Declan Moriarty wrote:
> I have the Mandrake Gold pack 2000, and am having some messy install
> problems. One of these may have hit the list earlier, but I got sidetracked
> into a lengthy discussion of security issues with Majordomo, and never saw it
> :-(. Be kind to me - I joined the newbie list, but had to get off it because I
> was supressing s great desire to flame stupid people for even more stupid
> questions.
>
> 1. The Install disk (6.1) in the set screws up the hard disk. If I don't wipe
> clean, I get kicked out of install and told to try rpm --rebuild, which finds
> little or nothing .This was replaced with a 6.1 single cd version, and a 7.0
> ditto, which apparently I was due. How do I get to access the rpms in the
> rpms disks in the gold pack?
>
> 2. I want to install on my laptop, which has Suse 6.1 running - sort of (X
> complains of a bug in the Dynamic Linker - Assertation failed or somesuch; the
> kernel howls in fright and rapidly disables ALL dma on bootup, but everything
> works). The floppy and cdrom are dead. I have access under pcmcia to a scsi
> cdrom using /etc/scsi.opts and the qlogic_cs driver. If I lose access to this
> once, I'm dead in the water, as I can't even reinstall suse then
>
> Can I install by adding the install kernel to my current lilo config? Loadlin
> is not an option, as when it boots, I see no cdrom except the dud one. I have
> access under Dos, but just 39 Megs free - hardly enough for a hd install. I can
> access this cdrom (pcmcia-> scsi Panasonic KXL-D740) under Dos, and Windoze
> finds it, but not the install.
>
> Can I install on my existing (2.2.5) kernel and get into the install routine on
> the cdrom somehow?
> It costs IE�225 to get a floppy & cdrom, but I can go to suse 6.3 for only �50.
> Should I just shut up & buy suse?
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Declan Moriarty.
Yep, get SuSE or another reliable distro. Your hardware isn't up to the task of
Mandrake, which is compiled for Pentium and Higher Processors. We are
encountering a host of hardware flaws as we activate the advanced code, and the
howling and disabling of DMA by at least one kernel suggests strongly that your
HDD or your chipset (likely neither being replacable on a laptop) is one of those
that was produced with the leeway afforded by 386 code exploited to keep costs
down.
That doesn't mean it was produced with a sinister profiteering purpose; survival
is the first duty of every organism and competition to sell computers out there is
FIERCE, so the corners cut just to survive have measurably decreased quality. Now
the linux distros compiled for the more advanced processors are bringing some of
these shortcuts to light, by narrowing the gap between the specifications and what
will be dealt with acceptably by the code.
Civileme
