Setting up Fedora 7 on a ex-Windows machine (Ottawa)

Sun Feb 3 23:08:02 EST 2008

G'day
Suggestion: Try installing the OLPC_XS_LATEST and see what happens. If the
installation goes through smoothly then install a GUI of your liking on top
of it.

On Feb 3, 2008 6:02 AM, Brad Paulsen <brad.paulsen at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Aaron Konstam" <akonstam at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" <znmeb at cesmail.net>
> Cc: <devel at lists.laptop.org>
> Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 3:25 PM
> Subject: Re: Setting up Fedora 7 on a ex-Windows machine (Ottawa)
>
>
> > On Sat, 2008-02-02 at 10:39 -0800, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
> >> James wrote:
> >> > Hello OLPC people!
> >> >
> >> > I am working on a Snakes and Ladders game for the XO, to help young
> >> > children learn to count.  You can find my first draft of the game
> >> > here: <http://olpc-dev.fuelindustries.com/snakes_080116.zip>.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > I'm looking for help in getting Fedora 7 to run on a Sony Vaio PCG-
> >> > GRT796HP laptop that used to run Windows.  It's a Pentium 4, running
> >> > at 2.67 GHz, with 512 MB of RAM.  I've spent several hours trying
> >> > various approaches and distributions, without success.
> >> >
> >> > This is my first excursion into Linux territory, and I'm still
> finding
> >> > my feet with Python.  I'm more at ease with development on Macintosh,
> >> > and have only scraped the surface of using the Terminal.  Please
> don't
> >> > hesitate to spoonfeed me in all things Linux and Python.
> >> >
> >> > What I can do
> >> > -------------
> >> > I'd almost given up hope of getting the Vaio to run Fedora when I
> >> > tried using the XO LiveCD from <http://dev.laptop.org/pub/
> >> > livebackupcd>.  This worked perfectly, which encourages me to believe
> >> > that the issue is not with the machine but with what I am doing to
> it.
> >> >
> >> > Where I get stuck
> >> > -----------------
> >> > I've downloaded the F-7-i386-DVD.iso file from
> >> > <http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/torrents//Fedora-7-i386.torrent
> >> >  >, and burnt it to a DVD-ROM. The initial menu screen appears.  If I
> >> > choose the default (graphic) installation, eventually the screen
> >> > starts to display vibrant pulsing graphics which I do not believe are
> >> > intended.  If I choose the text mode for installation, and step
> >> > through the various screens, I eventually run into a bug in the
> >> > installer script.
> >> >
> >> > Rodney Smith entered a description of the bug into the RedHat bugbase
> >> > on 2007-07-08, but there seems to have been no movement on it since
> >> > then.  This leads me to believe that there must be an obvious
> >> > workaround, so others have just side-stepped the bug and moved on.
> >> >
> >> > The original bug report was marked as NEEDINFO, so I supplied that
> >> > info on 2008-01-21.  You can read the complete report here:
> >> >
> >> > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=247399
> > First I assuume that you did a sucessfule media check.
> >> >
> >> > What I'm hoping to do
> >> > ---------------------
> >> > My aim is to install a version of Linux as close to the XO version as
> >> > possible.  This will make it easier for me to get into the correct
> >> > mindset and best practices for developing for the XO.  I'm not
> married
> >> > to the idea of getting Fedora 7 to run if the line of least
> resistance
> >> > is to install something similar.
> >> >
> >> > In his bug report, Rodney Smith notes that "System previously had fc5
> >> > that was installed using a dvd and the graphical interface without a
> >> > hitch and that ran fine."
> >> >
> >> > I've looked for a downloadable version of Fedora Core 5 or 6 for a
> x86
> >> > machine, but all the links that I have found end up at the Get Fedora
> >> > page, which now limits itself to downloads of Fedora 7 and 8
> >> > <http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora
> >> >  >.
> >> >
> >> > I get a similar bug when I try installing Fedora 8.  I've also tried
> >> > installing Ubuntu 6, but run into the
> graphic-interface-shows-vibrant-
> >> > pulsing-graphics issue.
> >> >  >
> >> > If it hadn't been for XO-LiveCD_080130.iso performing perfectly on
> the
> >> > machine, I'd have written off my Sony Vaio as being incompatible with
> >> > Linux.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > If anyone can help me get some version of Linux installed on the
> >> > machine, I'd be most grateful.  If there are any Python developers on
> >> > this list in the Ottawa area, I'd be interested to hear from them
> too.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks in advance,
> >> >
> >> > James
> > Second, I hope you did not do what the bug poster did, that is , allow
> > the machine to set up a default partitioning.
> > If you understand how fdisk works, at the point that patitioning is
> > asked for, type ctl-alt-F2 which willget you to a termineal then
> > remove all partitioning at partition from scratch. Have a swap partition
> > = to 1 of 2x Ram size and the rest make into /.
> > Then type ctl-alt-f7 to tqake you back to anaconda and continue.
> > This is in tex installation. You cna then use the gui partitioning tool
> > to make any final editing of the partitions.
> >
> > It may still fail to install but you have started out without mysterious
> > partitioning problems which should help.
> > --
> > =======================================================================
> > Darth Vader! Only you would be so bold! -- Princess Leia Organa
> > =======================================================================
> > Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam at sbcglobal.net
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Devel mailing list
> > Devel at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
>
> James,
>
> Have you tried installing from the LiveCD?
>
> I have Sugar running just fine (jhbuild) in a dual-boot configuration on a
