From: vargish@sura.net (Nick Vargish)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Newbie Linuxer & misc. Qs (LONG!)
Summary: I love it, but...
Date: 26 Jul 92 22:05:19 GMT
Organization: SURAnet, College Park, MD, USA, NA, Earth, Milky Way

Yesterday I made the jump. I saved to floppy all the DOS things I had
to (personal files), repartitioned the hard drive, and installed
Linux. It went extremely well, all things considered... I had to
pfdisk and makefs from the install script, then switch to the
instructions that came with the 0.96c+ base.[1-5] disks (the pfdisk on
the 0.96c+ wouldn't talk to my drive, but it could have been me).

This is the first UN*X (ooops, sorry AT&T... NOT!) system I've ever
installed, and I'm impressed that it went as smoothly as it has. I
suspect it would have been impossible without the very handy FAQ and
the tools that so many people have written to make the process easier.

It's _sooo_ nice to have a real OS at home! And c-kermit will actually
talk to my COM-4 modem (already outperforming Windoze...); tonight I
try to install pcomm, Emacs 19.58(?), perl, gnuchess, MGR (see problem
5, below), df, and the real ps.
 
Of course, there are problems. I've looked in the FAQ, but couldn't
seem to find the answers to these. Any help would be appreciated:

1. Can't boot from HD. I installed the "shoelace" stuff according to
   the 0.96c+ instructions. On boot, I get a menu of partitions, and
   the second partition is "*"ed... as it should be. When I press "2"
   the system hangs.

   DOS trying to boot from HD reports "missing operating system" or
   some-such nonesense. Boots just fine from a DOS 5 floppy and the
   partition works, so who cares? (And I sys.com'ed the boot diskette
   from the HD partition, so it _does_ have an OS on it...)

   Is there some other package that will let me do HD boots? I'd like
   to be able to pick a boot partition on boot-up... Or just have
   Linux come up from the HD automagically and use a boot floppy for
   DOS (DOS is suffering anyway).

2. Can only log-in as "root". This is a big problem. I have tried
   using adduser, and I've tried editing /etc/passwd manually. I
   always get the same results. At the login: prompt, I enter the new
   username (vargish) and Linux spits out the text in the file
   "/etc/nologin". Doesn't even ask for a password. Are non-root
   logins blocked by default? How do I unblock them? (Yes, I set up
   the $HOME directory and permissions for vargish as well.)

3. I remember seeing a clue on how to disable the initial "Hit <ENTER>
   to see SVGA modes, any other key to continue" [sic.] messgae. I
   don't remember what that fix is. Could someone send it to me? Put
   it on the FAQ?

4. Mtools sometimes can't initialize my floppies, and sometimes can't
   even see them (depending on what random numbers I'm using in
   /etc/mtools). I have a 1.2 5.25 as A: and a 1.44 3.5 as B:... Do I
   also need to "makenod" [sic.] or "MAKEDEVICE"?  The FAQ explains
   major/minor numbers and things, but not what to _do_.

   Mtools does access the DOS partition nicely though, so I can boot
   DOS, use DOS xcopy to the DOS partition, then reboot with Linux
   (swap boot floppies -- yay!) and mcopy them from there. The extra
   step is annoying, though.

5. X doesn't work. I have a Paradise 256k SVGA card. Someone posted
   their Xconfig here, and claimed they had X running on a 256K Para
   card. I have copied the Xconfig, but I still get errors. "Too less
   video RAM for virtual resolution" or something like that. (I
   remember the "too less" part.) I also have a Logitech bus mouse...
   which COM port _is_ that?!

6. Suspending nethack (the one I got from tsx-11, I believe) and then
   resuming it seemed to disconnect my keyboard. Nethack is very
   quick, though... even when multiply invoked on different vttys.

7. Has anyone seen ghostscript or zsh for Linux? Would it be
   impossible for me to port these, or just pointless? I'll do it if
   people would like me to. (zsh because it's a great shell,
   ghostscript because it looks like the easiest way to get output
   from TeX to my Panasonic 1123.)

If you've gotten this far, my thanks for your patience... If you
answer any of these questions, well, you will Be As A God In My
Eyes. :^)

Nick "Actually, I have one more... Ow! Stop hitting..." Vargish

-- 
|  Nick Vargish       | "I'm just another wide area network packet-herder..." |
|  SURAnet Operations +-------------------------------------------------------+
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Newsgroups: comp.os.linux