problem installing from live cd 13.0

[mimosa]

Model: ATA WDC WD1600AAJS-0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 160GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

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Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      32.3kB  8423MB  8423MB  primary   ntfs
 3      8423MB  9517MB  1094MB  primary   linux-swap(v1)
 2      9525MB  160GB   151GB   extended                  boot, lba
 5      9525MB  56.2GB  46.6GB  logical   fat32
11      56.2GB  61.5GB  5379MB  logical   linux-swap(v1)
 9      61.5GB  66.9GB  5355MB  logical   ext3
10      66.9GB  70.6GB  3652MB  logical   ext3
13      70.6GB  73.4GB  2821MB  logical   ext3
12      73.4GB  74.0GB  633MB   logical   linux-swap(v1)
 6      74.0GB  80.0GB  5996MB  logical   reiserfs
 7      80.0GB  155GB   74.6GB  logical   ext2
 8      155GB   160GB   5446MB  logical   ext3

tim@tim-desktop:~$ 

This was done inside Ubuntu Lucid. One change is that partition 13 is now Ubuntu 9.04 rather than swap - installing it was the only way I could get grub back. My installed version of Salix won't work any more because it can't find its /home. Goodness knows what I have done to my setup with my fiddling. There's no rush because there are still several distros installed on it that work fine, but in the end I think I'll wipe all of it except for Windows and start again

[Akuna]

It doesn't seem to jive with the info you provided previously, is it possible that you changed your partition layout between the time you gave me fdisk -l & parted /dev/sda print? (there is now more partitions, not just some different formatting, for example the /dev/sda13 you mentioned was not on your original fdisk -l)

If so can you give me fdisk -l again? (I'm trying to reproduce your 'exotic' layout on a test machine)
Thanks

Actually, the ideal would be to run both fdisk -l & parted /dev/sda print from SalixLive CD, to ensure you provide these infos with the very same syntaxe that salix-live-installer would get from the LiveCD.

Also, in order to help me try to reproduce your problem, can you tell me more details about each of the partitions you attempt to setup at each different stage, like for the main Salix partition, then for the extra Linux partitions, then the Windows partitions, whether you leave some unset or not, etc... the more details will be the best.

[mimosa]

Yes, I had some unallocated space that I turned into swap partitions because I got the idea the unallocated space might be causing the problem. Then I installed Ubuntu 9.04 in one of these as a simple way of restoring grub after somehow losing it.

For now, here is the output of fdisk -l within Ubuntu 10.4. Next time I boot the Live version, I'll run these again and post - but I imagine the results will be the same.

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Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000e7729

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1        1024     8225248+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2   *        1158       19458   146988413+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda3            1025        1157     1068322+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda5            1159        6829    45552307+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6            8999        9727     5855661   83  Linux
/dev/sda7            9728       18795    72838678+  83  Linux
/dev/sda8           18796       19458     5318656   83  Linux
/dev/sda9            7484        8134     5229126   83  Linux
/dev/sda10           8135        8578     3566398+  83  Linux
/dev/sda11           6830        7483     5253223+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda12           8922        8998      618471   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda13           8579        8921     2755116   83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

For the record, this is what's in the anonymous partitions:

sda1 XP
sda5 Windows data partition
sda9 Salix (not working)
sda13 Ubuntu 9.04
sda6 OpenSuse 11.4 (not working)
sda7 Linux data partition
sda8 Ubuntu 10.4

I think sda10 is Salix's /home - which it now can't find. I set up sda7 as /home of both Ubuntu 10.4 and OpenSUSE, but this doesn't really work as it seems to include user settings as well as data. However both OSs were working until my experiments with the Salix installer!

To recap, until I reinstalled grub from Ubuntu 9.04, Gparted in Salix was not recognising my new partitions; after I turned off swap and unmounted all partitions from the command line, it cycled through the ones it did recognise trying to mount them and saying it couldn't because I wasn't root (I think that's what it said). Grub legacy fixed that and recognised all my OSs (though it thinks Salix is Slackware), but the problem with the installer remained.

