Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
Hi, On Sun, 26 Aug 2007 23:22:56 -0400 Walter Dnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Now that I have a working keyboard and a busybox shell, I'm trying to mount a USB key. I did... mknod /dev/sda b 8 0 mknod /dev/sda1 b 8 1 ...inserted a USB key, and tried mounting it. dmesg indicates that the USB driver did find sda and sda1. However, the mount command always fails with a cryptic, and useless, error message. Is there an example somewhere of how busybox's mount command works? Or does it not support msdos or vfat filesystem types? FS support has got to be inside the kernel. When module autoloading doesn't work, you'll have to make sure that everything needed is present. While the mount error message might be useless, is there any reasonable error report in dmesg? BTW, you can mount /proc and then look for PCI dev information and partitioning information there. $ mount -t proc none /proc $ cat /proc/bus/pci/devices (vendor/device string is on position 2) $ cat /proc/partitions and $ cat /proc/filesystems are your friends. -hwh -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Sunday 26 August 2007, Walter Dnes wrote: On Sat, Aug 25, 2007 at 06:37:52AM +0100, Mick wrote b)Plugging in an external keyboard, which is hopefully recognised. No, it's *NOT* a laptop. See http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops_inspn?c=ca; cs=cadhs1l=ens=dhs Last minute update... finally found something on Google. Someone had a similar problem with Slax, and solved it by the boot line... slax noapic irqpoll acpi=force So I tried... gentoo noapic irqpoll acpi=force and I now have a functional keyboard. I notice that only 1 penguin image appears at boot, rather than 2. Is the noapic making my Dual Core (different from Core Duo) act like only one cpu? One problem down and one to go. I can get a limited shell. It doesn't have lspci or fdisk. I want to see what shows up with lspci -v and fdisk -l. I have a floppy if that helps. Can you copy over the binaries from another machine and see if they work? -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
Walter Dnes ha scritto: On Sat, Aug 25, 2007 at 06:37:52AM +0100, Mick wrote One problem down and one to go. I can get a limited shell. It doesn't have lspci or fdisk. I want to see what shows up with lspci -v and fdisk -l. I have a floppy if that helps. Why a limited shell? The gentoo livecd does not have those software? Or are you into a busybox or something? Can't you probe it with Knoppix? m. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Sun, Aug 26, 2007 at 11:16:42AM +0200, b.n. wrote Why a limited shell? The gentoo livecd does not have those software? Or are you into a busybox or something? After the boot (which I presume is done via BIOS) the install program can't find any drives (CD or DVD or HD). So it can only give me busybox. -- Walter Dnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] In linux /sbin/init is Job #1 Q. Mr. Ghandi, what do you think of Microsoft security? A. I think it would be a good idea. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Sunday 26 August 2007, Walter Dnes wrote: On Sun, Aug 26, 2007 at 11:16:42AM +0200, b.n. wrote Why a limited shell? The gentoo livecd does not have those software? Or are you into a busybox or something? After the boot (which I presume is done via BIOS) the install program can't find any drives (CD or DVD or HD). So it can only give me busybox. You may want to try the nodma kernel option to get your CDROM recognised. Also, the latest Knoppix CD/DVD may have hardware drivers that fair better than the Gentoo LiveCD. In my travels I have found that going around the LiveCDs of various distros will eventually end up with a booting CD from which I can install Gentoo. Depending on the hardware the distro CD is different each time. SUSE and Ubuntu are probably slightly better than the rest. Good luck. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Sun, 2007-08-26 at 09:34 +0100, Mick wrote: On Sunday 26 August 2007, Walter Dnes wrote: On Sat, Aug 25, 2007 at 06:37:52AM +0100, Mick wrote b)Plugging in an external keyboard, which is hopefully recognised. No, it's *NOT* a laptop. See http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops_inspn?c=ca; cs=cadhs1l=ens=dhs Last minute update... finally found something on Google. Someone had a similar problem with Slax, and solved it by the boot line... slax noapic irqpoll acpi=force [snip] One problem down and one to go. I can get a limited shell. It doesn't have lspci or fdisk. I want to see what shows up with lspci -v and fdisk -l. I have a floppy if that helps. Can you copy over the binaries from another machine and see if they work? no need, just download the slax modules. Slax is great like this - especially if you install it on a cdrw, you can keep appending modules at later times until the cd fills up, no need to re-burn the whole lot! -- Iain Buchanan iaindb at netspace dot net dot au Something must be Done This is Something Therefore, This must be Done -- The Thatcherite Syllogism -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Sun, Aug 26, 2007 at 05:21:14PM +0100, Mick wrote You may want to try the nodma kernel option to get your CDROM recognised. Didn't help Also, the latest Knoppix CD/DVD may have hardware drivers that fair better than the Gentoo LiveCD. In my travels I have found that going around the LiveCDs of various distros will eventually end up with a booting CD from which I can install Gentoo. Depending on the hardware the distro CD is different each time. SUSE and Ubuntu are probably slightly better than the rest. No luck with Ubuntu, Xubuntu, or Knoppix, either. Now that I have a working keyboard and a busybox shell, I'm trying to mount a USB key. I did... mknod /dev/sda b 8 0 mknod /dev/sda1 b 8 1 ...inserted a USB key, and tried mounting it. dmesg indicates that the USB driver did find sda and sda1. However, the mount command always fails with a cryptic, and useless, error message. Is there an example somewhere of how busybox's mount command works? Or does it not support msdos or vfat filesystem types? -- Walter Dnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] In linux /sbin/init is Job #1 Q. Mr. Ghandi, what do you think of Microsoft security? A. I think it would be a good idea. