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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[grumpy-cook]

From what I can find the problem is a common one with grub and SATA drives. I need to do a lot more reading to find a way around it. One abortive attempt to mess with fstab had no results.

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[ej-solutions]

Hmm... don't have any of those modern-fangled SATA thingimy-jigs.
Steady with fstab... risky! :O

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[ej-solutions]

A wee snippet I found:
"The grub installed by the Dream Linux is a modified version of grub" - explains a lot.
Goes off to investigate a workaround. :|

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[ej-solutions]

This may help:

Check the contents of /boot/grub/device.map file - does it look like this?

(hd0) /dev/sda

Also,
http://dreamlinuxforums.org/index.php/topic,5387.0.html
http://dreamlinuxforums.org/index.php/topic,4971.msg33364.html#msg33364
http://dreamlinuxforums.org/index.php/topic,4960.msg33303.html#msg33303

Good Luck :-)

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[grumpy-cook]

Thanks EJ, it'll be a while before I can get back to it, but I'll check it out.

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[otherego]

like OE, all wide eyed and babbling

I used to be sane - then I discovered computers!

Hope you get the GRUB problem sorted out - it seems to be quite common with DL.

[grumpy-cook]

I give up. It's quite dispiriting.

I've tried all sorts of things, read acres of forum and tutorial screens and I couldn't get grub working on this sata drive. I then decided to bypass it all - I have plenty of IDE drives around, so I bunged an 80Gb into the PC, partitioned it and did a Dreamlinux install onto it. I'll show it who's boss, I thought.

No. Still can't get grub to come up, and even worse, I can't even boot direct from the IDE 80Gb. I've quit in a fit of pique for now, but no doubt I'll return to it when my blood pressure has subsided.

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[ej-solutions]

Try another Distro - didn't I say D/L was flaky? 😉
If that works, then you at least know it's D/L that's at fault.

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[grumpy-cook]

The trouble is I'm quite ornery about things like this. The only reason I trashed my Ubuntu system was because I decided DL was what I wanted. I don't want to be beaten.

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[otherego]

A real last-resort sugestion. I noticed on a couple of forums that one or two people overcame installation problems by simply persevering, succeeding at the third or fourth attempt, for no apparent good reason.

Given that DL is a touch temperamental, might it be worth downloading the iso afresh, double checking the md5sum and burning a new CD at the very lowest possible speed?

[ej-solutions]

As suggested by Otherego, SuperGrub should resolve booting issues. [I've 'cheated' in the past due to having multiple Linux partitions and just using the grub that gets installed by a different distro].

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[grumpy-cook]

🙂 I've solved it. My mistake was in following the DL Install Tutorial, coupled with some laziness on my part.

To cut a very long story short, I had been partitioning my drives using Windows Disk Management. In a moment of clarity, I tried partitioning using Gparted on a DL live session and then ran the install again. On reboot grub appeared with no problem at all.

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[ej-solutions]

B-)
[Operator error 😛 What's the danger of Windoze not complaining about the partition table? (rhetorical) ;-)]

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[grumpy-cook]

Well, not fully operator error. The tutorial (which is on the DL site) does say you can use Windows to do the partitioning. You clearly cannot.

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[ej-solutions]

I normally do partitioning through Windows, so probably it's that dodgy D/L grub. Glad you got there in the end - perseverance :-)

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[otherego]

Good news!

Interestingly, one finds comments on the internet that it is safer to use Windows to modify its own partition.

I wonder whether this is a hangover from when GParted had to be run from the command line? I've only ever used the modern form of GParted, with its graphic user interface, and it seems fairly safe. (Although I did murder an XP installation - might have been because I forgot to defragment prior to running GParted? or perhaps I just shrank it too far.)

There does seem to be a question-mark over resizing a Vista partition with GParted - apparently it will almost certainly become unbootable - but this problem could probably be quickly resolved with the NeoSmart CD.

Vista's own partitioning tool might or might not do the trick depending on where Vista happened to idly toss the Master File Table during installation - it refuses to move this, and will only shrink the part of the partition beyond the MFT - I gather. "Easeus " did the trick when I prepared the much-moaned-about Fujitsu for dual-booting - after a couple of anxious moments during which it demanded a repair be made, it recovered and booted itself fine.

It does look as if the flavour of Windoze to be shrunk might influence one's partitioning strategy.

Great news, though. It'll be interesting to hear whether a fully installed DL proves as nice to use as to look at!

[ej-solutions]

With reference to MFT, the scenario described seems very plausible. 🙂 Is Otherego rapidly ascending to guru status?:|

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[otherego]

I hoped that might impress somebody!

The truth, alas - Google is your friend. (Sometimes.)

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/working-around-windows-vistas-shrink-volume-inadequacy-problems/

Actually a very useful site for people like me.

Nice though it would be to claim the credit...!

[ej-solutions]

What is a guru but someone who soaks up knowledge, interprets its merits and disseminates to others...?:|:-D
[enough for one day]

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[otherego]

Yes - I think all that googling merits a Sunday siesta!

Hope g-c gives his impressions of DL after he's used it a while - I've only ever used it off a USB flash drive.