Installing Linux under X1000 for the first time

[ggw]

Bought a CF for $8 delivered off ebay. Arrives next Tuesday. Then I'll be back with more woes.

George,

I went overboard and purchased a 16GB Compact flash card. I have all on the test Linux kernels (from day 1) installed on the card and have heaps of room to spare. The card is also accessible under Linux. (Thanks to Darren and Lyle).

It is much easier, IMHO, boot the kernel off the compact flash card. No need to mess about with USB pen drives etc.

Trevor

[Christopher Follett]

Then I'll be back with more woes.

George,

I went overboard and purchased a 16GB Compact flash card. I have all on the test Linux kernels (from day 1) installed on the card and have heaps of room to spare. The card is also accessible under Linux. (Thanks to Darren and Lyle).

It is much easier, IMHO, boot the kernel off the compact flash card. No need to mess about with USB pen drives etc.

Trevor

Doubt it, you will be Breezin with the new Live DVD (not released yet). Makes installing very easy.

[ggw]

Still failing, now using a Kensington K64338B Comfort Type USB/PS2 Keyboard.
Put Debian CD in DVD reader. Reboot. F at red bar. Lots of stuff then CFE. Plugin USB Thumb on top of X1000 left most socket. It is recognized. Give the ramdisk command. Give the setenv command. Give the boot command. The two penguins show up. In due time the 1st Linux Install screen appears asking me to select (confirm) the Install Language. It is already set to English. Says TAB to move. SPACE to select. Enter to activate buttons.

Well those 3 options are all for the keyboard, but nothing happens, no matter what I press. Its hung.

I was having the same problem. I couldn't select any language, no keyboard input was possible. The solution was to use the new 3.10.0 kernel. Have a go at this...

In February I had the same problem. My Cherry keyboard didn't work with Debian. The solution was to buy a cheap keyboard.

Remember the CF arrives next Tuesday. So I'll post to this thread again then.

[daz]

Still failing, now using a Kensington K64338B Comfort Type USB/PS2 Keyboard.
Put Debian CD in DVD reader. Reboot. F at red bar. Lots of stuff then CFE. Plugin USB Thumb on top of X1000 left most socket. It is recognized. Give the ramdisk command. Give the setenv command. Give the boot command. The two penguins show up. In due time the 1st Linux Install screen appears asking me to select (confirm) the Install Language. It is already set to English. Says TAB to move. SPACE to select. Enter to activate buttons.

Well those 3 options are all for the keyboard, but nothing happens, no matter what I press. Its hung.

Or, I suspect it is waiting for keyboard input, but not from your keyboard. Some people had the same problem with Logitech keyboards, they work fine in CFE & AmigaOS, but Linux needed another option setting in the kernel build before it would see them. To confirm or disprove this please try the install again with a very cheap USB keyboard. It needs to a be cheap as these use the hid class codes, which Linux will be looking for.

I was having the same problem. I couldn't select any language, no keyboard input was possible. The solution was to use the new 3.10.0 kernel. Have a go at this...

In February I had the same problem. My Cherry keyboard didn't work with Debian. The solution was to buy a cheap keyboard.

Remember the CF arrives next Tuesday. So I'll post to this thread again then.

You mave have the same problem with the CF, if it is not detecting the keyboard it won't matter where you load the kernel from.

If trying a different keyboard doesn't work, please list here exactly what commands you are using, Or you could wait for the UbuntuDVD.

We'll get Linux on your machine, we've not found a config that fails yet.

Regards
Darren

[ggw]

@daz

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm not sure how to identify such a cheap keyboard. Near where I work there is a computer store selling "highly used" equipment. I'll put it to them, "I need a particularly crummy USB keyboard", and see if they can come up with one.

Tuesday's CF, assuming it is generic enough to fit the X1000, supposedly runs faster than the USB Stick, and I won't have to drag it out of the drawer to stuff it in the top of the X1000 at the right time, so that'll be classier.

I will provide harder evidence of my actions. Though I could upload them to here, I'd prefer to put it on my website. Do you have any objection to my putting a link in that next post to my website and looking at the diagrammatic setup + photos of my actions and of the screens I am presented with?

I know that one lousy character error is all it takes.

[LyleHaze]

...
Tuesday's CF, assuming it is generic enough to fit the X1000, supposedly runs faster than the USB Stick, and I won't have to drag it out of the drawer to stuff it in the top of the X1000 at the right time, so that'll be classier.
...

I have not heard of any Compact Flash that are not compatible. And no matter how fast, it's a lot easier than playing with a USB drive.

[mrupp]

Because you need to boot Linux from FAT32 partition. It wont boot from an Amiga FFS

See the following thread for more information: http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz ... ffs#p18844

Thanks for clearifying that. Knowing that, wouldn't it be possible to format BDH0: with FAT32 instead of FastFileSystem and store both kernels (AmigaOS and Linux) there? Both are able to boot from FAT32, right?

[daz]

Because you need to boot Linux from FAT32 partition. It wont boot from an Amiga FFS

See the following thread for more information: http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz ... ffs#p18844

Thanks for clearifying that. Knowing that, wouldn't it be possible to format BDH0: with FAT32 instead of FastFileSystem and store both kernels (AmigaOS and Linux) there? Both are able to boot from FAT32, right?

No. It seems to be the RDSK partition table it doesn't like, - you can't boot linux from an ext2 partition on a RDSK HDD either, but you can on an ext2 partition on a MBR disk. This is not likely to change as CFE is not being worked on right now.

The best option is to use a FAT usb stick or CF card, and save yourself some hassle.

Regards
Darren

[mrupp]

No. It seems to be the RDSK partition table it doesn't like, - you can't boot linux from an ext2 partition on a RDSK HDD either, but you can on an ext2 partition on a MBR disk. This is not likely to change as CFE is not being worked on right now.

The best option is to use a FAT usb stick or CF card, and save yourself some hassle.

Regards
Darren

Good to know. Thanks!

[ggw]

Work around:
At the debian language selection screen: Pull the keyboard USB plug out of the X1000... and push it back in.

Is there something weird about my setup, that no one saw that as a suggestion?
(I have 5 [damn] keyboards lying all over this room... and the X1000 keyboard works [in the above fashion]).

Or, I suspect it is waiting for keyboard input, but not from your keyboard. Some people had the same problem with Logitech keyboards, they work fine in CFE & AmigaOS, but Linux needed another option setting in the kernel build before it would see them. To confirm or disprove this please try the install again with a very cheap USB keyboard. It needs to a be cheap as these use the hid class codes, which Linux will be looking for.

Regards
Darren