The Linux Distro Thread (maybe)

[ej-solutions]

Thought I'd start this one off, rather than continue on another thread.

As a quick catch up for others:

Have a look at Unetbootin, as a means to try out different versions of Linux, without producing numerous coasters (unwanted CDs).
I haven't tried the method of installing to hard drive, only the USB flash drive method (so far).

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[trufflington]

It would be interesting to compare that with Puppy.

Just timed it here - Puppy Live CD = 4mins (+/- a couple of seconds)on same machine.....most time spent "copying to RAM"...and the connection setup which has to be done each time with the live CD.....

DSL needs no connection setup for hardwired routers- which obviously saves time and simplifies things.

Given that the original discussion(small distros) centred around the idea of a quick loading Live CD for secure banking use(etc)...1 and a half mins is not so bad ,and no doubt - if the intent was to use for a secure one-time connection(each time loaded) and absolutely nothing else- then a lot could be removed from DSL (EG: Games etc) which would cut the load time even more - in fact I'd guess a load time of around 1 minute should be within reach.

[ej-solutions]

Otherego: this shows that the usb_storage module is in fact loading correctly and that hotplug must also be working. It's seems to be the automounter that's the issue, or subsequent loading to a desktop icon.

With the flash drive inserted, try
mount
Look for /dev/sdb1 line, or similar - if not there...

sudo mkdir /media/flash
sudo mnt /dev/sdb1 /media/flash

Truff: Downloaded a 'fresh' copy of DSL for another look - we need to see if there's any easy re-master option. ;-)

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[otherego]

Thanks for that, ej. Still no joy.

Interestingly, it doesn't even seem to see the Ubuntu or Windows partitions under "Computer."

It does look as if this has happened to other people. The only real repair I've encountered looks like seriously hard work, and was itself the result of a lot of trial and error.

It might be worth reinstalling (yet again), and seeing whether this helps. Perhaps there's a corrupt file lurking somewhere obscure.

GRUB flatly refused to install (presumably to the Windows drive's MBR?) until I allowed Mint's partition to be reformatted at ext2. Might be worth trying it as ext3 again, and seeing whether the fact that it's now got something in the MBR might encourage it to repeat the performance and ****** install properly!

What fun - could end up with THREE unbootable systems on one computer!

Still - all part of the learning curve. It MIGHT just be sensible to sleep on this one - but I am beginning to wonder whether the problem might just be solved by reinstalling.

[ej-solutions]

A strange one certainly - keeps you off the streets! 😛
[A fresh download of the distro?:|].

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[otherego]

keeps you off the streets!

Sure does! I hadn't thought of doing a fresh download - tend to trust the md5sum - but it would certainly do no harm.

Watch this space, as they say.

[ej-solutions]

tend to trust the md5sum - hey, you do better than me - never checked one yet 😮 Download is mostly likely OK, if checksummed but you never know...

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[ej-solutions]

DSL sure boots up rapidly in a virtual machine 🙂
If only I had the time to figure out how to package up a pre-configured add-on Firefox 3 for it ;-)

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[otherego]

From selecting CD-ROM boot device to browser fully launched and ready to use:

DSL 1 minute 27 seconds

Puppy 3 minutes 23 seconds

And I cheated a little with Puppy - didn't bother configuring for region or testing XOrg etc - and having played with it so many times, I don't really need to read the menus requiring responses.

This was using a Thinkpad T22 - (nearly) 900 MHz CPU and 256 MB RAM; using an ethernet cable rather than wireless to connect to the router.

Part of the time difference arose out of all the manual configuring needed by Puppy - DSL, for example, simply detected the ethernet card and connected itself.

A big plus for DSL (for me) was the fact that it offers Firefox (OK, "Bon Echo") out of the box. I've not really warmed to Sea Monkey. (And Firefox took 23 seconds to launch).

I haven't tried Dillo yet. (That IS a browser, I take it?)

Realistically, I still like Puppy. Imagine trying to connect to the internet at an airport or somewhere else that only offers wireless connection - but my goodness, DSL is impressive.

With Firefox up and running, DSL was using 50.5MB of RAM and no swap - minimal CPU activity when I looked. There were 29 processes running. Goodness, but a "special purposes" version trimmed of all unnecessary processes would fly!

[trufflington]

Part of the time difference arose out of all the manual configuring needed by Puppy - DSL, for example, simply detected the ethernet card and connected itself.

That is the downside of Puppy from the time aspect- no doubt something that may improve in future versions.

[trufflington]

Just to say - been having a play with Mint - I can see why it is so liked by some here - it is impressive- very user friendly and quite slick even just running of the Live CD...I can see a good case for installing it here.

[otherego]

#284 - I'm still very much off the streets, but seem to have a working computer again - a little late in the day to try everything out, now.

It occurred to me that the partitions concerned have had a pretty rough ride over the past couple of months - lots of interesting experiments. Perhaps errors were creeping in.

