Re: Newbie: Installation problems

[John Foster <jfoster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sudhir P wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Please excuse me for the wide distribution. And do excuse me for not
> being able to give the exact technical terms in the following. I have
> tried to explain the situation to the best extent that I can (now).
> 
> My present set up:
> ------------------
> I have an i586 system in which I have dos, linux (Redhat and Debian)
> installed (after lot of goof-ups and struggles, being a novice that I
> am).
> 
> The partition details are as follows
> /dev/hda1       - DOS
> /dev/hda2       - Linux partition (I suppose, I am not very confortable with
> this naming
>                   convention, so please excuse me)
> /dev/hda5       - RedHat Linux (kernel - 2.0.36)
> /dev/hda6       - Swap space (common to both Redhat and Debian)
> /dev/hda7       - Debian Linux (kernel - 2.0.36)
> 
> The MBR contains the LILO. My lilo.conf in /dev/hda5 (Redhat) contains
> details of the setup, and the details about Debian kernel (being present
> in /dev/hda7, boot-label="debian"). I am assuming that this is where it
> is taking information from when I type "debian" at my lilo prompt, the
> kernel being loaded from /dev/hda7.
> 
> Dos (Windows-95) and Redhat are fully operational. There is some problem
> with debian however.
> 
> I am not able to go beyond the base-kernel installation. I have
> configured in the kernel to support cd-roms with the "common CD-ROMs"
> option that is available for CD-ROM device drivers.
> 
> There is a part of the installation where u have to give details about
> the "access" medium (default being /dev/cdrom). When I accept this as my
> default or even type in "/dev/cdrom", it is reported as an error. It
> says that it is unable to find the device (even though installation is
> going on from the device).
> 
> If I go to another virtual-terminal and try: mount /dev/cdrom,
> it gives an error message stating that there is no entry in the
> /etc/fstab. If I make an entry in the same, and issue "mount
> /dev/cdroom", an error message stating that the kernel doesn't support
> this filesystem (iso9660) is issued.
> 
> I am unable to go beyond this. No packages are being installed as I
> haven't been able to specify /dev/cdrom as my source.
> 
> I hope that I have explained the situation clearly enough. In case you
> require more details, please mail me.
------------------------------------------------------------
It appeares that you did not install the cd rom  (or if its ATPI type)
when you installed the first time. In either case the situation is
resolved by recompiling the kernel to support the necessary files
systems and hardware. You should be able to get a modem running or if
you have a direct internet connection ; use dselect to install the
necessary applications for recompiling the kernel. Read the Kernel HOWTO
in directory /usr/docs.
That is where all/most of the docummentation for Debian is stored.
Good Luck!!

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