G'day<br>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. <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Feb 3, 2008 6:02 AM, Brad Paulsen <<a href="mailto:brad.paulsen@gmail.com" target="_blank">brad.paulsen@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div><br>----- Original Message -----<br>From: "Aaron Konstam" <<a href="mailto:akonstam@sbcglobal.net" target="_blank">akonstam@sbcglobal.net</a>><br>
To: "M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" <<a href="mailto:znmeb@cesmail.net" target="_blank">znmeb@cesmail.net</a>><br>Cc: <<a href="mailto:devel@lists.laptop.org" target="_blank">devel@lists.laptop.org</a>><br>
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 3:25 PM<br>
Subject: Re: Setting up Fedora 7 on a ex-Windows machine (Ottawa)<br><br><br>> On Sat, 2008-02-02 at 10:39 -0800, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:<br>>> James wrote:<br>>> > Hello OLPC people!<br>>> ><br>
>> > I am working on a Snakes and Ladders game for the XO, to help young<br>>> > children learn to count. You can find my first draft of the game<br>>> > here: <<a href="http://olpc-dev.fuelindustries.com/snakes_080116.zip" target="_blank">http://olpc-dev.fuelindustries.com/snakes_080116.zip</a>>.<br>
>> ><br>>> ><br>>> > I'm looking for help in getting Fedora 7 to run on a Sony Vaio PCG-<br>>> > GRT796HP laptop that used to run Windows. It's a Pentium 4, running<br>>> > at 2.67 GHz, with 512 MB of RAM. I've spent several hours trying<br>
>> > various approaches and distributions, without success.<br>>> ><br>>> > This is my first excursion into Linux territory, and I'm still finding<br>>> > my feet with Python. I'm more at ease with development on Macintosh,<br>
>> > and have only scraped the surface of using the Terminal. Please don't<br>>> > hesitate to spoonfeed me in all things Linux and Python.<br>>> ><br>>> > What I can do<br>>> > -------------<br>
>> > I'd almost given up hope of getting the Vaio to run Fedora when I<br>>> > tried using the XO LiveCD from <<a href="http://dev.laptop.org/pub/" target="_blank">http://dev.laptop.org/pub/</a><br>
>> > livebackupcd>. This worked perfectly, which encourages me to believe<br>>> > that the issue is not with the machine but with what I am doing to it.<br>>> ><br>>> > Where I get stuck<br>
>> > -----------------<br>>> > I've downloaded the F-7-i386-DVD.iso file from<br>>> > <<a href="http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/torrents//Fedora-7-i386.torrent" target="_blank">http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/torrents//Fedora-7-i386.torrent</a><br>
>> > >, and burnt it to a DVD-ROM. The initial menu screen appears. If I<br>>> > choose the default (graphic) installation, eventually the screen<br>>> > starts to display vibrant pulsing graphics which I do not believe are<br>
>> > intended. If I choose the text mode for installation, and step<br>>> > through the various screens, I eventually run into a bug in the<br>>> > installer script.<br>>> ><br>>> > Rodney Smith entered a description of the bug into the RedHat bugbase<br>
>> > on 2007-07-08, but there seems to have been no movement on it since<br>>> > then. This leads me to believe that there must be an obvious<br>>> > workaround, so others have just side-stepped the bug and moved on.<br>
>> ><br>>> > The original bug report was marked as NEEDINFO, so I supplied that<br>>> > info on 2008-01-21. You can read the complete report here:<br>>> ><br>>> > <a href="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=247399" target="_blank">https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=247399</a><br>
> First I assuume that you did a sucessfule media check.<br>>> ><br>>> > What I'm hoping to do<br>>> > ---------------------<br>>> > My aim is to install a version of Linux as close to the XO version as<br>
>> > possible. This will make it easier for me to get into the correct<br>>> > mindset and best practices for developing for the XO. I'm not married<br>>> > to the idea of getting Fedora 7 to run if the line of least resistance<br>
>> > is to install something similar.<br>>> ><br>>> > In his bug report, Rodney Smith notes that "System previously had fc5<br>>> > that was installed using a dvd and the graphical interface without a<br>
>> > hitch and that ran fine."<br>>> ><br>>> > I've looked for a downloadable version of Fedora Core 5 or 6 for a x86<br>>> > machine, but all the links that I have found end up at the Get Fedora<br>
