ClearToLand
12-21-2002, 06:07 PM
I've been trying to install RedHat 5.1 (that I bought YEARS ago, when it was current) on my old AMD486DX4/100 48MB 6.4GB VLB which has 3 Primary (DOS6.2 w/WFWG 3.11 @ 117MB; Win95OSR2 @ 509MB, WinNT4/SP6a @ 509MB) and 1 Extended (3 Logical FAT16 @ 509MB each) Partitions with ~3.5GB Free Space in the Extended, using System Commander 3.03 to choose. I read that Linux versions are optimized for the machines of their time, so, these two old-timers should get along fine.
I used Win95's Defrag to pack all the data in the 3 Logical Drives and then used PartitionMagic 4 to move them all to the end of the disk, so that I can start the Linux Partitions at Cyl 147. I created a Linux Boot Floppy and a Supplemental Floppy and am successfully accessing the Mitsumi FX001D 2X CD-ROM connected to the SoundBlaster 16 proprietary interface. I follow a standard install and use Druid to create the Linux Partitions - 1019MB for '/'; 1019MB for '/usr'; 62MB for Swap. I allocate the Swap, check for bad blocks, format the 2 Natives, check for bad blocks, and select a few packages to install. It chugs along for 5 minutes or so, formats, starts installing packages and then the packages start erroring out:
RPM install of ImageMagick failed... ...on file /usr/X11R6/lib/libMagick.so.4.0.5: 1: Success
RPM install of kbd failed... ...on file /usr/bin/dumpkeys: 1: Success
and lots more...
Looking around at the ALT-3 and ALT-4 screens, it was trying to access past the end of the disk (hmmm - not likely, since everything is in the MIDDLE, with over 1GB of freespace before the first FAT16) - some kind of SUPERBLOCK error that I didn't write down. So, off to Deja and I read about SUPERBLOCK and problems with Druid - use FDISK. Well, I tried Druid about 10 times so far, so, why not give FDISK a shot. FDISK didn't like DRUID's block count for '/' - when I deleted all the Linux stuff and re-created it with FDISK, that one number changed:
FDISK DRUID
1044193 1044162 147 147 276 HDA9 Native '/'
1044193 1044193 277 277 406 HDA10 Native '/usr'
0064228 0064228 407 407 414 HDA11 Swap
Better. Now the install errors out with OUT OF SPACE while loading the packages. Hmmm... I thought a full Linux install (of 5.1 mind you) was supposed to fit in ~500MB - I added Printing, DOS Compatibility, FTP Server, Network Admin, EMACS for X, and Docs to the default - still should have fit in 1GB...
So, off to ALT-2 and I run df -a AHA! It mounted the SWAP partition for /usr and filled up the 62MB with packages. (Why though? It says Type 82 - Linux swap right in FDISK). OK - two more times, same setup, carefully from the top, same error. (It's not me!) OK - screw /usr - Expert mode, FDISK, delete 3, create 2 - / and swap. blah, blah, blah -> OUT OF SPACE! df -a
SWAP WAS MOUNTED FOR / ????????? 62MB 100% used - 1019MB nowhere to be found.
Back to FDISK p - yep, it's there:
/tmp/hda1 002 002 016 0120456 16 Unknown
/tmp/hda2 * 017 017 081 0522112+ 06 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/tmp/hda3 082 082 146 0522112+ 16 Unknown
/tmp/hda4 147 147 783 5116702+ 05 Extended
/tmp/hda6 589 589 653 0522081 06 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/tmp/hda7 654 654 718 0522081 06 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/tmp/hda8 719 719 783 0522081 06 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/tmp/hda9 147 147 276 1044193 83 Linux native
/tmp/hda10 277 277 284 0064228+ 82 Linux swap
:confused: :confused: :confused: What's the answer? :confused: :confused: :confused:
I used Win95's Defrag to pack all the data in the 3 Logical Drives and then used PartitionMagic 4 to move them all to the end of the disk, so that I can start the Linux Partitions at Cyl 147. I created a Linux Boot Floppy and a Supplemental Floppy and am successfully accessing the Mitsumi FX001D 2X CD-ROM connected to the SoundBlaster 16 proprietary interface. I follow a standard install and use Druid to create the Linux Partitions - 1019MB for '/'; 1019MB for '/usr'; 62MB for Swap. I allocate the Swap, check for bad blocks, format the 2 Natives, check for bad blocks, and select a few packages to install. It chugs along for 5 minutes or so, formats, starts installing packages and then the packages start erroring out:
RPM install of ImageMagick failed... ...on file /usr/X11R6/lib/libMagick.so.4.0.5: 1: Success
RPM install of kbd failed... ...on file /usr/bin/dumpkeys: 1: Success
and lots more...
Looking around at the ALT-3 and ALT-4 screens, it was trying to access past the end of the disk (hmmm - not likely, since everything is in the MIDDLE, with over 1GB of freespace before the first FAT16) - some kind of SUPERBLOCK error that I didn't write down. So, off to Deja and I read about SUPERBLOCK and problems with Druid - use FDISK. Well, I tried Druid about 10 times so far, so, why not give FDISK a shot. FDISK didn't like DRUID's block count for '/' - when I deleted all the Linux stuff and re-created it with FDISK, that one number changed:
FDISK DRUID
1044193 1044162 147 147 276 HDA9 Native '/'
1044193 1044193 277 277 406 HDA10 Native '/usr'
0064228 0064228 407 407 414 HDA11 Swap
Better. Now the install errors out with OUT OF SPACE while loading the packages. Hmmm... I thought a full Linux install (of 5.1 mind you) was supposed to fit in ~500MB - I added Printing, DOS Compatibility, FTP Server, Network Admin, EMACS for X, and Docs to the default - still should have fit in 1GB...
So, off to ALT-2 and I run df -a AHA! It mounted the SWAP partition for /usr and filled up the 62MB with packages. (Why though? It says Type 82 - Linux swap right in FDISK). OK - two more times, same setup, carefully from the top, same error. (It's not me!) OK - screw /usr - Expert mode, FDISK, delete 3, create 2 - / and swap. blah, blah, blah -> OUT OF SPACE! df -a
SWAP WAS MOUNTED FOR / ????????? 62MB 100% used - 1019MB nowhere to be found.
Back to FDISK p - yep, it's there:
/tmp/hda1 002 002 016 0120456 16 Unknown
/tmp/hda2 * 017 017 081 0522112+ 06 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/tmp/hda3 082 082 146 0522112+ 16 Unknown
/tmp/hda4 147 147 783 5116702+ 05 Extended
/tmp/hda6 589 589 653 0522081 06 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/tmp/hda7 654 654 718 0522081 06 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/tmp/hda8 719 719 783 0522081 06 DOS 16-bit >=32M
/tmp/hda9 147 147 276 1044193 83 Linux native
/tmp/hda10 277 277 284 0064228+ 82 Linux swap
:confused: :confused: :confused: What's the answer? :confused: :confused: :confused: