Joe wrote:
In message <3tTKf-3f0-5@gated-at.bofh.it>, Mr. Jan Hearthstone <hearthstone11@yahoo.com> writesOK, we know what you mean. But it's not a matter of idiots. You ask how to set up a partition table, we'll tell you. At least six ways. Asking what you have to do to fix a broken system is not even slightly similar, as I'm sure you realise. First of all, few people here will ever have used the Debian rescue disc. It's good for fixing cases where a Windows installation has broken the MBR, but for anything more complex, a more versatile system would be used. Knoppix was mentioned, or if the CDROM drive doesn't work, Tom's Root and Boot floppy would be used. I don't bother making a rescue floppy at installation now, and I have no idea what's on it. I do keep a recent Tom's and a fairly current Knoppix.There should be a Debian for idiots by idiots list; at least the rest of us (non-programmers, non-techies) could not feel superior to each other, and instead we would eventually get our legitimate questions answered in terms that we would understand. Even the FM's are written by the experts for the experts who would never (so it would seem) consider that a mere, mud-treading mortal would ever aspire to using Debian. I asked in this list, on numerous occassions, how to actually use the "rescue" floppy. Every single advice I got did not work for me. I dutifully reported that, and so far no one could see me through the ordeal to a satisfactory end. I, repeat, am serious about the Debian for Idiots list. How should I go about seeing one to materialize? Deeply prostrating, in all awesomness respectful Mr. Jan Hearthstone.You've never said what kind of problem you're trying to fix. Was it a Windows installation, was it a self-inflicted file deletion (yes, we've all done that), or something else? Depending on what's wrong, the necessary steps to fix it will be totally different. How to "use" the rescue floppy will depend entirely on what's broken, and it genuinely isn't a subject which can be covered in a Usenet reply. Even in six of them. Tell us what's wrong and we'll make a start.Also, it appears that your rescue floppy does not boot: it should have been created from within the installed system and would not need manual intervention to boot that system. Clearly something is broken, either on the rescue floppy or worse, in your root file system. You will need a self-contained disc Linux (Tom's, Knoppix etc.) to repair your system.You mention using dpkg-reconfigure on lilo. To do this, you need to get the installed system running to the point where dpkg will work, which may not be possible, depending on the problem. Looking at it another way, once you have the system running, reconfiguring lilo is trivial. Nobody would actually do it with dpkg-reconfigure, because lilo is simple enough to drive by hand, and altering lilo.conf is probably better done by a human than by dpkg. Unlike dpgk-reconfigure, the usual method of repairing the lilo MBR can be done from outside the installed system e.g. from some form of rescue distribution.
If your going to take the time to use an outsider rescue cdrom, I strongly recommend systemrescuecd. It's the best 'rescue only' that I've ever seen.
paul