newb needs help with failing software package install in Sarge

[sharkzf6]

About a week ago I decided to get back in to Linux after an eight-year hiatus. After some research, I decided to go with Debian. I ended up downloading the latest Woody distro cause it was stable. I didn’t necessarily understand the difference between stable and unstable at the time. Everything was going well, however, there were problems, which I made worse by constantly logging in as root. I decided to do a clean install with Sarge since that seems to be what everyone uses these days. After configuring and installing the base system, the install routine stops with a failure that says either the packages are broken or I’ve run out of disk space. Wish I new which one it was. I don’t know how to check disk free space from a command prompt. I also tried ubuntu, which is very similar to Sarge from what I’ve read. It did the exact same thing. I'm installing on an old P3 rig with 320 MB RAM and a 6 gig hard disk. I’m pretty sure I’m not running out of space even though 6 gig is pretty small by today’s standards, however, I don’t think the packages are broken either. I’ve got Woody up and running fine on the same system and have plenty of space left. The packages are fresh and even though the Sarge is the latest “testing” version, the fact that ubuntu is doing the same thing makes me suspicious. Can anyone please help? Thanks.

[bsm2001]

df=disk free
also get memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com)
it takes a while but it's worth the wait to make sure the mem is not going bad. that is always the first thing I do before installing any os.

[sharkzf6]

Originally posted by bsm2001
df=disk free
also get memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com)
it takes a while but it's worth the wait to make sure the mem is not going bad. that is always the first thing I do before installing any os.

Thanks for the df heads up.
As for the mem checker, the systems works flawlessly with Woody (2.4 kernel) so unless 2.6 kernel uses a different memory access scheme that's exposing a flaw in my memory, I doubt that's the issue. Good idea to do that before an install, I'll keep that in mind next time I install...maybe sooner than I hope...hehe

Thanks for the input though.

cheers!

[deathadder]

If Woody installs fine, its possible its the disk. If you've got woody install at the moment, use a editor, nano for instance, to edit your /etc/apt/sources.list. If you added any http or ftp sites, change the stable to unstable, or testing. Once you've done that apt-get update, to update your source list. Then apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade to go to Sid or Sarge.

Its the way I've always done it, I had problems with the Sarge installer.

[EDIT]
Changed the file to the correct one, editing my /etc/fstab and posting about apt is probably not the best idea :)

[sharkzf6]

Originally posted by deathadder
If Woody installs fine, its possible its the disk. If you've got woody install at the moment, use a editor, nano for instance, to edit your /etc/apt/sources.list. If you added any http or ftp sites, change the stable to unstable, or testing. Once you've done that apt-get update, to update your source list. Then apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade to go to Sid or Sarge.

Its the way I've always done it, I had problems with the Sarge installer.

[EDIT]
Changed the file to the correct one, editing my /etc/fstab and posting about apt is probably not the best idea :)

I hear ya, but, the same thing happend with the ubuntu disk I made. What are the chances of both disks being bad?

As for the way you do it, I'm sure it's a better way since many of the installers on the new distros seem to have issues. I considered putting the drive in my WinBlows gaming rig and trying it since it has all the latest hardware under the premise that the new distros may be geared towards newer hardware.
Thanks for the info. :)

[deathadder]

Its possible that both disk got corrupt on the download, the best way to check a ISO, without possibly wasting a CD, is to run a MD5 sum checker on it, you can get checkers for both Linux and Windows. This will check the sum it produced against the one you got from the ftp site, theres normally a file md5sum.txt, or something similar to that, in the same directory you got the ISO from.

As for moving your hard drive into the Windows machine, if its just got a SATA hard drive in it, you may find some problems with the Woody install, I have to recompile the kernel to get my drive working correctly. However Woody should have no problems running on older hardware, the same goes for Sarge. If your running KDE/Gnome theres the chance that it will run slower than on a machine with more RAM etc.

Hope you get your install working the way you want soon :)

[EDIT]
I should point out that I use my SATA drive as a storage space, and not actually to install on.

[bsm2001]

I have had 2 disk with bad burns in a row so it's very possible I always slow my burner to 24x and then have no problems after that. so it could very well be bad burns.

[sharkzf6]

Originally posted by deathadder
Its possible that both disk got corrupt on the download, the best way to check a ISO, without possibly wasting a CD, is to run a MD5 sum checker on it, you can get checkers for both Linux and Windows. This will check the sum it produced against the one you got from the ftp site, theres normally a file md5sum.txt, or something similar to that, in the same directory you got the ISO from.So that's what that file is for...thanks for that info!
As for moving your hard drive into the Windows machine, if its just got a SATA hard drive in it, you may find some problems with the Woody install, I have to recompile the kernel to get my drive working correctly. However Woody should have no problems running on older hardware, the same goes for Sarge. If your running KDE/Gnome theres the chance that it will run slower than on a machine with more RAM etc.again, I hear ya and thanks for the heads up on SATA...Hope you get your install working the way you want soon :)Thanks! It's a work in progress...I should point out that I use my SATA drive as a storage space, and not actually to install on.
not a bad idea...:D

[sharkzf6]

Originally posted by bsm2001
I have had 2 disk with bad burns in a row so it's very possible I always slow my burner to 24x and then have no problems after that. so it could very well be bad burns.

Yeah, I used the same ftp source and burner/setup to make the Woody CDs though. Not disputing the posibility...just reluctant to accept the premise.

BTW - Thanks for the heads up on the memtester, I downloaded the bootable iso and burned it....sweet!!!!!
running it as we speak on the Linux box...:cool:

[sharkzf6]

Well, good news. I got ubuntu to work. Man is this some slick distro! Everything works flawlessly! I'm seriously thinking of scrapping Woody/Sarge, this was way too easy. I guess the CD was burned correctly. :D