Heh. I've been offline all this time; I still *CRINGE* at the thought of what I did to my Red Hat installation, so I won't go into it (YIKES!) but I was stuck with having to get Debian up & running--I tried everything! But nothing worked. So, I put in an old Cirrus Logic card, with a whole megabyte of video RAM (the thing makes weird blotches on the screen when I move the mouse over title bars and such, really a pain, something's damaged on the card), so now I am going to be stuck with this card for now with Debian.
I tried to get online with Debian, but I cannot. I need to learn a lot more about this (I am using a cable modem; yeah, @home is gone but my cable company is still keeping things going for now)...right now, I am running a freshly-installed Red Hat 7.1, just to get my Email and talk to this list! I am going to find a way to trade this card in with some computer store (Computer Depot and others take trade-ins) but I want to know: what's a good video card that WORKS WELL WITH DEBIAN? I want 64 megs of video RAM, I figure; and to *hopefully* spend around $50+ dollars (I'll go to $100-$120 or so for a good all-around card if it will GIVE ME NO MORE VIDEO HARDWARE PAINS!!! :-) So: any ideas? Yes, I know there is a hardware compatibility list, but I look at it, and I don't know what I am looking at, or for...I've had no luck with eBay; I guess I'm not fast enough placing a last-minute bid, or something. Anyway, thanks in advance (and all the advice in the Email I just received is well taken; I will read and use and learn it all, thanks! :-) Best, --Mark Seven Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Thursday 13 December 2001 10:02 pm, you wrote: > Mark Seven Smith wrote: > > <box freezes during Debian install when time comes to > scroll down a list> > > >>Set up a small (50 - 75MB) partition on hda1 with an > >>MS-DOS fdisk and format and make it bootable to MS-DOS > >>(or Win95 Command Prompt only). > > > >OMG, I have struggled *so hard* to get away from the > >tyranny of MICRO$OFT...WILL THE NIGHTMARE NEVER END??? > > ;-) > > Scary, ain't it? > > >Anyway, I already have a 500 MB partition on the 30-gig > >drive in the beginning (hdb1) for the root directory of > > the Debian system, could I use that? I would of course > > switch the two drives I have, so that I could boot from > > the second drive (I think I can make the BIOS boot the > > computer from the second hard drive, I don't recall...) > > but in any case would the 500MB partition be OK to use > > for what you suggest? > > Yeah, that'll be fine. > > >>Either configure it to > >>access your CD-ROM from DOS, > > > >Couldn't I use a Windows 98 BOOT DISK instead? I have > > one that will access the CD-ROM... > > That'll work. > > >>or then boot off the Woody > >>CD to the point where you can Alt-F2 to another virtual > >>terminal and mount the DOS partition. > > > >When I boot from the Debian CD (either the Potato CD or > > the Woody CD), one of the things I cannot do in any way > > is access the virtual terminals. When I hit <alt>-F2, I > > get a screen that says something like "Press return to > > activate this screen" but it doesn't matter. I am > > already locked up; and none of the keys will work, and > > I have to power down the computer, and then bring it > > back up to reboot. There isn't any way that the virtual > > terminals are an option (I can do it right NOW, from > > Red Hat, so that feature CAN work on my computer, it > > just doesn't from the Debian CD). > > There's gotta be something specific to the default Debian > kernel that doesn't get along with your hardware. I don't > know how to go about doing it, but it would be > interesting to try to boot off a different kernel (say a > Redhat CD) and then run the Debian installer. > > >>Copy from the > >>CD-ROM to that partition all the files you need to boot > >>Linux from DOS and do the base install. > > > >Do I copy them before I boot Debian (like from Red Hat), > > or did I need to do this from MS-DOS for some reason? > > Yes, before booting Debian. You can copy them via Redhat > or MS-DOS or OS/2 or whatever can put the files somewhere > onto a local drive that the Debian installer can access.; > I suppose you could even store the needed files on a > Linux partition, but I think you'd still need to boot off > a DOS floppy to run LOADLIN.EXE. > > >>This'll take > >>5-15MB (I don't remember exactly). You can figure out > >>what files you need by checking out the HowToInstall > >>pages at www.debian.org (I can give you exact > >> references if you can't find it). > > > >Are these the files you mean? > >http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-me > >thods.en.html#s-file-descs (Sections 5.4.2 through > > 5.4.4) > > Section 6.3.1at > http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-rescue-boot >.en.html#s-install-from-dos would be your better choice. > You can get there from the link in the last sentence of > Section 5.4.2. > > >>Then start the Linux install from > >>there (via loadlin.exe), and when the installer asks > >>where you want to install the base OS from, specify the > >>DOS partition. After a successful install, you can > >>reclaim that partition for other uses (make it 128, > >> 256, or 512MB and you can convert it to swap space, > >> which supposedly gives you a slight speed advantage to > >> have your swap at the beginning of your disk, or you > >> can move your / partition that that area, etc). This > >> may or may not work, but it should be worth trying. > > > >Ah yes--this would be possible...I should make the first > >partition SWAP