Is learning a defunt linux distribution helpful for beginners in linux?

  • Thread starter lastspacefighter
  • Start date
Forget the caldera distro - that distro is so old it probably won't recognise most of your hardware. You came here for advice, you were advised not to bother, please try to heed the advice.

Give some more information about your hardware. So far we have no idea what you're trying to install on. How many HDDs does it have?

Why did you reinstall again and again and then abort the install, what happened?

What won't boot? Will the Debian disc boot? If so can you boot it and run the text mode installer. Run through a typical install right to the end and tell me what happens. Don't worry about the network mirror, just get the system installed and once you have a command line, you can sort out the rest later. If you get asked about "sudo", don't bother, just enable the root account and set the password.

I'm not psychic, I can try and help you, but I need more details...
 


Lobo: I was never going to go with Caldera after your advice anyway, the reason I tried caldera again was because I wanted to know if something boots up on my system and it did. The Debian CD that i burnt is not booting up at all (it was working fine till yesterday), and then when Calder distro didn't recognize my HDD, i again tried windows bootable CD and it also was able to boot but was unable to format the disk and was stuck at 0% and many time would reboot itself; which made me think my HDD crashed because it was working and reading fine till yesterday.

My Hardware: PNMCP73V mercury mother board with onboard graphics (Nvidia GeForce 7 series) Intel core 2, 2GB ram and Barracuda 160GB hdd SATA, I use a USB mouse and PS/2 keyboard and a combo drive.

Reason for installing again & again: since I was not able to connect to the internet and the GUI didn’t get installed, I was doing it again in an effort to may be configure the internet during the installation but without any success; so in the end during the last try I abort the installation thinking I would try again after getting more information.

Darren Hale: thank you, and will go through the links once I get my hdd checked and replace if indeed it’s crashed.
 
I was not able to connect to the internet
Through ethernet or wifi?

the GUI didn’t get installed
One problem could be your Nvidia Video Card. Do you get a blank screen but with a flashing cursor in the top left corner?

If you manage to connect to the Internet a useful script on Debian is called smxi. This is a bit like ubuntu-restricted-extras and can install a whole bunch of useful stuff flash-plugin, java, plug-in, MS-Fonts etc. It moves on to Video/Graphics and can probably install the correct Nvidia driver for you. http://smxi.org/
 
Through ethernet or wifi?

One problem could be your Nvidia Video Card. Do you get a blank screen but with a flashing cursor in the top left corner?

If you manage to connect to the Internet a useful script on Debian is called smxi. This is a bit like ubuntu-restricted-extras and can install a whole bunch of useful stuff flash-plugin, java, plug-in, MS-Fonts etc. It moves on to Video/Graphics and can probably install the correct Nvidia driver for you.



I use a datacard and so ethernet/wifi was not available.


yes flashing cursor and the system hangs. I will try your suggestion once i sort my Hdd. ALso, i am going to try the ISO with the KDE in it from one the the ISO thats available from the list on Debian website.
 
Before you do anything with the HDD, bear in mind that windows may not recognise the partition table and file system, which may be why it has a problem detecting it. This is typical of windows, especially releases older than Vista.

The best way to verify if the disk is ok is to download a gparted livecd or other live distro and wipe the drive and recreate partitions.

Not sure why the Debian CD is no longer booting - damaged? Tried booting it from another machine?

Failing that a dead HDD is a possibility, but you want to be sure of that.
 
Arochester: it is mobile broadband internet connection (tata photon + device and connection).

Lobo: Lobo you are right, the HDD is alright but was not recongnozed; i will get an ISO with the GUI and instal debian. Will let you know if i am again stuck.
 
Instead of the "Disk One", go to the Debian site and download the appropriate "netinst CD image" for i386. This will install all appropriate packages over the Internet. You may need packages not on Disk One. This is the only method I use to install, and have had no problems except with the Wireless firmware files.

Good luck.
 

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