[Akuna]

OK, thanks, that gives me enough to get started.

This is the setup on my test machine, trying to match yours as much as possible:

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root[one]# LANG=C fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x35c135c0

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1        1275    10241406    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2   *        1403       10011    69151792+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda3            1276        1402     1020127+  82  Linux swap
/dev/hda5            1403        2613     9727326   83  Linux
/dev/hda6            2614        2677      514048+  82  Linux swap
/dev/hda7            2678        3888     9727326   83  Linux
/dev/hda8            3889        5099     9727326   83  Linux
/dev/hda9            5100        6310     9727326   83  Linux
/dev/hda10           6311        6374      514048+  82  Linux swap
/dev/hda11           6375        7649    10241406   83  Linux
/dev/hda12           7650        8892     9984366   83  Linux
/dev/hda13           8893       10011     8988336   83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/hdb: 10.2 GB, 10248118272 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1245 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x33c55486

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdb1               1        1245    10000431    b  W95 FAT32
root[one]# LANG=C parted /dev/hda print
Model: HDS722580VLAT20 (ide)
Disk /dev/hda: 82.3GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags    
 1      32.3kB  10.5GB  10.5GB  primary   ntfs                  
 3      10.5GB  11.5GB  1045MB  primary   linux-swap            
 2      11.5GB  82.3GB  70.8GB  extended               boot, lba
 5      11.5GB  21.5GB  9961MB  logical   ext2                  
 6      21.5GB  22.0GB  526MB   logical   linux-swap            
 7      22.0GB  32.0GB  9961MB  logical   ext3                  
 8      32.0GB  41.9GB  9961MB  logical   ext3                  
 9      41.9GB  51.9GB  9961MB  logical   ext3                  
10      51.9GB  52.4GB  526MB   logical   linux-swap            
11      52.4GB  62.9GB  10.5GB  logical   reiserfs              
12      62.9GB  73.1GB  10.2GB  logical   ext3                  
13      73.1GB  82.3GB  9204MB  logical   ext3   

And yes! I am now able to reproduce your problem.

[Akuna]

OK, this package should fix the problem, can you try it & let me know?

http://people.salixos.org/akuna/livetoo ... h-1plb.txz

EDIT:
Actually this new installer is designed for SalixLive 13.1 & is not compatible with SalixLive 13.0, so you won't easily be able to perform a full install with it. But at least you will be able to ensure that the configuration of your partitions is being set up properly.

[Akuna]

Now if you can see that the partition bug is fixed & you really wanted to use this new installer to install Salix from your SalixLive USB key the procedure would be to downlod both the new installer & the new salixtools (this is not to be done in a live session but prior to booting on your SalixLive USB key) :

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wget http://people.salixos.org/akuna/livetools/liveinstaller/svn/20100602/salix-live-installer-0.2.1-noarch-1plb.txz
wget http://download.salixos.org/i486/13.0/salix/ap/salixtools-0.9.9.1-noarch-1gv.txz

Then explode these two downloaded packages to the rootcopy directory of your SalixLive USB key :

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spkg --root=/media/NameOfYourSalixLiveUsbKey/salixlive/rootcopy salixtools-0.9.9.1-noarch-1gv.txz
spkg --root=/media/NameOfYourSalixLiveUsbKey/salixlive/rootcopy salix-live-installer-0.2.1-noarch-1plb.txz

EDIT(04/06)
Now copy the new SalixTools to this 'special' directory, to ensure it will be transferred to the new install partition:

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cp salixtools-0.9.9.1-noarch-1gv.txz /media/NameOfYourSalixLiveUsbKey/packages/std-kernel

End of EDIT

Then boot on your USB key & normally the installer should work out of the box.

