Install on small HDD

On 01/13/05 22:59, Maria Ripanykhazova wrote:
> I have used knoppix 3.1 with varying degrees of success (finding it a
> user-friendly system?) and now have a
> Compaq Armada M700 Pentium 111 with only a 700 Meg hard drive.
>
> I was wondering if I could install this OS from the CD onto the hard drive
> somehow OR if this was the best version of Linux to do this with OR if it
> was the best version of Knoppix to do it with? (I tried asking on the
> Knoppix board but there wasn't anyone there who knew or could speak
> English?) I am a bit worried that whereas it does work from a 700 meg CDROM,
> there is an install process for getting it onto a hard drive which says you
> need to have 3.` gig of space to do this, whatever that means

No, not that easy for a newbie; Knoppix, Mepis and, or Ubunto LiveCD
contain approximately 5 gigabytes of software packages compressed to fit
all that on to 640/700 megabyte CD's. IMHO, upgrading your hard drive is
must, if you really want to enjoy a Linux installation on an HDD; it
will run much faster from a hard drive.

> I tried one later version which says it is network-enabled as 3.1 seems to
> see and install my WiFi card (a Buffalo WILL-PCM-L11GP which it seems to
> recognise as a generic Orinoco card which I cant figure out how to get to
> connect to my network??) but I have never managed to get the later version
> to get past some screen with a tiger's face on it, describing itself as some
> type of network screen.

By default, Knoppix's auto hardware detection script might be looking
for a DHCP server to configure your WiFi card; you may enter IP,
NETMASK, BROADCAST and DNS entries manually too.

> Can Knoppix be put on a hard drive or are there better Linux distributions
> for this purpose which are as user friendly? The only other one I have
> which I have never dared to install is the Mandrake 10.1 from Personal
> Computer World which says it is only an upgrade to an already existing
> installation of 10.0.

No again, because of a limited space available on your hard drive; you
may install any distro excluding X and most of GUI apps, that mean you
will have to live with CLI only.

> BTW if I am a newbie to all this, is it VERY UNLIKELY INDEED that I am
> going to be able to network this computer into either my XP network through
> my WiFi installation or connect to the Internet with it?

Yes, you can connect it to Internet and, or WiFi net.

--
Dr Balwinder Singh Dheeman Registered Linux User: #229709
CLLO (Chief Linux Learning Officer) Machines: #168573, 170593, 259192
Anu's Linux@HOME Distros: Knoppix, Fedora, FreeBSD
More: http://anu.homelinux.net/~bsd/ Visit: http://counter.li.org/

On 01/13/05 22:59, Maria Ripanykhazova wrote:
> I have used knoppix 3.1 with varying degrees of success (finding it a
> user-friendly system?) and now have a
> Compaq Armada M700 Pentium 111 with only a 700 Meg hard drive.
>
> I was wondering if I could install this OS from the CD onto the hard drive
> somehow OR if this was the best version of Linux to do this with OR if it
> was the best version of Knoppix to do it with? (I tried asking on the
> Knoppix board but there wasn't anyone there who knew or could speak
> English?) I am a bit worried that whereas it does work from a 700 meg CDROM,
> there is an install process for getting it onto a hard drive which says you
> need to have 3.` gig of space to do this, whatever that means

No, not that easy for a newbie; Knoppix, Mepis and, or Ubunto LiveCD
contain approximately 5 gigabytes of software packages compressed to fit
all that on to 640/700 megabyte CD's. IMHO, upgrading your hard drive is
must, if you really want to enjoy a Linux installation on an HDD; it
will run much faster from a hard drive.

> I tried one later version which says it is network-enabled as 3.1 seems to
> see and install my WiFi card (a Buffalo WILL-PCM-L11GP which it seems to
> recognise as a generic Orinoco card which I cant figure out how to get to
> connect to my network??) but I have never managed to get the later version
> to get past some screen with a tiger's face on it, describing itself as some
> type of network screen.

By default, Knoppix's auto hardware detection script might be looking
for a DHCP server to configure your WiFi card; you may enter IP,
NETMASK, BROADCAST and DNS entries manually too.

> Can Knoppix be put on a hard drive or are there better Linux distributions
> for this purpose which are as user friendly? The only other one I have
> which I have never dared to install is the Mandrake 10.1 from Personal
> Computer World which says it is only an upgrade to an already existing
> installation of 10.0.

No again, because of a limited space available on your hard drive; you
may install any distro excluding X and most of GUI apps, that mean you
will have to live with CLI only.