I saved all my stuff to an external drive, and used GParted to delete the partitions, then to reformat them. Both distros installed easily - this time, I installed Mint first, then Ubuntu - no particular reason other than a vague hope that Ubuntu might have more luck loading GRUB.

I suspect this was unnecessary.

The only real problem so far has been the distinctly down-market move as far as the GRUB splash screen is concerned - very drab after Mint's "fresh green" effort. I'm playing with Ubuntu Startup Manager (available through Synaptic) to try to improve this, but seem to be missing the various themes - that can wait until later in the day. At least I've got a little colour into it now.

The Startup Manager is, I think, worthy of closer examination (but it's late now!) Apart from frivolous things like prettying up the GRUB screen, it offers a straightforward GUI for changes to such things as the default distro, the time before the default distro boots and various other GRUB functions.

Truff - Mint ... .I can see a good case for installing it here.

If it's of any interest, the basic installation occupies 2.33 GB of the / partition, and so far, 0.4 GB of the /home partition. I seem to recall your being consistently unimpressed with the space requirements of other operating systems - this seems pretty good, especially when one looks at how much comes with it.

I did find that the installer's partitioner made determined efforts to install to the Windows drive (I'm playing with two small hard drives - Windows on one, the two Linux distros on the other) - it proved necessary to keep an eye on what was happening at the top of the relevant page during the planning of the partitions. It would be easy to finish editing the partition you plan to work with and assume that that is the one which the installer will continue to use. In fact, it is necessary to re-highlight it, after editing it, before hitting the "next" (or whatever it is) button.

Otherwise, though - two pretty user friendly distros with lots of features. A pleasant evening's work.

[trufflington]

Thanks for the warnings about the partitions and the installer...IIRC there have been similar problems for some when installing Ubuntu altho' I had no trouble
I think at least one who posted here wiped out his Windows installation completely!

I'll probably not do an install just yet .

[ej-solutions]

Ah, the elusive Grub splash screen - took me a wee while to figure that one out after a different distro over-wrote the pretty carbon-look Mint one. Have a look at the files in /usr/share/doc/grub-gfxboot. [Note: just to be a real pain, the splash image wasn't included in Mint 6 - only on the CD].

Startupmanager (found in Synaptic) might be what's loaded by default in Ubuntu (check if installed). If so, then you could install it in Mint and see how it goes. 🙂

Re-partitioning is always going to be an issue, due to the myriad of configurations that are possible. Most likely this is down to the installer assuming the OS is to be installed into the first HDD (a normally fair assumption).
Advisable to always "keep your wits about you" during the partitioning process and not press buttons "willy-nilly" 😉 The latest installation routines are pretty good at guidance and a far cry from having to work out cyclinder boundaries etc. manually, as in the past.
I have to admit that I generally use a Windoze utility to re-partition - not that gparted isn't capable - more to do with flaky Windoze' handling of partitions.

Truff: try booting from USB? (See opening post).

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[otherego]

Reference # 290:

the basic installation occupies 2.33 GB of the / partition, and so far, 0.4 GB of the /home partition.

That was Mint, with all the updates.

I've spent the evening setting up an elderly laptop - Windows XP was reinstalled by the previous owner from the recovery CD, so everything else had been wiped. 5.3 gb of hard drive space. Several hours and half a dozen restarts completed the Windows updates since SP2. 9.03 GB of the (small) hard drive is now used.

Nothing else has been installed yet, other than Windows Defender. It's still waiting for Open Office, for instance.

An interesting comparison!

Off to try to find ej's pre-configured Firefox...

[otherego]

One of the advantages of using Windows is that one can learn so much from the MS Knowledge Base.

Browsing the Toshiba forums made me hope, for a moment, that my laptop could be taught to read SDHC cards.

A link to MS's Knowledge Base was offered, and led to this:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6edfb30f-b1ab-42a8-a330-acd6762961bc&DisplayLang=de

Why am I so lazy? Why did I never learn other languages? And why does every useful-looking link I find at the moment lead me to something I don't understand, or to the good old 404 error?

Rant over. (Is still trying to figure out whether new/old laptop can be made to boot from SD card or USB drive - how to keep your sanity with Linux without scaring your Windows installation to death.)

[ej-solutions]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6EDFB30F-B1AB-42A8-A330-ACD6762961BC&displaylang=en

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[otherego]

Ta! Just found that. Just having a general gripe, to be honest.

It shouldn't matter, but Linux forums and sources of information are, somehow, friendlier.

Still wish the lady with the blank Toshiba had taken me up on my £50 offer. That would have been a brilliant machine with Mint. Trouble with a machine with Windows in it is that having paid for the software, it would be foolish to lose it. A nice modern laptop with a blank hard drive - now THAT would be a change from shoehorning Mepis onto a T23!

[ej-solutions]

Absolutely! :^O I might have offered more...]:)

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[ej-solutions]

A new 'must have' multi-boot utility distro:?
ultilex
contains:
pmagic
puppy
slax
tinycore

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[otherego]

Stop it! I've got to go out and do stuff!

Oh, go on then. Just one more little download.