Linux On a Desktop Computer

Discussion in 'Linux - General discussion' started by neo842, Oct 30, 2009.

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  1. neo842

    neo842 Regular member

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    Im helping a friend out with his desktop hes having awful problems with Windows.

    I said i'd help him out. but Ive only have experience with linux on laptops not desktops.

    can you guys help out. little lost here
     
    neo842, Oct 30, 2009
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  2. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    Why are you lost ?, there's not that much difference..

    edit- what i was referring to was the difference between laptops and desktops
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2009
    creaky, Oct 30, 2009
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  3. neo842

    neo842 Regular member

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    i tried different versions of linux on his desktop and they wont install at all ?
     
    neo842, Oct 30, 2009
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  4. neo842

    neo842 Regular member

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    sorry I meant to say Ive tried different versions of linux mint. and no luck
     
    neo842, Oct 30, 2009
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  5. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    Define "won't install"
     
    creaky, Oct 30, 2009
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  6. neo842

    neo842 Regular member

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    the live cd wont come up at all. I mean if I could get that up I'd be fine from there.

    Im downloading kbuntu and ubuntu at the moment they might work.

    but was trying different versions of linux and nope not a hope
     
    neo842, Oct 30, 2009
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  7. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    So what you mean to say is that you haven't set the PC's BIOS to boot from CD ?, so what happens when you try to boot from a Windows CD or something that hasn't been burnt.
    Or maybe you haven't burnt the live cd's correctly ? ie you can't burn them as data cd's you need to burn the ISO images correctly.
     
    creaky, Oct 30, 2009
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  8. neo842

    neo842 Regular member

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    ah no I know how to get it to boot up. its just booting thats all and then freezing
     
    neo842, Oct 30, 2009
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  9. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    Then you just need to a) verify the ISO's you've downloaded are intact, so check the download site for each and you'll find links to 'md5sum' ie checksum the ISO against the source data ie you can easily check the ISO you downloaded is as it should be (as long as the md5sum matches the ISO from the download site.

    If the checksum matches then the culprit would seem to be the burning of the ISO image itself..
     
    creaky, Oct 30, 2009
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  10. neo842

    neo842 Regular member

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    well ive used these discs on other laptops. and not problem. is there a different download for desk top and laptop ?
     
    neo842, Nov 4, 2009
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  11. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    No. And even if there was that wouldn't cause freezing.
     
    creaky, Nov 4, 2009
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  12. scum101

    scum101 Guest

    hey creakster.. sure fire sign of bad ram or what?

    That's what I usually find anyway if these big fat live distros won't start. Maybe puppy will at least boot and allow a memtest?

    ubuntu and kubuntu.. neither great choices tbh .. lots and lots of problems with the latest.
     
    scum101, Nov 4, 2009
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  13. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    Could be, hadn't thought about anything outside of the live cd
     
    creaky, Nov 4, 2009
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  14. pwssyz

    pwssyz Member

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    I'm having the same problem,I downloaded PCLINUX09 ISO and installed it on my laptop which I was running PCL07 dual boot with XP,all went fine,now taking that same ISO image, I go to to my desk top to install PCL09 which is only running XP home edition(GENUINE),having the desk top booting to the cd I get to the welcome screen of PCL09 with the chooses of live CD,safe boot,ect.When choosing live cd the program starts it thing for about 5 sec. only for the screen to go black and freezes up,I then tried my PCL07 disk only for the desk top not to reconize that disk which I never had a problem with before.Reading this thread someone mentioed RAM,if the RAM was the problem won't i have a problem booting up XP ??
     
    pwssyz, Nov 4, 2009
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  15. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    Reading that last reply triggered something in my memory. Shortly after the live cd loads it should give a command prompt at the bottom of the screen or it should be in one of the menu choices upon booting the cd. Look for something like ACPI off or similar, you might have to turn off/disable ACPI for the live cd to boot properly. As i say this can be done via the boot menu or you might have to type something into the boot prompt, depending on which linux it is..

    I haven't used a PCLinuxOS boot disc for ages so can't remember what choices you're given, and the OP has used a few different cd's, Mint and Ubuntu i use only infrequently.