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Mon, 2007-08-27 at 11:27 +0930, Iain Buchanan wrote: no need, just download the slax modules. Slax is great like this - especially if you install it on a cdrw, you can keep appending modules at later times until the cd fills up, no need to re-burn the whole lot! sorry, scrub that, I don't read properly :) The OP was using the live CD, somebody else used slax... -- Iain Buchanan iaindb at netspace dot net dot au When it's time to stop living, I will certainly make Death my number one choice! -- (Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent) -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
Mick ha scritto: FreeSBIE, This is a FreeBSD live cd. Is it possible to install Gentoo from FreeBSD?? b)Plugging in an external keyboard, which is hopefully recognised. As for the keyboard, I'd try booting with clock=tsc option. I had a letters repeating problem solved that way on an old desktop. m. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Sat, Aug 25, 2007 at 06:37:52AM +0100, Mick wrote b)Plugging in an external keyboard, which is hopefully recognised. No, it's *NOT* a laptop. See http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops_inspn?c=cacs=cadhs1l=ens=dhs Last minute update... finally found something on Google. Someone had a similar problem with Slax, and solved it by the boot line... slax noapic irqpoll acpi=force So I tried... gentoo noapic irqpoll acpi=force and I now have a functional keyboard. I notice that only 1 penguin image appears at boot, rather than 2. Is the noapic making my Dual Core (different from Core Duo) act like only one cpu? One problem down and one to go. I can get a limited shell. It doesn't have lspci or fdisk. I want to see what shows up with lspci -v and fdisk -l. I have a floppy if that helps. -- Walter Dnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] In linux /sbin/init is Job #1 Q. Mr. Ghandi, what do you think of Microsoft security? A. I think it would be a good idea. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Friday 24 August 2007, Walter Dnes wrote: I got a shiny new Dell Inspiron from the PC fairy. Windows Vista works OK (at least good enough for Windows). It does not want to be formattedg. I insert the latest minimal install CD, and things start off OK at the beginning of the boot process. *THE USB KEYBOARD WORKS OK AT THE BEGINNING* I can type in gentoo or gentoo-nofb. Could you try passing to the kernel the keyboard parameter at this stage? I am thinking of something like: gentoo keyboard=gb or keyboard=41, or whatever. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Fri, Aug 24, 2007 at 08:24:02AM +0100, Mick wrote Could you try passing to the kernel the keyboard parameter at this stage? I am thinking of something like: gentoo keyboard=gb or keyboard=41, or whatever. There don't seem to be any such parameters. I did read through the file /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt and tried various iterations of gentoo atkbd.foobar=n No luck. -- Walter Dnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] In linux /sbin/init is Job #1 Q. Mr. Ghandi, what do you think of Microsoft security? A. I think it would be a good idea. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
You could always install via a knoppix livecd, since knoppix seems to be the best around for odd hardware. There's really nothing special about the gentoo livecd as far as being able to install gentoo. Walter Dnes wrote: On Fri, Aug 24, 2007 at 08:24:02AM +0100, Mick wrote Could you try passing to the kernel the keyboard parameter at this stage? I am thinking of something like: gentoo keyboard=gb or keyboard=41, or whatever. There don't seem to be any such parameters. I did read through the file /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt and tried various iterations of gentoo atkbd.foobar=n No luck. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Fri, Aug 24, 2007 at 04:21:47PM -0400, Sean wrote You could always install via a knoppix livecd, since knoppix seems to be the best around for odd hardware. There's really nothing special about the gentoo livecd as far as being able to install gentoo. Same old same old. Gentoo and Knoppix and Xubuntu all... a) fail to find the install CD after the initial stages of booting b) double up keystrokes after the initial stages of booting Of course, Vista works on the system. -- Walter Dnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] In linux /sbin/init is Job #1 Q. Mr. Ghandi, what do you think of Microsoft security? A. I think it would be a good idea. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Can't install Gentoo on Dell Inspiron 530
On Saturday 25 August 2007, Walter Dnes wrote: On Fri, Aug 24, 2007 at 04:21:47PM -0400, Sean wrote You could always install via a knoppix livecd, since knoppix seems to be the best around for odd hardware. There's really nothing special about the gentoo livecd as far as being able to install gentoo. Same old same old. Gentoo and Knoppix and Xubuntu all... a) fail to find the install CD after the initial stages of booting b) double up keystrokes after the initial stages of booting Of course, Vista works on the system. g Well, if keyboard=X, nokeymap, etc., won't work even in Knoppix (which is tad richer in kernel parameters than the Gentoo LiveCD) then I can only suggest two things: a)Ubuntu, SUSE, Fedora, SLAX, FreeSBIE, LiveCDs - just in case they have the required driver. b)Plugging in an external keyboard, which is hopefully recognised. If all else fails, can you return it and get another make/model? Good luck. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
