[mixx941]

Hello all. Tonight I decided to install RedHat Linux 8.0. I downloaded a nice copy from a mirror at Perdue University. I tried on my previous configuration with Windows 2000 and Mandrake Linux, but whenever I tried to launch the install cd it would ask me if I want to verify the files. I would skip it, and then the screen would go blue for about 8 minutes. Then it would come up with some text that says stuff like

"error-2147483638 reading header:cpio:read failed-Success"

Then it would say Running anaconda.

And then "It is safe to reboot your computer"

I am wondering where the install program is. I reformatted my whole hard drive trying to get this to work, and it still does the exact same thing.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks

-Mark

[codejockey]

It sounds like your download was corrupted (this happens more often than you might suspect). You should definitely verify the files (although I suspect that one or more files will have problems). Note that even if your download is OK, you can have errors when you burn the CD. First step, however, is to verify your download. Use the md5 sums provided with the distribution and compare those to the sums for your downloaded images. If they don't match, you'll need to download again (and compare) until they do.

Hope this helps.

[mixx941]

Hi. Thanks for responding. I tried the check media thing, and it freezes at 75%.

The only thing I can think of is when I burned all of the CDs using Nero, I got a message saying something like "There may be a possible read error with this file. Do you wish to burn it anyway?". I clicked yes, but there was no error during the burning. It said "Burn Successfully Completed".

I didn't think there was anything wrong because earlier I had burned a CD and it gave me that same message and that CD worked. And some CDs after burning the 5 Redhat CDs worked good too.

I guess I will have to download again...it took a while to find a good and fast mirror .

One more thing...If I do download the ISOs again, and burn them to a CD, what should my instalation process be? Maybe I am doing something wrong. As of now, I have tried booting from the CD and pressing Enter to enter graphical setup. It screwes up there. I have also tried the text mode, and the interface was no different than the "Graphical" one. It did the same thing with the error messages there.

I have also tried making a boot disk, but still the same problems.

Thanks A Lot

-Mark

[mixx941]

OK. I figured out what was wrong. The CDs weren't burned correctly. I re-burned them on a different CD and the setup program launched.

Now I have another problem. I formatted my hard drive again to try to install it first, and then Windows.

I go through the whole setup program with no problems, but when it gets to the end where it is going to actually install, it says something like:

The kernel was unable to re-read the partition table on /dev/ hda (Device or resource busy). This means Linux knows nothing about any modifications you made. You should reboot your computer before doing anything with /dev/hda

Is there some particular way I should partition my drive? I made a 23GB partition, and then a 7GB partition using MaxBlast, my hard drive software. I want Linux to go on the 7GB one. I also tried the RedHat setup option to remove all partitions and create ones for linux. I did that, and I still get the same error message.

Any suggestions on this problem?

Thanks

-Mark

[lynch]

Try deleting all partitions and re-create the partition(s) you need for windows.Leave the rest for Linux as free unallocated space.
Install windows first.
If you install Linux first then the windows installer will screw up the MBR and you wont be able to access Linux unless you have a Linux bootdisk.
When you install Redhat 8,just tell the installer to use the free space preserving windows.
BTW,if you are running NT/w2k/XP on NTFS,Redhat doesnt come with the module for NTFS read support.There is no stable module for NTFS write support.
FAT32 is okay,though.
If the errors keep showing up,try using Maxblast to write zeros to the drive to make sure everything is clean.
lynch

[mixx941]

Ok. I will try that next. BTW, the 3rd disk always fails the redhat test. I've tried 2 different types of media, and more than 7 times.

I've decided that I will just go out and buy it...it's only $39.99!

Also, I was wondering your opinion. Which would you go with? KDE or GNOME? I have heard many people think KDE. I am trying to set up a FTP server and just have Linux because I think it's a cool alternative to Windows. Mandrake worked fine for me a few months ago, but I never could figure out how to install programs. Is it a little easier in RedHat? If not, do you know of a good tutorial for installing programs?

Also, I have heard about a program called VMWare I think, but I was wondering you opinion on a good program that runs Windows apps on Linux (if there is a good one).


Thanks

-Mark

P.S. What boot loader do you think is the best?