> BTW if I am a newbie to all this, is it VERY UNLIKELY INDEED that I am
> going to be able to network this computer into either my XP network through
> my WiFi installation or connect to the Internet with it?

Yes, you can connect it to Internet and, or WiFi net.

--
Dr Balwinder Singh Dheeman Registered Linux User: #229709
CLLO (Chief Linux Learning Officer) Machines: #168573, 170593, 259192
Anu's Linux@HOME Distros: Knoppix, Fedora, FreeBSD
More: http://anu.homelinux.net/~bsd/ Visit: http://counter.li.org/

On 01/13/05 22:59, Maria Ripanykhazova wrote:
> I have used knoppix 3.1 with varying degrees of success (finding it a
> user-friendly system?) and now have a
> Compaq Armada M700 Pentium 111 with only a 700 Meg hard drive.
>
> I was wondering if I could install this OS from the CD onto the hard drive
> somehow OR if this was the best version of Linux to do this with OR if it
> was the best version of Knoppix to do it with? (I tried asking on the
> Knoppix board but there wasn't anyone there who knew or could speak
> English?) I am a bit worried that whereas it does work from a 700 meg CDROM,
> there is an install process for getting it onto a hard drive which says you
> need to have 3.` gig of space to do this, whatever that means

No, not that easy for a newbie; Knoppix, Mepis and, or Ubunto LiveCD
contain approximately 5 gigabytes of software packages compressed to fit
all that on to 640/700 megabyte CD's. IMHO, upgrading your hard drive is
must, if you really want to enjoy a Linux installation on an HDD; it
will run much faster from a hard drive.

> I tried one later version which says it is network-enabled as 3.1 seems to
> see and install my WiFi card (a Buffalo WILL-PCM-L11GP which it seems to
> recognise as a generic Orinoco card which I cant figure out how to get to
> connect to my network??) but I have never managed to get the later version
> to get past some screen with a tiger's face on it, describing itself as some
> type of network screen.

By default, Knoppix's auto hardware detection script might be looking
for a DHCP server to configure your WiFi card; you may enter IP,
NETMASK, BROADCAST and DNS entries manually too.

> Can Knoppix be put on a hard drive or are there better Linux distributions
> for this purpose which are as user friendly? The only other one I have
> which I have never dared to install is the Mandrake 10.1 from Personal
> Computer World which says it is only an upgrade to an already existing
> installation of 10.0.

No again, because of a limited space available on your hard drive; you
may install any distro excluding X and most of GUI apps, that mean you
will have to live with CLI only.

> BTW if I am a newbie to all this, is it VERY UNLIKELY INDEED that I am
> going to be able to network this computer into either my XP network through
> my WiFi installation or connect to the Internet with it?

Yes, you can connect it to Internet and, or WiFi net.

--
Dr Balwinder Singh Dheeman Registered Linux User: #229709
CLLO (Chief Linux Learning Officer) Machines: #168573, 170593, 259192
Anu's Linux@HOME Distros: Knoppix, Fedora, FreeBSD
More: http://anu.homelinux.net/~bsd/ Visit: http://counter.li.org/

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 12:29:28 -0500, Maria Ripanykhazova wrote:

> I have used knoppix 3.1 with varying degrees of success (finding it a
> user-friendly system?) and now have a
> Compaq Armada M700 Pentium 111 with only a 700 Meg hard drive.
>
> I was wondering if I could install this OS from the CD onto the hard drive
> somehow OR if this was the best version of Linux to do this with OR if it
> was the best version of Knoppix to do it with? (I tried asking on the
> Knoppix board but there wasn't anyone there who knew or could speak
> English?) I am a bit worried that whereas it does work from a 700 meg CDROM,
> there is an install process for getting it onto a hard drive which says you
> need to have 3.` gig of space to do this, whatever that means
>
> I tried one later version which says it is network-enabled as 3.1 seems to
> see and install my WiFi card (a Buffalo WILL-PCM-L11GP which it seems to
> recognise as a generic Orinoco card which I cant figure out how to get to
> connect to my network??) but I have never managed to get the later version
> to get past some screen with a tiger's face on it, describing itself as some
> type of network screen.
>
> Can Knoppix be put on a hard drive or are there better Linux distributions
> for this purpose which are as user friendly? The only other one I have
> which I have never dared to install is the Mandrake 10.1 from Personal
> Computer World which says it is only an upgrade to an already existing
> installation of 10.0.
>
> BTW if I am a newbie to all this, is it VERY UNLIKELY INDEED that I am
> going to be able to network this computer into either my XP network through
> my WiFi installation or connect to the Internet with it?

