Tag Archives: old computer

Did I install DSL (Damn Small Linux) Correctly? =S?

I have always been a mac guy but lately have been messing around with the command line and also learning how to program in Ruby. Today, I decided to install Damn Small Linux on my old computer in the garage. So I popped in the live cd, tested it out, then decided to do a hard drive install. I restarted, typed “install” at the command prompt then a list of options popped up. I went into cfdisk and deleted the windows partition (so there was my entire harddisk space free–no other partitions.) Then I clicked Create and clicked Primary and it asked how much space I wanted to use–I put half the total amount. Then I clicked create again and this time I clicked (I think it was called secondary or something like that??) and made the space the rest of the space I had left…this is the part that confused me. I wasn’t sure if I should have just made one primary linux partition or the two. Then it asked me if I wanted to install a boot loader (I guessed and said yes.) Did I do it right?
Oh, and after creating the two partitions I wrote them both to the disk, then said yes to installing Grub boot loader. Do I need a boot loader if only running DSL and no other OS? I also created two users, 1 root and 2 dsl–and gave them different passwords. Lastly, if I want to save a file to the desktop, it says there is no “Desktop” directory, so where do I save it to? On my mac I save my program files in a folder titled, “programs” then open the terminal and type: cd Desktop/programs
then type: ruby filename.rb
and it runs. How do I do this on DSL or linux in general?

Thanks!!

Hard drive undetected in windows XP installer, read for details?

I have a slightly old computer with a broken hard drive. im trying to get working again, so i got a new hard drive for it and now i am trying to install windows XP. The previous drive was a SATA hard drive, as is the new one. When i boot up the machine after the boot screen that gives the option to enter the BIOS i get a screen the says “Detecting SATA drives…..” and it shows that it has detected my 160gb SATA drive. It continues to boot from CD after that and loads up the windows installer. The windows installer says it can’t find a hard drive and to restart the computer. Inside the BIOS there is absolutely nothing about SATA anywhere, and it does not show a Hard drive only my IDE DVD. drive.

So just incase it was SATA related i tried a IDE hard drive. Used the same ribbon cable that my DVD drive used since i knew it worked, and the screen that says “Detecting drives…” after the boot screen also showed it detected this 60gb hard drive, but also it does not show up in the bios, or for windows install.

I ran a linux live CD to see if i could find my drives through that and nothing showed up. Obviously they are somewhat working because it detects their size during boot up, but then does not get shown inside the bios and they do not show up anywhere else.

Any ideas? ( I’m not retarded with computers i very rarely ask for hardware based help, so feel free to be very technical on your idea’s and no need for a step by step walk through.)

Why do the graphics look different on the Ubuntu live cd than the download?

Ok so I recently forayed into the wonderful world of Linux by making a live cd and installing it on an old computer (not dual booting). I installed it few problems (well actually lots of problems but that was due to a dead hard drive). After I installed and booted up from the (good) hard drive everything ran great. The only weird thing I noticed was that the graphics on the live cd were better than on the hard drive. The menus were small and everything looked a bit sharper. I would like to know why this is and if possible how to change it back.Thank you I love Ubuntu it boots up faster than my newer pc. ^^

linux for old computers?

hey what are some new linux live cds out there that i can use for my old computer. i just need it to connect online using my itouch apps such as iphone modem or pdanet to connect online. i used puppy linux and damn small linux but both i cant get to use the itouch for online.

Could I really install ubuntu linux on my new built pc with my old hardrive?

Im going to have my old hardrive from my old computer for my new built pc. Then i wanted to install linux with a linux live ubuntu cd. My question is that the hardrive has all my other drivers from my other pc saved on it, right? So then I need to reformat it and delete everything on that harddrive. Is there any way I could do this while Im installing ubuntu. Im trying to be really careful in not screwing up my pc idea. thanks in advance!