space later then, that way I wouldn't > > have to move my / partition from wherever the install > > program set it up. > > > >This means that I would have to make a /boot partition > > at the beginning, doesn't it? Or could I simply tell > > fdisk that I want whatever partition has the / > > directory that that partition is "bootable"...? > > I'm not real clear on the boot process. I usually make my > first partition the / partition, and make it bootable, > but if you have the first one as swap, I'm not sure how > you'd set that up. I know some people recommend putting > the swap at the front of the disk, but I've never done it > myself. I do tell LILO to install into the MBR (the > default, I believe), which doesn't usually enter into the > partitioning scheme, if that has any relevance. > > >>If you have multiple sticks of RAM, swap them around. > >>Shouldn't make a difference, but you're grasping at > >>straws, so try it. > > > >GOOD! That's something I did not think of...I will try > >that right away! :-) > > > >>Your video card should be okay; still, if you can > >> borrow a different one just long enough to try, that'd > >> be good. If you have a college in the neighborhood, > >> they might have a hardware shop with some old PCI card > >> they'll loan you (or sell you for $3). > > > >Would my old, grungy, useless ASA video card work, for > >text, anyway? What would it affect? Nothing, I would > >guess, as long as I didn't configure X with it... > > I'm not familiar with ASA, but if it'll fit into your box > and you can see the text of the POST (Power On Self Test) > routines, it oughtta work. You're right that it may not > work with X, but that's down the road a piece. > > >>You can also bypass installing any modules during the > >>install; you can always install them later after the > >> base install. > > > >That's another thing I was wondering: can I skip > > installing modules all together? What would be the > > problem with that? This doesn't refer to the built-in > > abilities of the kernel, does it? > > > >What are these "modules", anyway? Are they the same as > > the drivers that one manipulates with insmod, lsmod and > > modprobe? > > Yes. In order to use certain features, say a sound card > or an ethernet card or PPP, etc, the kernel has to be > configured to work with that feature. This can be > compiled into the kernel monolithically, or plugged in or > removed as needed as a module. A very rough analogy would > be a home stereo system; one system might have the CD > player and the tape deck and the FM stereo all integrated > into one box (the monolithic kernel); another system > might have separate components, with the central amp as > the kernel and the tape and CD decks and the tuner as > "modules". Either method works; it's just that one method > works better for Joe Tinkerwithit and the other works > better for Jimmy Keepitsimple. > > You can manually load and unload modules with the insmod > and rmmod commands. modprobe is roughly the same as > insmod, but instead of trying to load a single module > that you specify, it tries to load that module, and if > that module requires other modules to be loaded first, it > goes and tries to load those modules also. For example, > let's say you need to load a module called naptime, but > it requires the modules getinpajamas and crawlinbed. If > you try to "insmod naptime", it'll complain that it can't > load, whereas if you "modprobe naptime", it'll > automatically, behind the scenes, do the equivalent of > "insmod getinpajamas" followed by "insmod crawlinbed" > followed by "insmod naptime". The lsmod command will list > the modules that are currently loaded, and the rmmod > command will unload (remove) the specified module. > > >What would I do, after I install Debian, to "install > > them later"? Is there an application in Debian that I > > should run? (I'm still learning about these things, > > and I'm not too good with getting things to work > > automatically, if they don't work automatically in the > > first place, like USB and printers.) > > The standard stuff (at least in more recent versions of > Debian) will autoload when they're needed. For example, > if the kernel has been compiled with support for a > certain ethernet NIC, but as a module, when you first > boot up, the kernel will be smaller than if the support > had been built in monolithically. When the network access > is "turned on" (usually by a startup script in > /etc/init.d), the module "driver" is automatically loaded > from disk and plugged into the kernel, thereby making the > kernel larger, but more functional. Later, you could > unplug the module if you no longer need the networking > functionality, and thereby shrink down the kernel. > Modules can be useful when first installing hardware, > because you can tinker with the settings ("Okay, the > sound card doesn't work with IRQ 5, let's try IRQ7") > without recompiling the kernel/rebooting with every > change. They're also useful for features you need only > rarely. Otherwise, I tend to compile the option in, but > the next guy will tell you he only uses modules. Take > your pick. > > Other stuff you can modprobe/insmod. I think there may be > some way to run the installer's module selection routine > after the system is installed, but I don't remember for > sure. > > >Thank you very, very much for your ideas; I feel that I > > am getting very close to getting Debian up & running on > > my system! I have been wanting it for a very long > > time... > > > >--Mark VII > >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