[lynch]

I have always used KDE.Gnome seems to have a lot of bugs but some of the Gnome apps seem to work well in KDE.
Mandrake is good. Installing programs is easy with RPM.I like kpackage for installing programs in Mandrake.All you need to do is find the .rpm in konqueror and r-click on it and choose open with...then select kpackage or package manager.There are times when there are missing dependencies but RPM or kpackage will tell you whats missing.If you download from the 'net this can happen but if you install somthing from your CDs everything is usually there.
Installing from the command line (as root) is easy:
rpm -Uvh filename.rpm
will usually do it.
With VMWare,you can install winXP on a virtual machine created by VMWare and run it and its programs from inside the VM.Then there is one called Codeweavers and there's WineX and wine.I dont use any of them but, from what I have read,VMWare is the best of the emulators.
I really dont have a preference on bootloaders though I have been using Grub more lately as it seems the major distros are using it by default.Not that Lilo is a slouch.I would use one of those instead of a 3rd-party app for the simple reason that there's nothing really wrong with either of them.
HTH
lynch

[mixx941]

Ok. I just purchased RedHat 8.0 and tried to install it.

I did the auto partition, and it did the same thing. It also gave me some error about some problem that may cause problems with certain boot loaders.

It also made me reboot the computer at the last step.

What's Next?

-Mark

*EDIT* I rebooted and tried the instalation again, it gave me the error about not knowing what it's doing on my drive, but I continued the setup anyway. I tried a different approach this time...I put minimal options, just to see if it would install. I will add my options like FTP server later. At least it let me do that this time. It hasn't completed yet, but I'll let you know.

[mixx941]

OK. It installed great. It is working now!

Also, I was wondering if you knew how to get into the configuration to set up a FTP server.

I installed the package, but cannot find the app.

Also, how can I share files through my network? I installed that package also.

THanks

-Mark

P.S. I installed VMWare and logged out and back in, and I can't find it under any of the menu buttons. How do I run a program I installed? (it was an rpm. I just double clicked it and it added it as a package I guess, but I still can't get to it).

[mixx941]

I've got a log from the terminal when trying to install VMware using the instructions on the website. You said you didn't use VMware, but you might know where this directory is:

Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

None of VMware Workstation's pre-built vmmon modules is suitable for your
running kernel. Do you want this script to try to build the vmmon module for
your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes] yes

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

Argument "\x{67}\x{63}..." isn't numeric in numeric ge (>=) at /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl line 1493, <STDIN> line 3.
What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running
kernel? [/usr/src/linux/include]

Any Ideas?

Thanks

-Mark

[lynch]

Just started playing with C++,so I'm not too sharp on this.You could try checking in /usr/include/vmware and see if there are some files with the ".h" extension.
Maybe codejockey will see this and have an answer.
Other than getting VMWare set up,how's Redhat 8 treating you?
There is one thing you can check that I was curious about:did you have to use the minimal options?
Open a terminal and login as root.Type this:
/sbin/hdparm /dev/hdx
(x=where your hdd is located on the controller,ie.primary master=hda,primary slave=hdb etc.You may only have to type hdparm /dev/hdx but RH wants the full path I think )
This will give you some info on how your hdd is configured.
lynch

[mixx941]

Other than the VMware thing, I really like RedHat...I haven't used my Windows machine since I got it running! It's a nice relief from the microsoft annoyances! I have tried out KDE and GNOME and to be honest I like GNOME better. The interface is much nicer, and it doesn't have the Konqurer browser for web and the home file either...I really don't like that browser.

Here is that info you asked me to get:

[root@localhost root]# /sbin/hdparm /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 0 (default 16-bit)
unmaskirq = 0 (off)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 8 (on)
geometry = 3736/255/63, sectors = 60030432, start = 0
[root@localhost root]#

When I installed I don't think I selected minimal options. I just didn't select many packages when I first installed. I added packages when I got it running.

Any thoughts on how to get the FTP running or any suggestions for a good free FTP Server program?

Thanks

-Mark

[mixx941]

Also, could you tell me the command for changing to the /home/myusername directory? I am trying to install Wine to see if it works and I can't figure out the command.

Thanks

-Mark

[lynch]

cd /home/username
Proftpd is a well regarded FTP server for Linux/UNIX.
HTH
lynch

[mixx941]

Thanks.

I'll try to see if I can't get that to work.

BTW, I tried to access the built in FTP server from another computer like this address:
ftp://username@ip/
and it worked. I see the files. The problem is that I don't want other people who might be using the server to be able to delete files. Do you know of a way to make it so that they can't delete the files?

I'll create a different user just for the FTP server, and then have that username running so people can access it. Also, do you know of a way to make it anonymous?

Thanks

-Mark