On Wed, 2004-09-01 at 16:03, Jan Mason wrote:
> I have a very old computer that is currently running Fedora Core 1. The
> computer is a 300mhz PII with 128megs of ram.
That's good enough to run Fedora Core 2 (CL4.0) with XFCE, which is now
full standard framework (starting with the CL4/EL4 series) alongside
GNOME and KDE. Alan Cox has an install on a WinChip2 240MHz with 48MB
of RAM that runs well.
> It does not boot from either the 100mb scsi zip drive nor the scsi cd.
Hmmm, what host adapter do you have? There are a lot of SCSI adapters
that don't have 2.6 "clean" drivers, and were deprecated by Linus & co.
That's typically the issue with 2.6 distros.
> Just the floppy and and 2 6gig hard drives.
> References:
> [ILUG] Installing Fedora Core 2 from a hard drive.
> http://www.linux.ie/pipermail/ilug/2004-June/015747.html
> Workarounds for Problems Upgrading to Fedora Core 2
> http://www.cs.utsa.edu/~bylander/fedora2-experience.html
> Problem:
> The problem is that /images/diskboot.img on the first CD is much too
> large for a floppy.
> With FC1 and all previous versions of Redhat I was able to kick off
> the install/upgrade with a floppy.
Correct. Kernel 2.6 is forcing this on a lot of distros, although I'm
sure some people are able to strip the kernel down to be even smaller.
Red Hat doesn't seem to be prepared to do that.
So as of the CL4/EL4 series (Fedora Core 2 and 3, assumingly 4 and RHEL
4 to come as well), the kernel is too big to fit in 1.44MB.
> Using the info from the aforementioned references, I was able to
> launch the install via Grub. I need to do a TEXT install because I
> only havd 128megs of ram.
Correct. 64MB (as low as 32MB if you have swap) is all that is required
for text. GUI is 192MB (although I've installed it in as little as 96MB
with swap). Red Hat always over-estimates, and assumes 100% memory
usage by default.
> The problem is that it goes straight into a graphical install. The
> option to do a text install is not given.
Take the instructions and add "text" to the end of the "kernel" line.
E.g.,
title Fedora Core 2 install
root (hd0,0)
kernel /FC2install/vmlinuz text <--- Note the addition
initrd /FC2install/initrd.img
> How do I get Anaconda to give the option to do a TEXT install? You can
> see the TEXT install option in the syslinux.cfg file which I copied into
> the /boot/FC2install/pxeboot/ directory. Which also did not fix the
> problem.
I think if you do the above, it will work.
Otherwise, consider "apt-get dist-upgrade" (see the links below).
Jan Mason wrote:
> I can run the install by using Grub to boot it up and putting the CD
> in the cd tray. It goes into the graphical install mode with running
> the syslinux.cfg file which has the info for giving you the option of
> selecting text install. FC2 graphical install requires 256megs of ram.
> I have 128megs of ram which is the required amount for a test install.
> Doing the FTP install I would still have the low memory problem.
Are you sure on those requirements? From the RELEASE NOTES:
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/2/i386/os/RELEASE-NOTES-en.html
64/192MB for Text/GUI, 256MB recommended for GUI (otherwise it probably
goes into a low-res mode). Loading X, Python and GTK+ 100% into memory
is why this happens. But, as I mentioned, if already have formatted
swap, you can enable it and install in as little as 32/96MB.
One thing Red Hat has often done is _overestimate_ the requirements in
its installer. The RULE-Project is one that has found this to be true
with each release. Their Miniconda installer is typically with a lot of
the "safe" memory requirements tests removed.
Red Hat is pretty anal when it comes to that stuff, almost to a fault.
Chad Perrin wrote:
> Those memory requirements are insane. It's absurd that you'd need that much RAM
> to install an OS on a PC.
Mandrake Linux 10 and SuSE Linux 9.1 have _similar_ requirements. It's really
a combination of the 2.6 kernel, Python and GTK+. Red Hat has based a lot on
Python/GTK+, especially the newt library (which allows both slang and GTK+ apps).
Similar distros (e.g., Mandrake, SuSE) have the same, similar requirements.
Red Hat still builds an excellent text installer. As I mentioned, a sub-200MHz
system with sub-64MB of RAM can typically still install it. Red Hat has even
added not only XFCE as a standard GUI side option, but now has a "minimal"
90MB install to Fedora Core that is similar to what Debian offers.
If anything, Red Hat is getting more and more positive input from the community
under the Fedora project. So much so that when I used "apt-get dist-upgrade"
to move from Fedora Core 1 (CL3.2) to Fedora Core 2 (CL4.0), was the the
smoothest upgrade from a ".2" distro to a ".0" distro I've experienced since
Red Hat Linux 5.2 to Red Hat Linux 6.0. If you're interested in my
"apt-get dist-upgrade" from FC1 -> FC2:
http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/leaplist/2004-August/039896.html
I had previously done an "apt-get dist-upgrade" from Red Hat Linux 9 (CL3.1) to
Fedora Core 1 (CL3.2) with 0 issues. But that was just a ".1" upgrade to a
".2", not a completely different series.
SIDE NOTE: Always use the _official_ Fedora repositories -- i.e. Fedora Core
(Red Hat/Duke), Fedora Extras (Fedora.US) and Fedora Legacy (FedoraLegacy.ORG) --
and the _official_ APT port from Fedora Extras. Do _not_ use 3rd party APT or
repository implementations like FreshRPMS.NET, etc... In fact, _remove_
any such packages that conflict with the "official" Core/Extras/Legacy
repositories _before_ upgrading.
http://ntlug.org/pipermail/discuss/Week-of-Mon-20040830/022259.html
More info/discussion the "maturity" of APT for RPM:
http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/leaplist/2004-August/039893.html
http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/leaplist/2004-August/039907.html
Knowles Burrell wrote:
> I agree with Chat, it is really insane to have to have 128mb of memory
> for a text install
Again, the official, and quite "overstated," requirements are 64/192MB
for text/GUI. You can install with even less with swap enabled.
-- Compatibility and update matrix of Red Hat(R) distributions: http://www.vaporwarelabs.com/files/temp/RH-Distribution-FAQ-3.html http://www.vaporwarelabs.com/files/temp/RH-Distribution-FAQ-4.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith@ieee.org----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
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