Re: Installing LINUX

[turnbull@example.com (Stephen J. Turnbull)]

(*) Sorry about the empty mail with long quote; got stung by the
^C^C/^X^X confusion in RMail again...

   I made one mistake however - I had to choose a kernel package. I
   moved the hilight bar over the one I wanted (sbpcd1 - BTW, there
   was also a sbpcd2 - what is the difference?), and pressed

The difference is exactly what drivers are included.  If everything
works, you don't care, if not, try the other kernel.

   done first is press Space to select it... There seemed to be no way
   to go back, so although everything else worked, and I can boot

No, there isn't.

   Linux, I cannot get to the CD drive.  I think I also put the modem
   and mouse on the same COM port (COM1), though I have not tested
   either yet.

Probably you didn't if you just accepted the defaults.  If you did,
worry not.

   Is there a simple way to correct these mistakes, or would it be
   simpler to reformat the partition and reinstall?

Yes.  Since you can't get to the CD ROM from the installed kernel,
just start over from booting with the Setup disk (which has a CD-ROM
capable kernel on it).  When you get to the shell prompt (#), just run
setup again.  First thing you do is kill any installation of disk sets
in the "sources" menu.  (Wouldn't hurt to reinstall, but it wastes
time.)  Then select either the "Base" or "Q" set of disks, depending
on where you got the kernel from.  And go from there.  This will
simply overwrite the kernel that was installed, and then LILO it.  No
sweat.

Once you can access the CD-ROM from your installed kernel, you can
just type "setup" anytime you're at the root prompt.  Be careful about 
reinstalling any shared library and such, but mostly it can't hurt you.

   Configuring Adaptec at IO:334 IRQ 9 DMA priority 6 No BIOS32
   extensions present. This release still depends on it. Sorry.

   Is this an error? I installed on the SCSI drive, so it must be able
   to use my Adaptec SCSI card okay.

Either there is a driver that refused to load followed by a driver
that did load, or the Adaptec card is downward compatible with an
older interface.  You're probably losing efficiency compared to a
system with the BIOS extensions, but shiyou ga nai.

   2.I installed two sets of kernel sources: 1.2.13 and 1.3.20. Do I
   need both?

Keep the one that corresponds to the kernel you actaully use.  Ditch
the other, it will just screw you up.

   3.I am using a Japanese keyboard (standard 106 key layout). Which
   is the correct mapping file?

Memorize the US keyboard mapping, then ignore the !@#$% 106-key
Japanese layout with all those useless extra keys and missing ASCII
keys.  :-)

That's what I do, but I don't really recommend it in general.  It *is* 
possible and relatively convenient if your mind and fingers work that
way.

-- 
                            Stephen J. Turnbull
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences                    Yaseppochi-Gumi
University of Tsukuba                      http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/
Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, 305 JAPAN                 turnbull@example.com