Persistent-Home problems (long + details)

[AllParadox]

I am having a problem with saving to a hard drive.

Gritty Details: 13 years as a developer on too many different systems.
Prof. experience: 4 years on HPUnix, 6 years on C/C++, all of it stale
(3 yrs old)
Education: used "search" in Knoppix Forum to find every instance of
"persistent". Didn't understand the responses on half of
them, but read them anyway.

Machine: a boat-anchor I picked up for next-to-nothing
CPU: 800 MHz AMD Athlon
Mem: 320 Mbytes SDRAM, PC-100
Floppy: Generic
CD-ROM: Toshiba CD-ROM XM-6102B
Hitachi CDR-8430 -- has caused a lot of trouble. Spools
down after access, then programs fail because device is
not available, both from MS Windows and from Knoppix.
Video: 3dfx VooDoo3
NIC: 3Com Etherlink 10/100 PIC NIC 3c905-TX
SCSI: Win9X-ME Promise Ultra100 IDE Controller PDC20265
HD: 19.623 Gbytes IBM-DTLA-305020 Ultra DMA2

Partitions: (from QT-Parted)
1: Primary, type=vfat, size=4.87 Gbytes, boot for MS Windows 98
2: Primary, type=Linux-swap, size=760 Mbytes
3: Free space size=13.54 Gbytes

OS: Knoppix 4.02, dated 2005-09-23

FWIW: kernel: Linux 2.6.12
KDE: version 3.4.1

_______________________________


Goals:
1. Use HD files from Knoppix, well enough that I can show my poor
old gray-haired mother how to do it. So far, this is not looking good.
2. Do some high-precision cryptography computations with the GNU
GMP package. Also not very successful.

Initially, I downloaded Knoppix from this site. Burned to CD off my wife's
Windows XP-Pro machine. Have used the same CD throughout.

Boot-up from CD on ye olde boat-anchor: awesome. Love the Autobahn
graphics. I have been using Mandrake, and the boot was just lovely.

Saving anything, anytime, anywhere, was impossible. I had to read two
or three dozen posts before I found out that the HD has to be set to
r/w from read-only in TWO different places before you can use it
(Yes, I was shouting), and has to be done every time you log on.
Never did figure out how to save into anything except a vfat partition.

Fired up QT-Parted
Step 1: repartitioned the HD. Reduced Partition 1 to 4.87 Mbytes.
Step 2: created Linx-Swap partition, 760 Mbytes.

Step 3a: QT-Parted to create a jfs partition from the rest of it, 1,360
Mbytes. QT-Parted would not format it, immediately quit.

Step 3b: QT-Parted to erase the jfs partition and format as vfat, 1,360
Mbytes. Downloaded GPM onto a CD from the other machine.
Copied from CD into second vfat partion. Tried to "configure".
Failed.
GPM "configure" uses "hard links" during its set-up process.
Vfat file-system is incompatible with Unix-style hard links.

Step 3c: QT-Parted to erase the second vfat partion, left the remainder
of the HD "free". Tried to use Knoppix to create a persistent
"/home". Attempted
KNOPPIX->configure->Create persistent KNOPPIX disk image
"Knoppix-configure" cannot find the free portion of the HD.

Step 3d: used QT-Parted to create an ext3 partition, 1,360 Mbytes.
Knoppix->configure->Create persistent KNOPPIX disk image
"Knoppix-configure" will not go past the screen saying that I
need to have a partition with at least 2 Gbytes of free space,
and 128 Meg ram.

Step 3e: used QT-Parted to format the ext3 partition. Went to the HD
icon on the desktop. Mounted ext3 partition. Changed from
read-only to read/write. Toggled off the device read-only.
Tried to copy from CD, and from the vfat partition, into the
ext3 partition. "Copy" failed, with an error message that I
do not have authorization to change anything on the ext3
partition, not even from "root".

Step 3f: used QT-Parted to erase the ext3 partition, then created an
ext3 partition labeled "/", size=1000 Mbytes, and another ext3
partition labeled "/home", size=about 12 Gbytes, the rest
of it. "Knoppix-configure" will not go past the screen saying
that I need to have a partition with at least 2 Gbytes of free
space, and 128 Meg ram.

