what linux to use

[javajoe 0]

I have finally decided to experiment with linux. I now have an intel processor with hyper threading and windows 2000 doesn't support it. I don't like microsatan windows xp so now seems like a good time to do this. I downloaded the suse live cd 9.1.01 and attempted to use it. I got a series of errors when it was booting from the disk and am wondering if I have some hardware compatibility issues.

 

I have:

 

epox 4PDA2+ motherboard

p4 3.0E ghz processor (800 fsb) (1mb L2 cache) HT

western digital SATA 120 gb hard drive (7200rpm)

2 sticks crucial 184 pin 512mb DDR pc-3200 ram

asus V9980 ultra/TVD/256 video card (nvidia GeForce FX5950 ultra)

lite-on dvdrw SOHW-812S and lite-on SOHC-5232K cd/dvd drives

 

the sound and ethernet are on board.

 

When i booted from the suse disk i got the following:

 

cloop:no version for "struct_module" found:kernal tainted.

 

Fatal: Error inserting aic7xxx (/lib/modules/2.6.4-52-default/kernal/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic79xx.ko): no such device

 

modprobe: Fatal: error running install command for block_major_3

 

also for block_major_22, 33, 34, 56, and 57

 

init:cannot find the CD I was booted from - doh!

 

Kernal panic: attempted to kill init!

 

If the suse is not compatible with what I have can you tell me what is. I am looking for something that is going to feel as much like what i'm used to as possible. I also want to be able to test it without wiping out my ability to currently use windows on this machine.

[Dapper Dan 0]

danleff is far more knowledgable about these things than me, but it's possible you're having problems with the Live cd itself. How and at what speed did you burn it? The best Live cd I've found for hardware detection is Kanotix Bug Hunter. I know it's a nutty sounding distro, but it really is a very good Knoppix mod. You might want to try Kanotix to see if you get the same errors, if the problem is not with Suse CD itself.

 

If you decide to try Kanotix, don't burn any faster than 8x.

[danleff 0]

First of all nice system!

 

Dapper Dan is probably right. The best thing to do is to try and boot the live cd in another box. Preferably with older hardware.

 

If it works, this tells you that it is likely a hardware issue, which I suspect.

 

A common mistake is to burn an iso image at the top rated speed of the cdrw or dvd drive. ISO images do not like this. They like to take it nice and slow. On a cdrw drive, burn at 8X or below.

 

Many Linux distros are just catching up with sata, hyperthreading and the like. So it would not surprise me if hardware is the cause.

 

Additionallly, my DVD/CDRW drive is funky about burning and booting iso images.

 

The other thing to try, if the image was burned at a slower speed, is to make sure that the cd is booted from the same drive that created the burned image.

 

Of course, using good quality cdr disks help, as does using cdr media rather than cdrw media. I had this happen to me a few times. Booting failed with cdrw media but not cdr disks.

[javajoe 0]

I re-burned the suse disk at 4x the slowest I could go and had the exact same result. I am using cdr as opposed to cdrw and booted from the same drive that I burned on. I also tried the Kanotix you recommended and had the following occur:

 

Assertion failed! dev->class==ATA_DEV_ATA,drivers/scsi/libata-core.c,ata_dev_parse_strings,line=807

 

 

Can't find Kanotix filesystem, sorry. Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.

 

Press reset button to quit

 

Additional builtin commands available

cat mount umount insmod rmmod lsmod

 

kanotix:

 

Does this mean that I can't ditch microsatan until linux catches up with some hardware issues or is there something else I can go with. Again it is important that the linux release that I go with must feel and function as close to what I am used to as possible.

 

Thanx

[Dapper Dan 0]

It sounds to me that you've done everything right! It must be a hardware issue with the sata drive. I'm afraid I can't help you here, as I know nothing about sata. Just guessing here, it could be an issue that your drive is having with the live cd's. There might be a regular disro out there that you would be able to install to hard drive that may not give errors. Have a look at this. I'm sorry I couldn't help more..

[martouf 0]

Burn your CD image again, but this time make absolutely

certain the volume ID (volume name or label) is -exactly-

this string "SUSE LINUX 9.1 Live Eval" (without the quotes,

of course)

 

The SUSE LiveCD uses a second stage init/loader which must

find the string before it attempts to load the compressed

loopback filesystem.

 

This and other wizardry is available at negotiable rates.

I'll accept karma in this case!

[helios17 0]

Being a Linux noob myself, I fooled with several live distros before installing my flavor of choice. Having played with most of them, I have two that I like: PCLinux and Knoppix 3.4.17. I too had problems with suse 9.1 but the others booted flawlessly. if you cannot find the above-mentioned distros and you have strong bandwidth, email me at helios17@austin.rr.com and I will fix you up on my server.

[martouf 0]

SUSE 9.1 Live Eval booted flawlessly for me. Of course, I used

the disc mastered by SUSE not the "figure it out for yourself"

ISO image (DIY kit, really).

 

Investigation in how it's put together and a few remastering

experiments led me to the need to match the volume ID exactly

so that init can be certain it knows which disc is the boot CD

halfway through the boot process.

 

So to be fair, there's nothing really troublesome with the Live

Eval disc. There's just a little trouble in the availability of

DIY information when you're planning to burn your own copy.

 

Once you're over this hurdle, you'll be able to actually evaluate

SUSE instead of judge the ease of making your own Live Eval disc

from the ISO image.

 

 

[Gjungle 0]

javajoe, We all have different results so I'll give mine just as a matter of reference. I have downloaded and burnt over 200 iso images, almost all linux, using nero5,a $30 cd burner, the cheapest cdr's I can get,an old amdxp1500w/xp and sdr ddr,at 52x max burning speed and not one failure. go figure.

[Dapper Dan 0]

That's amazing! The first ISOs I ever burned with Nero when I was using Windows was Mandrake 8.2, and it failed! Rather than risk it a second time, I ordered the cd's from Mandrake, which of course worked!