>> > page, which now limits itself to downloads of Fedora 7 and 8<br>>> > <<a href="http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora" target="_blank">http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora</a><br>>> > >.<br>
>> ><br>>> > I get a similar bug when I try installing Fedora 8. I've also tried<br>>> > installing Ubuntu 6, but run into the graphic-interface-shows-vibrant-<br>>> > pulsing-graphics issue.<br>
>> > ><br>>> > If it hadn't been for XO-LiveCD_080130.iso performing perfectly on the<br>>> > machine, I'd have written off my Sony Vaio as being incompatible with<br>>> > Linux.<br>
>> ><br>>> ><br>>> > If anyone can help me get some version of Linux installed on the<br>>> > machine, I'd be most grateful. If there are any Python developers on<br>>> > this list in the Ottawa area, I'd be interested to hear from them too.<br>
>> ><br>>> > Thanks in advance,<br>>> ><br>>> > James<br>> Second, I hope you did not do what the bug poster did, that is , allow<br>> the machine to set up a default partitioning.<br>
> If you understand how fdisk works, at the point that patitioning is<br>> asked for, type ctl-alt-F2 which willget you to a termineal then<br>> remove all partitioning at partition from scratch. Have a swap partition<br>
> = to 1 of 2x Ram size and the rest make into /.<br>> Then type ctl-alt-f7 to tqake you back to anaconda and continue.<br>> This is in tex installation. You cna then use the gui partitioning tool<br>> to make any final editing of the partitions.<br>
><br>> It may still fail to install but you have started out without mysterious<br>> partitioning problems which should help.<br>> --<br>> =======================================================================<br>
> Darth Vader! Only you would be so bold! -- Princess Leia Organa<br>> =======================================================================<br>> Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: <a href="mailto:akonstam@sbcglobal.net" target="_blank">akonstam@sbcglobal.net</a><br>
><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Devel mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:Devel@lists.laptop.org" target="_blank">Devel@lists.laptop.org</a><br>> <a href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel" target="_blank">http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel</a><br>
<br></div></div>James,<br><br>Have you tried installing from the LiveCD?<br><br>I have Sugar running just fine (jhbuild) in a dual-boot configuration on a<br>5-year-old HP Pavilion running XP Pro (SP2) and a 9 month old Toshiba laptop<br>
running Windows Vista. I installed from the Fedora 8 LiveCD distro in both<br>cases. GRUB handles the dual-boot on the Toshiba while Acronis Disk<br>Director handles dual boot on the HP (I couldn't get GRUB to work on the XP<br>
machine). Installing single-boot on a clean machine should go much easier.<br><br>Setup from the LiveCD is started by double-clicking an icon on the GNMOE<br>desktop. I believe the icon's label is "Install Fedora from LiveCD." The<br>
partitioning is performed during setup. You will need an "empty" partition<br>which you will select during setup (parted is run from a GUI shell by the<br>startup program). Be sure to select the option (when presented) that says<br>
to remove any previous Linux distros from your machine. I have not had any<br>problems running Sugar (to date anyhow) on either setup and I let the setup<br>program do the default formatting in both cases.<br><br>What follows is for people who might want to install Fedora (or Linux in<br>
general) in a dual-boot configuration on a machine with an existing Windows<br>XP or Vista installation. James, you can probably ignore what follows.<br><br>BEFORE installing Linux, I had to create a blank partition on each machine's<br>
Windows system drive (drive 0, usually labeled C:). This was no easy task<br>given that I didn't want to remove the Windows OS or files (data or program)<br>from either machine. The only program I could find that would allow me to<br>
add a partition to a drive by resizing an existing partition, without<br>loosing any data on that drive, was Acronis Disk Director. Neither<br>fdisk/diskpart on Windows nor parted on Linux would do this (at least I<br>couldn't get them to do it -- and believe me, I tried 'cause Acronis Disk<br>