Step 3g: used QT-Parted to format the ext3 partitions.
"Knoppix-configure" will not go past the screen saying that I
need to have a partition with at least 2 Gbytes of free space,
and 128 Meg ram.
Went to the HD icon on the desktop. Mounted ext3 partition.
Changed from read-only to read/write. Toggled off the device
read-only. Tried to copy from CD, and from the vfat partition,
into the ext3 partition. "Copy" failed, with an error message
that I do not have authorization to change anything on the ext3
partition, not even from "root".

Step 3h: KNOPPIX->root shell
>knoppix-installer
...
...
will not go past screen saying I need 2 Gbytes in partition and
128 Meg ram.

Any ideas on what it is that I might be missing?

Please, in any responses, you will need to give me detailed instructions
if I have to enter anything from the "Konsole". My fingers have better
memory than anything. All my Unix manuals are packed away, and I
do not recall most of the commands.

[TopFarmer]

With QTparted steps 1 to 3d you always say made partiton of 1,360Mb, if it is saying it needs at least 2 gb, why are you makeing 1.36Gb ?

After you change parititon size or any thing are you pressing &commit ? Are you rebooting after partition changes ?

At step 3f you do finaly say you made a partition of 12g. but your errors say differently, and again did you &commit in QTparted and reboot between makeing partition and format ?
"I need to have a partition with at least 2 Gbytes of free space,"

BTW: I'm also new to Linux.

[AllParadox]

Thank you for the reply, and please pardon my errors.

I typed it in once, wrong, then copied it.

The partition size should have been 13,160 Mbytes, or about 13 Gbytes. This should have been sufficient.

I am sort of fastidious about fiddling with the MBR. I had some bad experiences with dual booting from a Caldera Open Linux CD a few years ago, and now I am gun-shy.

Every time I change something and close QT-Parted, I log out and hard boot.

[AllParadox]

To be clear: yes, I used the QT-Parted "commit" button every time before I exited the utility and hard booted the system.

[rwcitek]

To be clear: yes, I used the QT-Parted "commit" button every time before I exited the utility and hard booted the system.

You're on the right track. But in order for me to help you I need a bit more information about your system.

Boot Knoppix, open a terminal window, and cut-and-paste the following into the terminal window:

 true ; ( set -x
cat /etc/knoppix-version
cat /proc/partitions
cat /etc/fstab
sudo fdisk -l /dev/hd?
) >& result.txt

BTW the option to fdisk is a lowercase L not a 1 (one.) Please post the output of result.txt.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[AllParadox]

Robert: Thank you very much for taking the time to read and respond to my post.

I did as you suggested, and ran the command:

true ; ( set -x
cat /etc/knoppix-version
cat /proc/partitions
cat /etc/fstab
sudo fdisk -l /dev/hd?
) >& result.txt



Here are the contents of "result.text":
_____________________________________________


+ cat /etc/knoppix-version
4.0.2 2005-09-12
+ cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

33 0 20094480 hde
33 1 5116671 hde1
33 2 779152 hde2
33 3 1333395 hde3
33 4 12860032 hde4
240 0 1942016 cloop0
+ cat /etc/fstab
/proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/sys /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
/dev/pts /dev/pts devpts mode=0622 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/auto/floppy auto user,noauto,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/auto/cdrom auto user,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/auto/cdrom1 auto users,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hde1 /mnt/hde1 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppi x 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hde2 /mnt/hde2 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hde3 /mnt/hde3 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hde4 /mnt/hde4 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0
+ sudo fdisk -l /dev/hda /dev/hdb /dev/hdc /dev/hdd /dev/hde /dev/hdf /dev/hdg /dev/hdh
Disk /dev/hda doesn't contain a valid partition table
Note: sector size is 2048 (not 512)

Disk /dev/hda: 728 MB, 728195072 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 22 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 2048 = 32901120 bytes


Disk /dev/hde: 20.5 GB, 20576747520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2501 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hde1 * 1 637 5116671 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hde2 638 734 779152+ 83 Linux
/dev/hde3 735 900 1333395 83 Linux
/dev/hde4 901 2501 12860032+ 83 Linux
__________________________________________________ ________

FWIW, I am mildly curious about the "hda" unit. I presume that this is the "ramdisk"

Thank you again.

[rwcitek]

Robert: Thank you very much for taking the time to read and respond to my post.

No problem.

I did as you suggested, and ran the command:

true ; ( set -x
cat /etc/knoppix-version
cat /proc/partitions
cat /etc/fstab
sudo fdisk -l /dev/hd?
) >& result.txt

Nice. Lots of good information in there.

