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I have been trying to figure out how to get Knoppix 3.1 to run from a CD on a 32 MB machine with a 425 MB hard drive. The drive is formatted for Win95. I've tried all sorts of things and, no matter what I do, I end up with the message:
Sorry, no DOS partition available ....
and then the screen goes black.
Has anyone ever succeeded with this small amount of RAM? How?
Salve!
I found this:Quote:
Originally Posted by cableready
>Knoppix is a free (and "Free" , for those who understand the term)
>Debian-based OS-on-a-CD. This OS runs independently of the hard drive
>(unless the machine has inadequate RAM -- 32MB for non-GUI mode, 96
>for KDE3-mode -- in which case it creates a swap file on the hard >drive)
This means no X-Server and there must be a Fat (vFat) partition.
But my first time I try to use my Toshiba Libretto with only 32MB
RAM, it freeze with a black screen by testing the x-sever
(havn't tested to boot without X)
Anyone who know more about Knoppix with 32 MB, please write in
the docs-wiki (howto or faq) ;)
Greetings
rob
--What boot-prompt options have you tried? (F2 at boot: prompt)
Quote:
Originally Posted by cableready
That really isn't the problem here Dave-we've tried them all in several combinations. The real problem is that it tries to create a swap file but fails if you have a small amount of RAM. When it can't create the swap file it fails-BIG TIME!Quote:
--What boot-prompt options have you tried? (F2 at boot: prompt)
I haven't had any luck booting Knoppix on a 32M ram machine or a 64M ram machine either even passing mem=64M (because it reported wrong mem size). I have the same exact scenario cableready described. I've tried failsafe and anything else to make it easier but it will not boot.
I've tried it with windows installed, without windows, with a fresh DOS partition, I even built a Linux swap partition for it but that didn't work either. I've had no trouble booting Knoppix & Morphix on other machines w/ sufficient RAM. (224MB & 512MB systems).
Has anyone booted Knoppix with 32 MB ram? That is the real question here- CAN IT BE DONE??
When I booted back to windows I happened across some sort of reference to a swap that Knoppix made but I couldn't read it-I don't really know what it was. I booted with Knoppix again-it failed but this time it caused my windows install to enter a perpetual state of rebooting. POST was OK - loading WIN2k..........blank screen -reboot. So it does try to write the swap file but it fails at some point-beware it f'd up my win2k install! I wonder if it failed to create a swap file because I was trying it with an NTFS partition? :idea: I suppose you should defrag and make sure ther's enough room first. I ended up installing Mandrake9.0 no problem on that machine.
I think the Knoppix/swapfile/32MBram issue still needs some work. Maybe I'll install win98 to a FAT partition and try it that way.
It's so hard to figure out what exactly goes wrong because it locks the machine up when it fails to boot and of course that means no dmesg, no logs no nothing-how do you debug something like that?.
BTW-I did succeed in installing Vector Linux to a Toshiba laptop w/ 32M ram. XFCE is working very nicely on it. :)
Just had a thought- has anyone tried this:
boot:knoppix 2
then
sudo /usr/local/bin/knx-hdinstall
then see if it will boot?
I can boot into my old P1 32mb desktop box, but I have a hd with a linux swap partition on it.
I have not been able to boot knoppix with 16MB.
rock
Quote:
I can boot into my old P1 32mb desktop box, but I have a hd with a linux swap partition on it.
So it can use the Linux swap eh? Do you have windows on that drive too?
Salve Rock!
> I can boot into my old P1 32mb desktop box, but I have a hd with a
> linux swap partition on it.
I would guess it will use 24MB of your 32MB for the ramdisc.
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1166
CheatCode noramdisc?
> I have not been able to boot knoppix with 16MB.
With enought swappartion and noramdisc should it be possible
to run Knoppix with 8MB than (OK extream slow but running ;)
What do you think about this idea?
rob
I also couldn't boot knoppix on a 32Mb RAM computer.
When I press F2 at the boot prompt, it shows all the cheatcodes, then if I press the enter key, it initialises some stuff and it then says "Ready!". It freezes there.
--You have to *try* some of the cheatcodes, to boot in 32Meg.
boot: ' knoppix 2 ' == No X windows/KDE.
boot: ' knoppix desktop=icewm ' == Ice windowmanager instead of KDE
--Also make sure to create a swapfile or partition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KeelMan