Director is a $50 program I knew I would probably only use once). Both<br>diskpart and parted claim you can use them to resize partitions. But, this<br>is (as far as I could determine) only true if you're willing to potentially<br>
loose everything in the partition you are resizing. I couldn't do that.<br>Acronis's product really lets you resize a partition (even an active or<br>boot/system partition) without loosing the partition's current contents (or<br>
your ability to boot the machine under Windows).<br><br>You can buy Acronis Disk Director here:<br><a href="http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/" target="_blank">http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/</a>. Don't bother<br>
downloading the demo version. It's completely crippled and, if you decide<br>to buy, you will have to download the non-demo version (it's not just a<br>matter of entering a registration code into the demo version). Also, if you<br>
decide to buy, before checking out of their e-commerce page, open another<br>browser window and Google "Acronis coupons" (without the quotes). Their<br>e-commerce purchase form contains a field to enter a coupon code, so it<br>
stands to reason there are coupons somewhere on the 'Net. Google will find<br>them for you. Some will be for other Acronis products, some will have<br>expired but, eventually (10 minutes or so), you will find a "keeper." I<br>
saved $7 with this tactic. If you buy on-line (i.e., download the<br>installer), make SURE to create the Disk Director "rescue" CD before using<br>it on your system.<br><br> 1. Before creating the new partition, run Windows Disk Cleanup (or your<br>
favorite cleanup utility) on the target disk and reboot. Then backup<br>anything you can't afford to loose forever from the target drive. I didn't<br>need the backup I made, but you might. If you have a lot of data, this can<br>
be a big pain. But, what's even a bigger pain, is loosing data and programs<br>or the ability to run your existing OS (which usually means loosing ALL of<br>your data and programs). In my case, this amounted to having to find about<br>
50 GB of free space somewhere. Fortunately, I had enough on a 120GB Seagate<br>USB external hard disk (and a backup program from the disk manufacturer that<br>compressed the files being backed up).<br><br> 2. Defragment the target disk drive. There is a great free program<br>
that will run with less than 15% of the disk free (something Windows Disk<br>Defragment utility will not do) and is at least 10 times faster than the<br>Windows utility. It's called Auslogics Disk Defrag. It's free (really: no<br>
adware, no spyware, no nag dialogs) and you can download it here:<br><a href="http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag" target="_blank">http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag</a>. Do this at least twice or until the<br>fragmented percentage remaining doesn't change much as the result of the<br>
last run (you can never get to 100% defragmentation on either FAT or NTFS).<br><br>The goal of Steps 1 and 2 is to free as much Windows file system space as<br>possible and move it physically closer to the "front" of the existing<br>
partition (defragmenters almost always do this and Auslogic's program is no<br>different). This allows you to create your new partition in available space<br>following the partition being resized.<br><br> 3. Size your partition to be about 98% of the total amount available<br>
after Steps 1 and 2. You don't have to label it or format it. Linux will<br>do that. You will need to reboot Windows and it will probably holler like a<br>stuck pig. Ignore this and let the regular reboot go forward. You may have<br>
to reboot more than once to get up and running back in Windows. This is the<br>operating system coming to terms with the new disk partition configuration.<br>You will very likely loose ALL of your System Restore points so make sure<br>
you are doing this from a "stable" Windows system configuration.<br><br>Disclaimer: I do not work for either Acronis or Auslogics. Nor am I a<br>member in either company's affiliate sales program. In fact, the only<br>
relationship I have with either company is that of a satisfied<br>customer/user.<br><br>Good luck!<br><br>Cheers,<br><font color="#888888"><br>Brad<br></font><div><div></div><div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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