Debian ISO's & Getright - Problem

Magic Monkey

I downloaded all the Debian 3.0 ISO's from here
using Getright.

After running the MD5SUM program to verify the correct filesizes, all the ISO's failed the test. The downloaded ISO's are slightly larger than those listed on the site.

Is this because of using Getright to download them? If so, can I still safely burn them for installation use?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Magic Monkey

You've never had any problems with Getright for downloading/resuming Linux ISO downloads you mean?

It would be a waste of 7 CD-R's; just wanted to see if anyone had this happen before. I was thinking of using one CD-RW and re-using it for each .iso !

Kali

Originally posted by Magic Monkey
It would be a waste of 7 CD-R's; just wanted to see if anyone had this happen before. I was thinking of using one CD-RW and re-using it for each .iso !

Thats a bit pointless if you later find out with dpkg that you need certain packages on the 2nd cd

Just burn the first CD for now. That'll contain everything you'll need for a basic install.. if that works go ahead and burn the remaining images, and install any additional software you need off them.

daveirl

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Magic Monkey

Just burn the first CD for now. That'll contain everything you'll need for a basic install.. if that works go ahead and burn the remaining images, and install any additional software you need off them.

Thanks, just have. Thought I had accidentally burned the US .iso - Is there that much difference between the US and non-US versions?

Also, is it necessary to de-frag the hard-disk before I start the installation?

Kali

Originally posted by Magic Monkey
Thanks, just have. Thought I had accidentally burned the US .iso - Is there that much difference between the US and non-US versions?

Just on the cryptographical side of things I'd imagine.

Also, is it necessary to de-frag the hard-disk before I start the installation?

nope not necessary, you'll be changing the partitions filesystem anyway thus negating any fragmentation plus the ext2 filesystem doesn't fragment anywhere as much as fat in day to day usage.

daveirl

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Gavin

Originally posted by Magic Monkey
Thanks, just have. Thought I had accidentally burned the US .iso - Is there that much difference between the US and non-US versions?

Also, is it necessary to de-frag the hard-disk before I start the installation?

if you are going to use fips to create partition space then yes it's advisable. Otherwise, no need as the others above say.

Gav

Magic Monkey

Originally posted by Verb
if you are going to use fips to create partition space then yes it's advisable.

I'm following the instructions here, and it says to use Partition Magic (I downloaded version 7).

Whats the point of resizing using fips, if it only resizes FAT partitions, and Linux uses ext2?

And if there is a point, which is better, fips or Partition Magic?

daveirl

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phaxx

Originally posted by daveirl
BTW if you are completely new to Linux I wouldn't really think Debian is the way to go. Try Mandrake, Red Hat or even Suse.

Disagree, I started on Slackware and loved it, you don't need all the fluffy stuff to learn it, just a friend or two to ask questions of. (Or this board :P)

daveirl

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Magic Monkey

BTW if you are completely new to Linux I wouldn't really think Debian is the way to go. Try Mandrake, Red Hat or even Suse.


Yeah, dual boot with Win 98 and Debian. Thanks, I'll try Partition Magic out so. I've used Mandrake, RedHat, and Solaris before, it's just the first time I've installed it.

The only choice to make now is to decide between BlackBox, FluxBox, Gnome, KDE, etc...

daveirl

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longword

If you can get into Linux, you can use rsync to correct the ISO files you have without downloading the whole lot again. Both ftp.esat.net and ftp.heanet.ie support rsync.

Magic Monkey

I installed Debian (off CD-1 only), but am having trouble. When I try to run startx I get the following error:

...
(EE) VESA (0): No matching modes
(II) Unloading .../libvgahw.a
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration

Fatal server error: no screens found

Also, just two other things:
- In LILO, how can I select Windows to be the default value?
- Is there a way to boot into Linux from Windows, say by a shortcut or some-such?

longword

Originally posted by Magic Monkey
I installed Debian (off CD-1 only), but am having trouble. When I try to run startx I get the following error

Debian 3.0 ships with a badly outdated version of XFree86. What video hardware do you have? If it's something recent and nVidia you should visit www.nvidia.com for their drivers.

- In LILO, how can I select Windows to be the default value?

Change /etc/lilo.conf. See what label the Windows boot option has then add the line 'default=windows_boot_label' near the top. Then run /sbin/lilo

- Is there a way to boot into Linux from Windows, say by a shortcut or some-such?

Not that I'm aware of, no. You can boot Linux from DOS with LOADLIN.EXE but I'm pretty sure that doesn't work from a DOS box within Windows.

Magic Monkey

Originally posted by longword
Debian 3.0 ships with a badly outdated version of XFree86. What video hardware do you have? If it's something recent and nVidia you should visit www.nvidia.com for their drivers.

It's a Hercules 3D Prophet 4500, Kyro II.
I've found from searching that I need to download drivers for it, from here.

Seeing as Debian isn't in the list, I'll try both the RPM and TGZ (not really familiar with either) and try to get it working.

Thanks for your help longword, and everyone else. I'll be back if I can't get this to work!

Magic Monkey

I finally have Debian working with KDE
after a lot of hassle! Actually, it's pretty cool,
the stuff you can do - the way you can mount
filesystems and other fun things; I'm genuinely excited!

Thank you everyone who's helped me out,
I'm bound to be back soon with more problems
and questions though!

longword

If you get stuck try the #linuxhelp IRC channel on undernet.