    *edited for grammar*
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2009
    creaky, Nov 4, 2009
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  16. pwssyz

    pwssyz Member

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    Creaky,I've tried that with no success, with the on\off thing,but I remember with my first installment of the PCL07 version on my laptop I had to type something in for a command but don't remember what it was,too much beer between then and now,LOL,maybe someone out there will.
     
    pwssyz, Nov 4, 2009
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  17. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    I just dug out a PCLOS 2007 cd, to select ACPI=off you pick the 'safeboot' option. I don't recall ever having to turn ACPI off on any of my gazillion installs (of any distro), i might have done over the years but if i did it would have been a linux distro that i used only briefly being as i don't recall..

    edit- to the OP - i don't have any Mint cd's around, i used to download it now and then but must've chucked them. I'll download one as i had been meaning to give the latest version a quick whizz anyways..

    Just noticed that Mandriva 2010 has just been released, might grab that as well as Mandriva was my favourite and most used distro for quite some years..

    edit- just tried a PCLOS 2009.1 cd, and guess what - the boot froze (on my Dell GX150 desktop), boots ok with ACPI=off ie 'safeboot' though.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2009
    creaky, Nov 4, 2009
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  18. Gneiss1

    Gneiss1 Regular member

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    Creaky,

    What's that now ... three victims? Don't mean to sound all unsophisticated & all, though I am, but don't you all have four things in common: (1) mint, which I've heard only wonderful things about, (2) the live CD distribution, (3) boots on a laptop, but not a desktop, and (4) BIOS was designed by, well, a company without the best ethical track record. It sounds as if you're all replicating each other's bug, wherever it is.

    My granddaughter started with Debian, because it is so well tested and knows the importance of simple installation to the popularity of Linux. Pre-school isn't out yet, but I believe she burned a 'network install' boot CD over the internet. It didn't take long and just trying one would remove three of the common factors. One can use two other CDs to narrow the problem, possibly to the first Live CD or the BIOS.

    Must say, I was a little surprised by your first reply:

    Why are you lost ?, there's not that much difference..

    Was that humor? Once I counted the number of OSes I've used, and it was nearly 20; but when a friend brings me her Windows laptop, I understand the Desktop like the inside of a pocket watch. That said, there was a Linux Desktop designed to help Windows users. I think it was KDE (based on IBM's CDE), but that seems unlikely.

    After things get running, can you recommend a Desktop for Windows users? Thanks! (Using GNU/Linux, my granddaughter naturally chose GNOME; since they go together 'like peas & carrots'.-)

    Also, though Creaky is too polite to write this, it's always polite, after having solved one's problem, to write back and tell everyone what it was, so the thread can be searched & used by others.
     
    Gneiss1, Nov 4, 2009
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  19. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    Not humour, a glaring mistake, maybe :).
    Initially I didnt 'get' your reply, i re-read it and still nothing (it's past 2am here). Then i noticed the word 'Windows'. Then i re-read the OP's reply and realised where you were coming from. I'd ignored the Windows aspect, or maybe just interpreted the OP's first post differently to you. Either way, my 'not much difference' comment was comparing laptops to desktops, not Windows to linux. I'd best correct my first post :p
    I have been rather distracted over the last few weeks, what with working my way thru watching all of Alex Jones' documentaries, it's easy to overlook details when you're pondering world events :p
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2009
    creaky, Nov 4, 2009
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  20. Gneiss1

    Gneiss1 Regular member

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    Creaky,

    My mistake. Go to bed! My granddaughter is home, so I have to leave & play kitty cats.

    Just returned from the Mint forums, though. Seems several people are having problems similar to this, but on older laptops. One possibility appear that the hardware probe crashes when encountering hardware it's unfamiliar with. Apparently one can boot in verbose mode and see what the problem is (the particular hardware). Mint, strangely, has a 'blacklist' command to instruct the OS to ignore the device. (One wonders why that isn't the default.) However, I found no documentation.

    So, I went to Ubuntu to get some documentation on what key combination boots in verbose mode, &c. It's kitty-cat time, but this might help:

    https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/installation-guide/i386/boot-troubleshooting.html
     
    Gneiss1, Nov 4, 2009
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