Unable to Boot DSL on Laptop

[beno4433]

I apologize upfront if this thread is in the wrong section. I'm new to Linux and forums, so please be patient with me.

I'm new to the wonderful world of Linux and have been playing around with Knoppix and Damn Small Linux for about 3 months now. So I still have a long learning curve ahead of me.

My current problem has to do with the inability of Damn Small Linux to boot on my Dell Precision M70 workstation laptop. I downloaded the lasted dsl iso(3.3) and burned it to cd. I have successfully been able to boot (with internet access) on my old Dell Dimension 4550 with Intel Pentium 4 and 256 MB of Ram. I've also, amazingly, successfully booted on my old Pentium III computer at work(I was surprised that I could access the internet from work due to all the security).

However, for some reason, I get a blank screen when attempting to boot on the Precision M70. Being that I'm new to the Linux world, I'm not quite sure what system information to provide for assistance. So to start, let me say that my laptop has a Intel Pentium M 2.26 Ghz processor with Nvidia Quadro Fx go1400 video card and USB optical mouse.

These are just a few specs that I think may be causing the problem. I've tried numerous boot cheat codes(i.e. dsl toram dma vga=normal noapic noacpi pnpbios=off acpi=off noapm waitusb noscsi). I've used all of these at once and/or in different combination. The best I can do is get DSL up and running without being able to use my mouse. Sometimes I get an error message saying "bad EIP value".

Just one more note. I can successfully boot the current version of Knoppix on the Precision M70 and use the persistent desktop configuration. I would think that if I can access Knoppix, I should also be able to access DSL.

Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Just let me know what other technical information you need and I'll happily provide it.

Also, if this is not the correct site for this type of post, please lead me to a more suitable one and I'll move it there.


Thanks for you cooperation and assistance

[saikee]

Linux uses generic video drivers. It appears your DSL installer mismatches the video in your Dell Precision M70. This is fairly common for Linux with older kernel. I believe DSL in order to achieve a small footprint is still sticking with a 2.4 kernel (my DSL 4.0 uses 2.4.34 kernel) whereas recent distros are onto 2.6.22 kernels.

As for the cure I believe you can force DSL's kernel to use the driver that fits Dell Precision M70. You can check what driver is being used by Knoppix's Xorg's configuration. It is in the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf in a line like
driver "vesa"
Say if Knoppix fires up your video using "vesa" you can force DSL to it by adding the kernel parameter
xforce vesa
I would probably try a more modern Linux like Ubuntu, Slax or Knoppix myself. DSL is good if you are limited in ram. Feature wise a full Linux is just as good but more capable with hardware.

-----------------------
By the way Welcome to Justlinux.

I have to move your thread to a new location.

[beno4433]

Saikee -

Thank you for the useful information. I'll check the driver Knoppix is using and apply your suggestion.

By the way, I thought I had the most recent DSL and associated kernel version. However, I see from my desktop that I'm using 2.4.26.

I downloaded the DSL iso from the official damn small linux website. Do you know of an other site that may have the lastest version?

Oh - By they, I plan on moving up to Ubuntu. Its just that I'm still a Linux/Unix beginner and therefore wanted to play around with some live cd's before moving onto a full installation. I do plan on installing Ubuntu on my Dell Dimension 4550.

I'll let you know if you suggestion works.

Thanks again for the useful information.

beno4433

[irlandes]

Seems to me that Ubuntu is also a live CD. I just installed Kubuntu 7.04 today, and yesterday evening ran it live for a while. There is an INSTALL incon on the desktop, and it is not joking.

[saikee]

I use almost exclusively iso from Distowatch.com. (http://distrowatch.com/)

irlandes is correct Ubuntu is now an installable Live CD. One can use it as a Live CD but its desktop has an icon like "HD install" that can fire up the installer. Many Live CD works like Ubuntu.

DSL is also installable and represents another significant population of the established Live CD where the installer is inside part of the menu system or a Bash script.

DSL is a very useful Linux and its mission is to fit in a PC with one of the the smallest amount of resources. It is fast but that doesn't make it the easiest.

Strategically a new comer to Linux should learn about the "general" features of Linux and an full blown Linux is the one to go with, having the skill learned from the standard browser, file manager, bash termeinal etc that would enable he/she to survive in any other Linux or other Unix-like system like a BSD or Solaris. DSL in this respect is limited to small footprint browser and file manager that are not widely used. For example the kernel 2.6.20 and newer now group all the hard disks controlled by SCSI, Pata, Sata and USB connections as the same device using a single naming system of sda, sdb, sdc etc. DSL for using the older kernel actually has to go the opposite direction. As its kernel is written for Pata disks it calls the standard Sata disk sda as hda! Thus a user will be shocked if he/she comes into contact with the mainstream Linux using the recently standardised hard disk device names. DSL is possibly the only Linux that has the oldest Grub 0.91. There is a minor irritation of compatibility that this version of Grub booting Linux using newer versions of Grub. Grub has advanced to and stopped at version 0.97 two years ago.

DSL is a very nice distro, well developed, very capable and has been well supported. It is not my intention to paint any negative comment on it. It is just if it is for a beginner distro there may be more suitable choices available.

DSL is well developed and is ready-made to be installed into any external hard disk, USB pen drive etc, in addition to any internal hard disk. It does have a have one of the simplest and fastest installer.

[beno4433]

Again - Thanks for the useful information. I have the Ubuntu dvd from several books I've purchased. And I'm using the live cd portion right now on my old Dell Dimension.

I'm also trying to download Ubuntu and burn the iso myself. I'll probably perform a full Ubuntu install once I become more familiar with the OS.

I'm just looking at as many distros as I can. Like I said before, I new to Linux and Unix. I've bought several books to help me with the Unix commands.

Thanks again for you comments and suggestions.