Re: RH 6.2 install causes screen to explode

[Tim Hurman <kano-tlug@example.com>]

This is one prime reason why I would *never* reccomend using redhat. It
tries to do too much and in my expereinces, gets it wrong a lot of the
time.

If you have a problem with the size of your disk, installer being flaky, I
would recommend using something different altogether. My personal
preference is for slackware. My reasons are these:
1) a simple and uncluttered installer.
2) Your can make 10M distribution from the slackware packages (*thats
small*)
3) a little common sense goes a long way. basically if you have your wits
and are willing to follow the readme, it is very easy to install. *Dont
panic* (all documents are in the dist)
4) it is by far the best distribution for teching the internals of linux,
it's interface is uncluttered by packages managers and lots of naff X
admin tools. (Although it does support RPM and tgz packages)
5) you can do a nice and easy net-install.

I am not trying to start another distrobution war, but merely stating why
a laptop would benifit from slackware. I run it on my Sony Vaio
(PCG-F809K) and have never had a problem with it. it went on smooothly and
stayed there.

If you do want it, there is info at:
http://www.slackware.com/getslack/

oh, and swap size suggestions etc:
your swap size should be approx 3 times the amount of ram you have in your
system (an inheritied value). however if you have >64M etc, you can get by
without swap, although things run better with it. Usually I just add about
100M of swap space, no matter. I also add it as the first partition on the
disk as this uses the inner area, which has a faster seek time (disks
being constant velocity devices)

Tim.


On Mon, 9 Jul 2001, Peter Evans wrote:

> Danger: dimwit extremely-newbie question! (I bit the bullet; it hurt.)
>
> Today I ensured my old laptop was bootable from diskette and CD-ROM, and
> then nuked (FDISK) everything on the hard drive. (Take that, Bill!) I'd
> already decided that Red Hat was the most likely Linux to accommodate my
> low IQ, that RH7.1 was too big, and that RH6.2J was the one. The CD
> started up, asked a very few questions (none of them about video) and
> then my screen slowly turned an unhealthy bluish white, fading to white.
> I couldn't read anything, so, fearing that my LCD might be destroyed, pressed
> Ctrl-Alt-Del. I guessed that the installation routine had made a wrong
> guess about the refresh rate or some other aspect of my video card or
> screen.
>
> The second time around, I took the option of installing RH in expert
> mode. Perhaps there were one or two more questions, but anyway I wasn't
> asked anything about video (or any other aspect of hardware, for that
> matter) and again the screen turned white.
>
> After I press Ctrl-Alt-Del the screen briefly goes back into text mode
> and I see something about "Trident", "SVGA", etc., etc., but the damn
> thing reboots before I have time to write anything down.
>
> What should I do?  (Be patient and let the installation do its thing
> with my screen? Just go back to Win98 and Microsoft "Bob"? Get an iMac?
> Suicide?)
>
> If you think I have adequate brainpower to proceed in my attempted
> escape from M$, suggestions on how to partition my paltry 1.4GB of
> single and unreplaceable hard drive would be welcome too. (How big a
> swap disk, etc.)
>
> Oh bugger, I've just got a phone call from my SO, who says Tagosaku, her
> until-now trusty Win95 laptop, is on the fritz. So I have to rush home
> and thus shan't be able to read your replies for another 24 hours,
> during which I'll have wasted more time with that other OS.
>
> (I suppose if I just want Linux in a small package I should get the
> Agenda VR3 http://www.agendacomputing.com/ -- unfortunately English-only,
> but anyway "Plat'home" has them for 32 thou a pop.)