MS-DOS install of 2006.1 LiveCD. (Edited info) Please help.

Myelin · n00b Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Pakistan

Hello guys.

I am having problems starting the installer of Gentoo 2006.1 LiveCD from MS-DOS. I copied the Image.squashfs and isolinux directory files and empty livecd file onto c:\boot. In MS-DOS i type:

cchildress · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:20 pm Post subject:

Are you trying to dual-boot, or simply install Gentoo linux onto your computer and replace Win98 entirely?

If this is going to be a fresh install of linux (ie you're not keeping windows), then I would strongly suggest downloading the minimal install CD (available from the mirrors link on the main gentoo page), and following the Gentoo manual for installation (available at http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook.xml). Welcome to GNU/linux! It takes some adjustment to get used to things but I think you'll enjoy it.

Above all else, try to boot from the installation CD, rather than running the process from DOS. That should simplify matters. If your computers motherboard doesn't support booting from CD-ROM, and there is no firmware update that would add that, then there are alternative installation methods (such as booting from a floppy and then continuing from CD) available on the gentoo wiki (http://gentoo-wiki.com). If you truly are unable to use *any* removable media for installation, then I'm afraid I don't have any experience with that and can't offer any good suggestions except to try the instlux project at http://sourceforge.net/projects/instlux. The author of the howto you read suggests that as a way to automate many of the manual steps in his howto. Good luck.

Edit: on the howto you referenced I found this info:

http://marc.herbert.free.fr/linux/win2linstall.html#gentoo

Did you already see that part?

Myelin · n00b Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Pakistan

I will be dual booting using grub, i have 2 partitions one for Linux(Primary) and one for Windows(Extended).

I do not have braodband so cannot download the source code.

The installation CD was not burned in Raw mode, so it does not boot.

Next CD will take some time to arrive in my country.

Question: 1. Will the Debian floopy disks mount an iso and start an installation from it?

2. or can it read the image.squashfs file and start the installation from there?

I am following everything written at this ( http://marc.herbert.free.fr/linux/win2linstall.html#gentoo page ), but its for .2005 and there seems to be some changes in 2006.1 version.

The very first error it gives is

cchildress · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:11 pm Post subject:

I feel for you; broadband is a luxury for many.

Would you also tell us about your computer? How much RAM does it have? Hard drive space? And what kind of processor is in it

Yes, the debian boot disks will give you a great environment from which to install Gentoo. I would still suggest following the Gentoo Handbook or the Gentoo Wiki over the howto that you found, as it is out of date (you have noticed this much). However, as you do not have broadband, I have some reservations about suggesting Gentoo as a distribution for you. Gentoo requires *many* downloads, and some of them are very large. This is of course possible with a slow connection, but it can be very frustrating and requires patience. This is especially true for the first install. It is possible to install binary packages for Gentoo, but you will not get the whole Gentoo experience doing that. Perhaps, a different distribution would be better for you for now. I might suggest Ubuntu. It is a very fine distribution, especially for newcomers. It does not require a fast internet connection for most tasks. It is also available for free; they will even mail you the discs at no charge. Ubuntu can be found at www.ubuntu.com

Good luck with everything

Myelin · n00b Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Pakistan

I guess you are right, the first reason i choose Gentoo was speed, but with prebuilt binaries the speed will not be there. I Guess i should start with the most easiest distribution. Its been 4 days since i am trying to find a way to install the iso through hard disk using Grub (chainloader and loadlin) and loadlin through MS-DOS all in vain.

Thanks for replying.

cchildress · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:31 pm Post subject:

Don't think that your efforts were in vain; we learn something from every mistake we make. Just start out with a distribution that uses binaries only. Although others here might debate the issue, Gentoo is not really about speed. The main goal of Gentoo is choice. That is the main reason for it being source code-based. You might also want to check out IRC for linux help (irc.freenode.org), and check out www.distrowatch.com for a rundown of the various distributions. There are lots to choose from! I suggested Ubuntu because it is Debian-based, easy to use, and they will mail you the install disc so that you don't have to download it. If you absolutely have to download your system, then I would suggest either finding someone with a faster connection (maybe a school or business near you?), or finding a smaller distribution such as Puppy Linux. Good luck in your efforts with linux.

Myelin · n00b Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Pakistan

Thanks.