Suggest you look at Vector linux or one of the 'small' distros like 'damn
small'.

I'm sorry for multiple posts, my NNTP proxy and, or MTA was misbehaved
due to a bad *Reply-To:* pointer set by the OP; which I did not notice
at the very first go.

--
Dr Balwinder Singh Dheeman Registered Linux User: #229709
CLLO (Chief Linux Learning Officer) Machines: #168573, 170593, 259192
Anu's Linux@HOME Distros: Knoppix, Fedora, FreeBSD
More: http://anu.homelinux.net/~bsd/ Visit: http://counter.li.org/

Doesn't seem too difficult but I cant understand why if the OS can run from
a 700 meg CD, it cant run from copying those files onto a hard drive, If
they are compressed on the CD, why can't they be compressed on the HDD? I
presume it is using some kind of RAM drive in memory?

At any rate if I can't, I can't so I tried the 3.7 and it runs curiously:
Firstly it doesn't run full screen as the earlier ones did, it runs in what
looks like a 640x480 box in the middle of the screen: Might be a slightly
sharper box, meaning I am not actually losing or gaining anything

Secondly whereas the 3.2 saw the (Mac OS 8.0) drive and saw the files in it,
the 3.7 only sees 8 hard drives and I cant open any of them: It shows all
as being separate unmounted partitions (3.2 saw the Mac files as being on
hard drive Partition No:7. Can't imagine why???).

Lastly whereas both revisions saw my Netgear 401 PC card as WiFi card, (in
fact as an Orinoco card) and know how to light up the light on it, neither
will let me onto my wireless network and surf the Internet with it. I tried
entering 192.168.12.1 and it seemed completely baffled, giving me what I
thought was an annoying Windows error message that it couldn't find the
location, - meaning I am not connected to the Internet

Lastly I tried both the original kernel and the 2.6 beta kernel (whatever
that means in practical terms) and couldn't see the difference. But once I
had found the RUN command, I don't see anything too dreadfully difficult
while I am playing around with the instructions set out at
http://big-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=44#44

But as I commented, it does seem a bit pointless if I cant actually copy all
the 700 megabytes of files on the CD ROM onto the hard drive or find a
distro which will let me use my WiFi network?

I remain baffled but at least have always been impressed by a GUI which can
do what Windows manages to do by identifying and configuring everything
which it does. (This perplexed IBM out of business with OS/2 which couldn't
identify, configure or install anything)

Maria Ripanykhazova wrote:
> Doesn't seem too difficult but I cant understand why if the OS can run from
> a 700 meg CD, it cant run from copying those files onto a hard drive, If
> they are compressed on the CD, why can't they be compressed on the HDD? I
> presume it is using some kind of RAM drive in memory?

Boot Knoppix from CD with:

knoppix tohd=/dev/hda1

This copies the CD-image to the hard disk partition hda1 and runs from
there. As a bonus, it frees your CD. Afterwards, when you have the image
on the hard disk you can start Knoppix with:

knoppix fromhd=/dev/hda1

For more information and variations for different environments, try
searching for 'Knoppix cheat codes'.


--
Timo Pirinen
pirisisi@dlc.fi

On 01/13/2005 10:59 PM, Maria Ripanykhazova wrote:
> I have used knoppix 3.1 with varying degrees of success (finding it a
> user-friendly system?) and now have a
> Compaq Armada M700 Pentium 111 with only a 700 Meg hard drive.
[snip]

Try *Ubuntu*, both a Live CD and Install CD images are available from:
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/

You may request free Ubuntu CD's online at: http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org/

To install Ubuntu, you should have at least 32 MB of RAM, at least 1.8
GB space on your hard disk for a standard Ubuntu desktop system, or at
least 350 MB for a minimal custom installation.

I have not tested these fully as yet, but their Live CD is based on
Morphix, which again is based on Knoppix otherwise.

Hope that helps.
Good luck!

--
Dr Balwinder Singh Dheeman Registered Linux User: #229709
CLLO (Chief Linux Learning Officer) Machines: #168573, 170593, 259192
Anu's Linux@HOME Distros: Knoppix, Fedora, FreeBSD
More: http://anu.homelinux.net/~bsd/ Visit: http://counter.li.org/