[ltp] Is Kubuntu Dapper Drake the end of the line for 600x?

[Richard Neill]

Michelle Klein-Hass wrote:
> I have been trying to install something newer on the Kubuntu continuum 
> than Dapper Drake on my 600x, and so far, no joy. All you get is a 
> blinking cursor at the top left corner of the screen when you try to 
> boot using a newer CD. Yes, I've tried all the "noapic nolapic acpi=off 
> apm" crap, it makes no difference.
> 

It might be worth playing with a few other live-CDs. Eg Mandriva 2008.0 
and Fedora 8 are both out recently. That should give an indication as to 
whether it's a kernel-problem, or a distro-problem.

Also, for what it's worth, you can quite easily use a kernel from one 
distro, together with the rest of another. (My A22p spent 6 months using 
a Mandriva 9.1 system, and a Knoppix kernel, in order to get support for 
a newer wifi card).

If you have a Gutsy install on a desktop machine, you can pretty easily 
clone it onto the laptop:

1)Copy the root partition (on the desktop) to a temp directory.

2)Chroot in, and run apt to remove stuff you don't want to have on the 
laptop. (Also, use rm -rf if you want to be more forceful about saving 
space - it's perfectly possible to have a decent KDE install + a few 
apps (eg firefox + amarok + vlc +...) in less than 1GB)

3)Boot the laptop with a live CD. Format, and create filesystems.

4)Rsync the installed image across.

5)Do what you must with the kernel - (just copy the relevant vmlinuz and 
/lib/modules from another x86 system, then run mkinitrd).

6)Fix certain files (notably /etc/fstab and menu.lst).

7)Install grub into the boot sector.

Reboot, and enjoy.

HTH,

Richard


P.S. If knoppix works for you, there's a very neat knoppix installer on 
the CD. It is the easiest way to install I've ever seen! The catch is 
that your system is non-trivial to update.