[mimosa]

Hi Akuna,

I switched off swap and unmounted all partitions as before, as well as updating salixtools- however I couldn\t install or update the downloaded file

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root[one]# upgradepkg /home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2-noarch-1plb.txz
ERROR: Package file does not exist. (/home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2-noarch-1plb.txz)
ERROR: Package upgrade failed!
root[one]# install /home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2-noarch-1plb.txzinstall: missing destination file operand after `/home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2-noarch-1plb.txz'
Try `install --help' for more information.
root[one]# installpkg /home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2-noarch-1plb.txz
ERROR: Package file does not exist. (/home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2-noarch-1plb.txz)
ERROR: Package installation failed!
root[one]# 

Have I missed a step somewhere ...

As for (re)installing for real (probably the simplest option after the mess I have made), I can do that from the install cd using Unetbootin, or I might wait for 13.1 to be released.

I still can\t get over the quality in Salix you see in the attention to detail. For instance just now I set up wireless on the live version, for the twentieth time. Normally I would click on Properties or something to tell it the preshared key, but I pretended I didn\t know how it worked and just clicked on connect. Most distros would just give an error message incomprehensible to the ignorant, but salix opens a window prompting me for the missing information. It looks as if you have really thought through the problems a total beginner would have. It\s this type of thing that puts people off in the very first stages where they are dissatisfied with Windows and have downloaded some live cd, with no knowledge of Linux to speak of.

Even further off topic, but a small point. Would it be worth including more keyboard layout options where this is prompted for after language ... I know a much fuller selection is available once Salix has loaded, but perhaps it\s unnecessary to wait till then.

[Akuna]

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root[one]# upgradepkg /home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2-noarch-1plb.txz
ERROR: Package file does not exist. (/home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2-noarch-1plb.txz)
ERROR: Package upgrade failed!

mimosa, you have to adapt the above command to the new version number of the installer (version went from 0.2 to 0.2.1). So if you donwloaded the new package in /home/one/Download directory, the new syntax would be:

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upgradepkg /home/one/Download/salix-live-installer-0.2.1-noarch-1plb.txz

(Now, if you used another language than English, Download/ would probably be translated & you would have to change that as well. So basically you simply have to adapt the above syntax to reflect your actual environment.)

Sometimes when beginning with the command line, opening a file manager like Thunar on the side can help to visualize things by comparing paths, directories & files with the terminal... in fact, you could even use both by simply typing upgradepg in the the terminal, leave a space & then drag & drop the downloaded package from Thunar to the terminal window to ensure your syntax is completely accurate & fit your situation.

To avoid syntax error --and drudgery typing-- you could also simply use Bash autocompletion, where you just put the beginning of a path to a file & press on tab for Bash to autocomplete the word for you based on what is really present in your environment. http://www.slackwiki.org/Bash_Autocompletion

[Akuna]

salix opens a window prompting me for the missing information. It looks as if you have really thought through the problems a total beginner would have.

Actually the credit for this behavior rightfully belongs to Wicd Network Manager's developers who are definitely doing a great job.

Even further off topic, but a small point. Would it be worth including more keyboard layout options where this is prompted for after language ... I know a much fuller selection is available once Salix has loaded, but perhaps it\s unnecessary to wait till then.

Are you talking about the LiveCD? If so which language would you like? We are including all the ones that we find translators for.

If you want to contribute, you could do so here: http://www.transifex.net/projects/p/sal ... -bootmenu/

Instructions are here: http://www.salixos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4151#p4151

[mimosa]

I did look at the two filenames to see if they were the same name ... but obviously not hard enough. I'll have another go soon.

Yes, I put wicd in my ubuntu instead of network manager ... but still, it was a good choice on your part! And I could give other examples.

Regarding keyboard layouts, my own is Brazilian Portuguese (several variants exist, but the "native" and most common layout is br-abnt; it is quite different from the Portuguese from Portugal keyboard). But in general, there are a lot of people out there who either speak non-mainstream languages or are using their keyboards (in this case though, there are far more Portuguese speakers in Brazil than in Portugal, so if you were going to have just one, the logical choice would be the former), and many distros including I think Slackware deal with this by having a very long list of options right at the beginning of boot/install, presumably on the grounds that you might want to use the command line at an early stage if you run into problems as well as to avoid the user having to look for the layout settings once their live cd has booted.