> 5-year-old HP Pavilion running XP Pro (SP2) and a 9 month old Toshiba
> laptop
> running Windows Vista.  I installed from the Fedora 8 LiveCD distro in
> both
> cases.  GRUB handles the dual-boot on the Toshiba while Acronis Disk
> Director handles dual boot on the HP (I couldn't get GRUB to work on the
> XP
> machine).  Installing single-boot on a clean machine should go much
> easier.
>
> Setup from the LiveCD is started by double-clicking an icon on the GNMOE
> desktop.  I believe the icon's label is "Install Fedora from LiveCD."  The
> partitioning is performed during setup.  You will need an "empty"
> partition
> which you will select during setup (parted is run from a GUI shell by the
> startup program).  Be sure to select the option (when presented) that says
> to remove any previous Linux distros from your machine.  I have not had
> any
> problems running Sugar (to date anyhow) on either setup and I let the
> setup
> program do the default formatting in both cases.
>
> What follows is for people who might want to install Fedora (or Linux in
> general) in a dual-boot configuration on a machine with an existing
> Windows
> XP or Vista installation.  James, you can probably ignore what follows.
>
> BEFORE installing Linux, I had to create a blank partition on each
> machine's
> Windows system drive (drive 0, usually labeled C:).  This was no easy task
> given that I didn't want to remove the Windows OS or files (data or
> program)
> from either machine.  The only program I could find that would allow me to
> add a partition to a drive by resizing an existing partition, without
> loosing any data on that drive, was Acronis Disk Director. Neither
> fdisk/diskpart on Windows nor parted on Linux would do this (at least I
> couldn't get them to do it -- and believe me, I tried 'cause Acronis Disk
> Director is a $50 program I knew I would probably only use once).  Both
> diskpart and parted claim you can use them to resize partitions.  But,
> this
> is (as far as I could determine) only true if you're willing to
> potentially
> loose everything in the partition you are resizing.  I couldn't do that.
> Acronis's product really lets you resize a partition (even an active or
> boot/system partition) without loosing the partition's current contents
> (or
> your ability to boot the machine under Windows).
>
> You can buy Acronis Disk Director here:
> http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/.  Don't bother
> downloading the demo version.  It's completely crippled and, if you decide
> to buy, you will have to download the non-demo version (it's not just a
> matter of entering a registration code into the demo version).  Also, if
> you
> decide to buy, before checking out of their e-commerce page, open another
> browser window and Google "Acronis coupons" (without the quotes).  Their
> e-commerce purchase form contains a field to enter a coupon code, so it
> stands to reason there are coupons somewhere on the 'Net.  Google will
> find
> them for you.  Some will be for other Acronis products, some will have
> expired but, eventually (10 minutes or so), you will find a "keeper."  I
> saved $7 with this tactic.  If you buy on-line (i.e., download the
> installer), make SURE to create the Disk Director "rescue" CD before using
> it on your system.
>
>    1.  Before creating the new partition, run Windows Disk Cleanup (or
> your
> favorite cleanup utility) on the target disk and reboot.  Then backup
> anything you can't afford to loose forever from the target drive.  I
> didn't
> need the backup I made, but you might.  If you have a lot of data, this
> can
> be a big pain.  But, what's even a bigger pain, is loosing data and
> programs
> or the ability to run your existing OS (which usually means loosing ALL of
> your data and programs).  In my case, this amounted to having to find
> about
> 50 GB of free space somewhere.  Fortunately, I had enough on a 120GB
> Seagate
> USB external hard disk (and a backup program from the disk manufacturer
> that
> compressed the files being backed up).
>
>    2.  Defragment the target disk drive.  There is a great free program
> that will run with less than 15% of the disk free (something Windows Disk
> Defragment utility will not do) and is at least 10 times faster than the
> Windows utility.  It's called Auslogics Disk Defrag.  It's free (really:
> no
> adware, no spyware, no nag dialogs) and you can download it here:
> http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag.  Do this at least twice or until the
> fragmented percentage remaining doesn't change much as the result of the
> last run (you can never get to 100% defragmentation on either FAT or
> NTFS).
>
> The goal of Steps 1 and 2 is to free as much Windows file system space as
> possible and move it physically closer to the "front" of the existing
> partition (defragmenters almost always do this and Auslogic's program is
> no
> different).  This allows you to create your new partition in available
> space
> following the partition being resized.
>
>    3.  Size your partition to be about 98% of the total amount available
> after Steps 1 and 2.  You don't have to label it or format it.  Linux will
> do that.  You will need to reboot Windows and it will probably holler like
> a
> stuck pig.  Ignore this and let the regular reboot go forward.  You may
> have
> to reboot more than once to get up and running back in Windows.  This is
> the
> operating system coming to terms with the new disk partition
> configuration.
> You will very likely loose ALL of your System Restore points so make sure
> you are doing this from a "stable" Windows system configuration.
>
> Disclaimer: I do not work for either Acronis or Auslogics.  Nor am I a
> member in either company's affiliate sales program.  In fact, the only
> relationship I have with either company is that of a satisfied
> customer/user.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Brad
>
> _______________________________________________
> Devel mailing list
> Devel at lists.laptop.org
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
>
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