Re: now i've done it (serious help now)
On Mon, 15 Dec 1997, Alan Woo wrote:
> AGH! okay all. i know this sounds terribly stupid, but as you all know,
> i have next to no experience with Unix. Now i installed debian, and
> let's say my partitions are completely messed up, i don't know how the
> file system works etc.
Starting off, unless know why you want more that two partions, 1 for
the filesystem, 1 for swap, then only use these two. Why make things
harder than you have to?
I need to read a book, but i seriously need help
> to get out of this one. Okay, first of all, through the setup, what
> exactly do i specify for the cdrom.
First, what kind of cdrom do you have? Ide, scsi, on your soundcard,
etc. Read the howto's then ask questions. But remember, when you
ask a question, it helps a lot to give some basic info as to why you
have a problem. For instance, my cdrom is a Sun-moon-star. It is
not mentioned in the howto's, but by saying what the name is, and
what the name of the dos drivers are, someone could tell that it is
probably sbpcd compatable. Likewise, when you say your partitions
are messed up, how are they messed up?
Next, when i'm into my account and
> it runs dselect, how do i get it to install x-windows etc. (i keep
> getting the message: not a valid block) (i need SO much help).
When you you get this message? When you start it up, when you are
selecting the source, when you are selecting the packages, when you
are installing packages?
Now, i
> can't even boot to anything except linux using the boot floppy. How
> would i create a partition that would be named C:\ using a FAT16 or
> FAT32 file system so i could restore windows95? aghh!!
If I remember correctly,
format /mbr
>
> my intentions are:
> -Get back valid partitions, 3.1 gig hdd
>
> -Run windows 95 (i have a product restore that copies only to a drive
> labeled C:\)
There are of course, many different ways to do this. My suggestion is
to use dos to format and partition your hard drive. Make 3 or 4
partitions. With your size drive, space shouldn't be to much of a
problem. What I recomend,
~1 Meg for dos/win 95 (bootable)
~1 Meg for Linux
~1 Meg for Linux/Dos, whatever
~32 Meg for Linux Swap
Create the partitions during Debian installation.
Do not make Debian bootable from the hard drive, do not install Lilo or
boot blocks. Make a boot disk.
Then, format the master boot record (mbr) to boot dos on the dos
partition, and reinstall win 95. Use the boot disk to boot to Linux,
or using loadlin after booting to dos.
> -Run debian on another different partition with the x-windows interface,
> and the others possibly
>
> I know this list is so helpful, so somebody please help...
> sorry for all the trouble, once i read up, i'll be able to answer my own
> questions.
The order that I recommend on getting your system going, assuming you
have Debian on a cdrom is:
1) install basic system (from the disks)
2) install the default system (from dselect)
3) install magicfilter (from dselect)
(Then delete /etc/printcap and run magicfilterconfig)
Now you can read and print out howtos easily.
4) Start installing and setting up ppp and fetchmail
5) set up X
> thanks a lot, i'm on my old 286 right now
Hope that helps.
Mark
Blunier@concentric.net
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