Very Computer

by **Jason Ferenczy-Zumpan** » Wed, 20 Oct 1999 04:00:00

Using a Powerbook G3 Series (not the new 1999 version), the x-windows
installer always locks during installation. It locks at a different
place each time. I am using the install CD attached to the expansion
bay, installing onto a 6GB VST expansion bay drive on the other size. I
have 4.5GB partitioned (as /dev/hde7) as an HFS+ volume that I use for
the MacOS. I also have 2 other partitions (on dev/hde8 and 9) for 1.5 GB
and 50MB. I created them with Drive Setup as Standard HFS partitions,
then went to pdisk and re-inited them as A/UX partitions. I restarted,
then formatted the A/UX partition without a problem. When I go to
install, it begins copying the files to the hard drive then just stops
randomly in the middle. Cursor does not move forcing a restart which
then requires me to do the process all over. I've tried about 10 times
now, and let it sit (after it locked) for up to an hour. Am I missing
something obvious? The installer is version 2.6.1.

Should I be using the source CD for something? What is the source CD?

I've tried the version as "Standard Linux PPC", "Very Stable PowerBook
G3" with the same results. I lock when I use "Lombard G3" or either of
the iMac ones.

I thought using Linux would free me from the lockups of other OS'es..
Arrrrgh! H E L P ! !

by **Jason Haa** » Wed, 20 Oct 1999 04:00:00

> Using a Powerbook G3 Series (not the new 1999 version), the x-windows
> installer always locks during installation. It locks at a different
> place each time. I am using the install CD ...

If you're having trouble installing, and have bought an official CD,

by **Jason Haa** » Wed, 20 Oct 1999 04:00:00

> Using a Powerbook G3 Series (not the new 1999 version), the x-windows
> installer always locks during installation. It locks at a different
> place each time. I am using the install CD attached to the expansion
> bay, installing onto a 6GB VST expansion bay drive on the other size. I
> have 4.5GB partitioned (as /dev/hde7) as an HFS+ volume that I use for
> the MacOS. I also have 2 other partitions (on dev/hde8 and 9) for 1.5 GB
> and 50MB. I created them with Drive Setup as Standard HFS partitions,
> then went to pdisk and re-inited them as A/UX partitions. I restarted,
> then formatted the A/UX partition without a problem. When I go to
> install, it begins copying the files to the hard drive then just stops
> randomly in the middle.

I'd like you to try running the installer again, and this time, only do
the procedure up to mount
and formatting the drives. Go ahead and mount and format them, but stop
there.

After it's done doing that, click on the desktop. This should make a
little popup menu appear.
Select the item "Xterm", and a new terminal window will appear.

In this window, type:

df -i /dev/hdaX

where X is the number that corresponds to the root partition

For instance, my PBG3 has

/dev/hda(1-6) -- various Apple drivers/map files
/dev/hda7 -- HFS partition
/dev/hda8 -- root partition
/dev/hda9 -- swap partition

I would run

df -i /dev/hda8

Can you tell me what the output of that command is? Thanks! Please cc:

Quote:> Should I be using the source CD for something? What is the source CD?

It contains the entire source code for the operating system. You'll
know if that's useful to you.

Quote:> I've tried the version as "Standard Linux PPC", "Very Stable PowerBook
> G3" with the same results. I lock when I use "Lombard G3" or either of
> the iMac ones.

Those have USB code in them which probably interfere with your machine.

by **Jason Ferenczy-Zumpan** » Thu, 21 Oct 1999 04:00:00

After hours of hell with this, (low level formatting with all kinds of
drivers), I decided to try to install using an external SCSI drive to
see if I could isolate the problem to the VST drive rather than the
Linux app or the hardware. Sure enough, it installed like a charm.

I contacted VST technical support that told me that they have had
several reports of locking up when installing to the VST G3 Expansion
Bay Hard Drives and therefore they do not recommend A/UX partitioning
for use with Linux on the drive. It beats me why the Fujitsu drive
cares, but I suspect maybe it has something to do with the buffering and
protocol on the IDE bus to the expansion bay. All resides on the master
IDE bus and, it seems like putting the bays on a slave bus would make
more sense, but I digress....

So, the problem is the VST drive... You might want to put a note to this
effect on the installer FAQ as it can be mighty frustrating. If you
want to contact VST technical spport, you can reach them at (978)

Thanks for all of your help!

by **Shannon Spir** » Thu, 21 Oct 1999 04:00:00

> > Using a Powerbook G3 Series (not the new 1999 version), the x-windows
> > installer always locks during installation. It locks at a different
> > place each time. I am using the install CD attached to the expansion
> > bay, installing onto a 6GB VST expansion bay drive on the other size. I
> > have 4.5GB partitioned (as /dev/hde7) as an HFS+ volume that I use for
> > the MacOS. I also have 2 other partitions (on dev/hde8 and 9) for 1.5 GB
> > and 50MB. I created them with Drive Setup as Standard HFS partitions,
> > then went to pdisk and re-inited them as A/UX partitions. I restarted,
> > then formatted the A/UX partition without a problem. When I go to
> > install, it begins copying the files to the hard drive then just stops
> > randomly in the middle.

