Wanting to give Linux a try, how to install?

[Trucker61]

I was cruising E bay a week ago and found someone there trying to sell "Mepis", ( I thought LInux distros were free?). So I googled and downloaded the compressed file, used winrar to open it, and made a bootable disk with nero. I booted using my CDRom and it does a few things then ends up with a dos prompt, now what do I need to type in to install it?

[clawhammer]

does it give you a prompt (like 'boot:')?

[Ned Slider]

Welcome to the Linux forum Trucker

Not totally sure for Mepis as I've not used it, but normally you just type linux at the prompt:

boot: linux

Sometimes you'll also be given some F-key options to press for help etc

Ned

[clawhammer]

some distros don't even require you to type 'linux'- Ubuntu doesn't, debian (which Ubuntu and Mepis are based off of) only requires you to type it if you want to install the 2.6 kernel (that will probably be updated in the next release, if it hasn't already). I'd just try hitting enter, and if that doesn't work, type in 'linux'

[Provicemo]

Just so you know, there is no need to extract the iso, you can just do a burn image and use that an save some time.

[Harryc]

If none of that works for you, post the link for the file you downloaded and somebody can tell you what it is and how to install from it.

[Trucker61]

Thanks for all the replies, I just got home from work this morning, I will give the "boot:linux" command a try, and post back with my results.

[dhlawrence]

1) Go to Distrowatch.com
2) Click on Mepis located in the list on the right hand side
3) Scroll down in the Mepis page till you get to the listing of the distro available.
4) Under 3.3 (simply) click on the word ISO
5) Select a mirror and download the iso image.
6) Burn image to cd with Nero or whatever you use.

Turn on your pc and immediately put the cd disc in drive.
The computer will automaticaly boot into the cd and up will come the
Mepis screen and you are off to the races.

[Trucker61]

Well then if that is the case maybe I have done something wrong with what I downloaded from here...http://www.mepis.org/

I tried typing linux, boot:linux, not a recognized command. dhlawrence I will go to that website and follow your instructions, thanks!

Rob

Edit: I have winrar installed on my system, it showed it compressed and I unzipped it to a file and burned all those files to the disk I was using. So all I have to do is burn the ISO to a disk then? maybe this is my problem.

I am downloading the 2004 iso version now, might as well go with the most current version

I imagine I will need to find drivers for everything in my system now? or will this have what I need?

[dhlawrence]

As a reminder, make sure that the cd-rom is set to boot before the hard drive
which of course is set in the bios.

[Trucker61]

Ok, all I have to do with my mainboard is hit F8 before it posts, then it gives me the option as to what I want to boot from.

So all I need to do is burn the one ISO file I download to a disk? I unzipped what I downloaded several days ago and burned those files to a disk, and ended up getting stuck in "Dr Dos" when it booted to it. the boot command did not work at the A prompt here.


Edit: what is the 1kb file MD5SUM that is under the main download?

[markkuk]

You don't just copy the .ISO file to a disk, you must use a CD-ROM burning program that can use image files (e.g. Nero) and use the "burn from image" function.
The MD5SUM file contains a checsum that can be used to check the downloaded .ISO file before burning.
http://www.linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/howtoburn.html

[Trucker61]

You don't just copy the .ISO file to a disk, you must use a CD-ROM burning program that can use image files (e.g. Nero) and use the "burn from image" function.
The MD5SUM file contains a checsum that can be used to check the downloaded .ISO file before burning.
http://www.linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/howtoburn.html

Ok, I just did that and it appears to be working, but for now unfortunatealy I am ewxhausted and must get ready to sleep for another night shift, I will install it tomorrow and post back with the results, THANKS TO all who helped!

Rob

[Trucker61]

Well I downloaded Mepis 2004-2.6.7, burned the ISO image to a disk using nero, booted to the cd and off it went, I thought I had it till I got to a screen and it asked for a password? there where two options, DEMO and ROOT, both required a password. ? Now what do I do?

Maybe this Mepis wasn't meant to be, I became interested in it while surfing E bay, the fella selling copies of it made it sound so wonderful and easy.

Maybe someone here can steer me in the right direction, there are so many distros to choose from. I would like to make a dual boot system, I have oodles of hard drive space and two or three unused partitions now that are available. I do a moderate amount of gaming (why I want to keep it dual boot, to use windows) and mainly a lot of video encoding, editting, music/MP3 playing, downloading, MS office stuff, web surfing, e mail, (what would I use in its place with Linux?)

Of course I would need something that would be compatable with my hardware, my rig is fairly modern, PCI-E vid card, Hyperthreading P4 etc....

Thanks!

Rob

Edit: I read the boot menu and found the password to be DEMO for demo and ROOT for root, imagine that. Well I successfully ran it,,,,,,, strange new world in there. this will take a bit to become accustomed to. I could not get on the internet, I remember seeing that it failed to install during the setup. I have a Motorola cable modem and my computer is hardwired to a Linksys G router. (when I ran it I just tried the Demo version, could that be why?)

Still I am wondering is there a better distro for my needs? (am I using the word "distro" in the proper context?)

thanks!

[culinist]

Is that a live-cd? Did it actually install anything? Sounds like the demo is running a live-cd.