looks fun and not hard.. I just can't seem to get it to install and mount onto my already made partitions... don't want to completely reformat my comp... actualy I can get away with just fdisking my C: drive which is 7-10 gigs.
And no I don't have a secondary.. my silly laptop.. well wait I do have another laptop hd, but it is 480mb only :tongue:
It is time for me to clean out my windows.. but I have been putting of doing the massive backup procedures ot make sure I don't lose what I want to keep... guess I should get round to that know, it's been about a year since I last formated my 98.