I was having this same problem with the old RedHat installer on my VST
expansion bay drive. Kept locking up at a random place. I finally got it
to work after booting to MacOS, opening Energy Saver control panel,
telling the machine never to sleep, and unchecking "Separate timing for
display dimming" and "Separate timing for hard disk spindown." After that,
the install went off without a hitch. I don't know if this was the key or
if it was just coincidence, but you might want to try it.

--
Shannon Spires

by **root** » Fri, 22 Oct 1999 04:00:00

> Using a Powerbook G3 Series (not the new 1999 version), the x-windows
> installer always locks during installation. It locks at a different
> place each time. I am using the install CD attached to the expansion
> bay, installing onto a 6GB VST expansion bay drive on the other size. I
> have 4.5GB partitioned (as /dev/hde7) as an HFS+ volume that I use for
> the MacOS. I also have 2 other partitions (on dev/hde8 and 9) for 1.5 GB
> and 50MB. I created them with Drive Setup as Standard HFS partitions,
> then went to pdisk and re-inited them as A/UX partitions. I restarted,
> then formatted the A/UX partition without a problem. When I go to
> install, it begins copying the files to the hard drive then just stops
> randomly in the middle. Cursor does not move forcing a restart which
> then requires me to do the process all over. I've tried about 10 times
> now, and let it sit (after it locked) for up to an hour. Am I missing
> something obvious? The installer is version 2.6.1.

> Should I be using the source CD for something? What is the source CD?

> I've tried the version as "Standard Linux PPC", "Very Stable PowerBook
> G3" with the same results. I lock when I use "Lombard G3" or either of
> the iMac ones.

> I thought using Linux would free me from the lockups of other OS'es..
> Arrrrgh! H E L P ! !

I have read the 5 replies and I can help you out I believe, not to say the
others were wrong or anything.
I was having the same problem using a 1998 Powerbook G3 Series attempting
to install on a removable ORB 2.2 gig disk. It hung like 4 times during
different times of the installation. I even tried to cut back on the number
of packages it was installing and no good there either. Finally I
partitioned the disk with only 3 partitions. (1) MacOS 100MB for misc.
linux utilities storage and so I could have the MacOS recognize the disk on
bootup. (1) 1.8GB for Linux root and 50MB for swap. Ran the installer and
dumped everything into root. Worked like a charm. So, try 1 large directory
if you are having problems. This isn't the norm in the unix world but it's
fast, and easier on your hard drive anyway because jumping partitions beats
on the head mechanism unless you have separate drives for each directory.
Hope this helps.

by **Jason Haa** » Sat, 23 Oct 1999 04:00:00

> > > Using a Powerbook G3 Series (not the new 1999 version), the x-windows
> > > installer always locks during installation. It locks at a different
> > > place each time. I am using the install CD attached to the expansion
> > > bay, installing onto a 6GB VST expansion bay drive on the other size. I
> > > have 4.5GB partitioned (as /dev/hde7) as an HFS+ volume that I use for
> > > the MacOS. I also have 2 other partitions (on dev/hde8 and 9) for 1.5 GB
> > > and 50MB. I created them with Drive Setup as Standard HFS partitions,
> > > then went to pdisk and re-inited them as A/UX partitions. I restarted,
> > > then formatted the A/UX partition without a problem. When I go to
> > > install, it begins copying the files to the hard drive then just stops
> > > randomly in the middle.

> I was having this same problem with the old RedHat installer on my VST
> expansion bay drive. Kept locking up at a random place. I finally got it
> to work after booting to MacOS, opening Energy Saver control panel,
> telling the machine never to sleep, and unchecking "Separate timing for
> display dimming" and "Separate timing for hard disk spindown." After that,
> the install went off without a hitch. I don't know if this was the key or
> if it was just coincidence, but you might want to try it.

Interesting. Apparently VST has confirmed there are issues with
installing on their drives, but I'm investigating Rev D iMacs at the
moment. I'll try to look into the VST issue later today.

I thought Ben Herrenschmidt had gotten them working -- perhaps a quick
check of the faq-o-matic and lists can turn up something before I'm done
on the iMac.

Jason, thinking he can get the company to spring for a VST drive.. ;)

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