[RULE] Installation questions

[Jason Bechtel]

Well, it doesn't make any sense to have a
bootable swap partition.  This is where random
data will be cached during runtime.  There is no
persistent data storage on that partition. 
However, I don't believe that either partition
needs to be bootable.  I think this would only be
required if you were *NOT* going to install a
boot loader in the MBR (Master Boot Record).  The
MBR isn't part of any partition.  It is the first
data area on the device and the BIOS knows how to
boot from it.

Normally when installing Linux, one installs a
boot loader (LILO or Grub) in the MBR.  This boot
loader is configured such that it knows on which
partition to find the kernel and what partition
to mount as root (/).

The "Operating System not found" error sounds
like a typical error message from the *BIOS*
indicating that the devices it has been told to
probe for boot (A:, CDROM, C:, SCSI, etc.) are
not bootable.  So, first make sure that this hard
disk is set to boot in the BIOS.  I imagine it is
if you say Win9x works on it, but I just want to
make sure because you might have had to modify
the BIOS to boot from the removable media
required for the install.

Also, your partitions appear reversed in size. 
The rule of thumb is that swap should be twice
the size of physical RAM.  Often half that is
enough.  Don't go less than 128MB on swap, but on
a laptop I wouldn't bother with more than 200MB,
since by that time the machine would probably be
swapping so much it would be unusable.

I haven't done enough RULE installs to help
further with finding error logs and what not. 
But if you say the installed skipped a step, I'd
first make sure I'm using the latest version of
the installer and that no one else has reported
this problem (you're the first I've seen) and
then I'd just wipe the disk and start over.

Good luck and keep trying!  I am confident you
can get it going.

Jason


---- Begin Original Message ----
 From: Kevin Bullock <kbullock at chicago.us.mensa.org>
Sent: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 18:15:11 -0500
Subject: [RULE] Installation questions

     I feel quite frustrated trying to load RULE
on my old Toshiba Satellite 200 CDS.  I created
two partitions: 1) root 180MB and 2) Swap 620MB
[Which one should be bootable?]
     I successfuly loaded the boot disk and the
image disk, then loaded from RH 7.3.  I created a
rescue disk.  I waled away during installation 
and upon return found that it had skipped setting
root password prompt.  When installation is
complete I reboot and receive a "Can't find 
operating system" message.  I reboot with the
rescue disk and must login as root since I
couldn't set additional users.  How do I start X?
 When I type dir I see that I have one directory:
scripts.  Within in scripts are some of the
packages I installed, i.e. dial-up, etc. 
     Where is the configuration file so I can use
it to show what I have done?  Arg.  It is
frustrating to want to use GNU/Linux and sack 
windoze, but Win9X install and runs trouble-free
for me on this old box.
     All help is appreciated.  Perhaps I am not
knowledgable enough to install and run it?

Kevin

---- End Original Message ----



/earth: file system full
Help the planet each day! It's free and easy:
http://www.Care2.com/dailyaction/


_______________________________________________
Original home page of the RULE project: www.rule-project.org
Original Rule Development Site http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/rule/
Original RULE mailing list: Rule-list at nongnu.org, hosted at http://mail.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/rule-list