So you're running Knoppix 4.0.2. The drive is 20 GB and is on /dev/hde. That's odd but not a problem. My guess is that you have some kind of extra IDE card. The drive has four partitions on it: one win98 partition and three linux partitions, two of those formatted as ext3. Odd that Knoppix doesn't recognize the filesystem on /dev/hde2. /dev/hda is probably the CD-ROM. BTW, I'm assume you are booting using the CD-ROM.

How married are you to the current setup? The reason I ask is because as a first simple pass I'd recommend a different layout which means destroying the existing layout. Here's what I'd try just to see if things work for you:

1) use fdisk to remove partitions 2, 3, and 4 on /dev/hde
2) use fdisk to create /dev/hde2 with ~1 GB as a linux partition
3) format /dev/hde2 as ext3 (e.g. mkfs.ext3 /dev/hde2)
4) create a persistent disk image on /dev/hde2, 100 MB, (e.g. knoppix-mkimage and choose /dev/hde2)
5) reboot and when it asks about the persistent image, choose OK

If you do the above steps, are you able to use the persistent disk image?

Let us know how things go, what works and what doesn't.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org

[AllParadox]

I apologize, perhaps I should have been more clear about this initially.

I have to operate this as a dual-use machine.

Was your suggestion that I erase all my Windows applications and files and start over? There are programs that I use that only run on Windows, and I haven't the time to experiment around with Wine to see if they work.

This was my motivation for using Knoppix at all. If I was going to erase the entire HD and start over, I would have chosen another distribution.

[AllParadox]

Step 3i: used QT-Parted to delete all but the first partition containing my irreplaceable programs.
Note: drive hda is the Hitachi CD-Rom, according to QT-Parted.

Hard Boot
used QT-Parted to create a second partition, about 2G in length.
tried to use QT-Parted to create a third partion. QT-Parted crashed.
Hard Boot
used QT-Parted to create a second partition, ext3, about 2G in length.
committed change and exited QT-Parted.
restarted QT-Parted and created a third partition, ext3, about 12.6G in length.
committed change and exited QT-Parted.
restarted QT-Parted and created a fourth and final partition, linux-swap, about .996G.
committed change.
formatted second partition as ext3.
committed change.
formatted third partition as ext3.
committed change.
exited QT-Parted.
Hard Boot.

restarted KNOPPIX.
mounted partition 3, marked as readable, marked as read/write/.
tried to copy the .bat file off the KNOPPIX disc onto partition 3.
Failed. Could not create the new .bat file.

opened console.
cut and pasted previous suggestion.
result.text contents posted below
__________________________________________________ ______

+ cat /etc/knoppix-version
4.0.2 2005-09-12
+ cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

33 0 20094480 hde
33 1 5116671 hde1
33 2 779152 hde2
33 3 1333395 hde3
33 4 12860032 hde4
240 0 1942016 cloop0
+ cat /etc/fstab
/proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/sys /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
/dev/pts /dev/pts devpts mode=0622 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/auto/floppy auto user,noauto,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/auto/cdrom auto user,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/auto/cdrom1 auto users,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hde1 /mnt/hde1 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppi x 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hde2 /mnt/hde2 auto noauto,users,exec 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hde3 /mnt/hde3 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hde4 /mnt/hde4 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0
+ sudo fdisk -l /dev/hda /dev/hdb /dev/hdc /dev/hdd /dev/hde /dev/hdf /dev/hdg /dev/hdh
Disk /dev/hda doesn't contain a valid partition table
Note: sector size is 2048 (not 512)

Disk /dev/hda: 728 MB, 728195072 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 22 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 2048 = 32901120 bytes


Disk /dev/hde: 20.5 GB, 20576747520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2501 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hde1 * 1 637 5116671 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hde2 638 734 779152+ 83 Linux
/dev/hde3 735 900 1333395 83 Linux
/dev/hde4 901 2501 12860032+ 83 Linux
__________________________________________________ _________

[rwcitek]

Step 3i: used QT-Parted to delete all but the first partition containing my irreplaceable programs.

In just a few posts this machine went from "boat-anchor" to a machine containing "irreplaceable programs". Sorry, but this is not the way to learn about an operating system: Linux, MS Windows, or anything else.

Knoppix is great for some initial learning about the OS: boot from the CD and don't touch the hard drive. If you want to learn a bit more, boot from the CD and use a persistent disk image. If you want to have a real dual-boot Linux/Windows system, backup your data (and know how to restore it) or use a spare box, because you will make mistakes that will render your drive useless.

Good luck.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org