-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Charlie
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 12:51 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [newbie] Miscellaneous (longish) ramblings: 9.1beta1,
Mandrakesoft, and...
On January 12, 2003 05:26 pm, Jerry Barton wrote:
> snip
Not ranting at you Jerry, just ranting. Random snips to follow. :-)
>
> mine mounts the beta 2 as ext2 just fine, not sure why you're having that
> problem... as for lilo if, when you install, at the very first screen you
> press F1 for more options and at boot: put expert, you get more options.
> you can write the lilo for beta1 on the first sector of the boot partition
> (/dev/hda8 on mine)
I was already installing as "expert" Jerry; but thanks, 'cause the advice may
be beneficial to someone else. I managed to get the beta installed. Three
times in fact. The trouble is the incompatibility in the file system
versions. What works with 9.0 won't work with 9.1 beta1 and vice versa. Every
partition on my hard drives that Mandrake has been allowed to utilize were
all formatted XFS for more months (pre 8.2 release) than I care to recall
since that worked the best with my hardware environment. The only exceptions
to that were /boot and / (root) on hda since the install of 9.0 required a
bit of fiddling to be bootable and usable on my machine.
While I'll do almost anything to make a distribution I'm interested in
trying/buying work I;
*will not ever lose my personal data because of programmer's/developer's
choices to change things to fit their pet projects or test their theories.*
Period, final, no fscking discussion. This ain't Microsloth. I don't have to
do things their way, and I won't.
I previously posted the hardware list. The oldest hard drive is about 14
months. Mandrake doesn't touch that one or the next oldest. The two it is are
less than a year of age. The rest of the hardware (bar the RAM which is all
less than a year old) is circa December 1999. If that's too old to suit
Mandrake they can keep the damned distribution.
I've never liked the color of a certain hat either.
>
> again i think this is in the expert install option
I reiterate that I *was* in expert mode. I got no choice and still couldn't
make a boot disk at the command line after install or from Mandrake Control
Center. "file not found"
>
> X configuration is done on the Summary screen. Where it gives you the
> resolution (mine defaulted to 1024x768) press that button. My first
> install didn't configure X right automatically so I re-installed with
> "Upgrade," didn't install any packages, and ran the X configuration
Not on any of the three installs I managed to complete or the one 'upgrade'
that broke it completely just before I did the disk recovery. The graphics
adapter and the monitor were identified properly and the display was set
(supposedly but with strange inconsistencies) at the 1024x768 that I usually
use anyway. The point was that I wouldn't have been able to continue since
the option to change settings/configure X wasn't offered.
> > Software manager, add software....
> > CD-1 not enabled.
> > B******T it is too! urpmi at the command line CD-1 not
> > enabled. Add sources, command line and MCC, errors (didn't save them) see
> > Ya!
>
> I too had this problem. I went to MCC, Software Management Select Sources
> and removed / re-added the cdrom and it worked fine
I had to remove and re-add the freakin' *install disk?* Yeah.....that makes
_so_ much sense, beta or not.
The ISO was mounted as a loopback on hdb on the previous second partition.
beta1 couldn't access it. Still is in fact. While I have lots of disk space
it's my disk space. Since the kernel can't use XFS what happens when those
(like myself) that took advice on this list and tested that file system and
chose it because they found it the most suited to their hardware? Especially
those that only have one hard drive to work with? Can't do an upgrade can we?
Won't install on XFS partitions so have to reformat so then;
_what's the difference between that and a total re-install that loses all your
settings and configuration, personalization, and data?_
>
> There's a LOT of stuff missing as far as packages go... I couldn't build
> ANYTHING new to add to it, I agree, but this being a 1 CD beta I imagine
> they're probably looking for feedback on installation and basic operation.
There's nothing missing at all Jerry, all one _should_ have to do after a beta
install is add cooker sources and install the rest of the packages. I
couldn't force it to let me go that route. That's not the point. Install is
broken in many ways. The basic operation stinks: scrolling is jerky and
inconsistent, sound card identified but no way to adjust volume which it
seems is at zero by default, harddrake didn't work, the kernel chosen is an
utter piece of dung that eats every processor cycle available and all of the
memory (768 MB) and (512 MB) swap space and I couldn't reconfigure the
"network" that this machine isn't connected to since if I tried to disable
the LAN it insisted on "recognizing" I had no internet connection.
Is that enough feedback?
>
> I had the option to set up a cable connection... perhaps that again is in
> the expert install
Please don't guess Jerry. I configured my cable connection. The point was that
I had to configure a damned network I don't have!
>
> Sorry to hear that, and hope that Beta 2 etc. can change your mind, It is
> in quite the preliminary stage and I'm sure it'll improve.
I said I'd give the final release of 9.1 a chance Jerry, I didn't say anything
about bolting. I'm sure things will improve, but I sincerely hope that they
don't improve until it's nearly unusable the way things turned out with
Dolphin. beta2 to RC1 of 9.0 had the usual glitches that were fixed and
everything that I used worked. Stable and consistent. Then RC2 came along and
the supermount gremlins were back as well as a number of other aggravating
"features." If I had taken my own (oft repeated) advice and kept back-ups of
packages that were working better than the release does I'd probably still be
a happy 'Draker. I wanted the boot screen to say something other than Cooker
or RC1 though so did a fresh install.
Onus is on me for that, not Mandrakesoft. But then I wasn't the one that broke
the distribution either, was I?
When I get too frustrated with Mandrake there's always a reboot to ELX or
BearOS for a few days. It's nice to have lots of disk space, and choices.
> Jerry.
Regards;
--
Charlie
Edmonton,AB,Canada
Registered user 244963 at http://counter.li.org
If the meanings of "true" and "false" were switched, then this sentence
would not be false.
Interesting post, I would have to say that the approach Mandrake is taking is a radical departure from the past and was suprised that my install of 9.0 went so easily. I too could not find volume or get kmail to send but otherwise thought the system worked ok for a beta 1. On the other hand I have tried numerous times to install ELX and find it to be a total piece of crap. It goes through the install without any problem and then refuses to initiate the xserver. I gave it four tries and then pitched the disks. This was on a comp with all hardware less than a year old. Anyway, patience will prove the ability of the MandrakeSoft programmers I believe. They have come a long way with the distro since I started using it back in the 6.x days, what was that, three or four years ago? Time flies when......
