[NBLUG/talk] New Install, Debian, Grub, and Modern Hardware

David shadoweyez at hotpop.com
Fri Jun 2 19:30:59 PDT 2006


Debian installing is a lot easier than it use to be. The new anaconda GUI is
great at detecting and setting up hardware and guiding you through the different
options and packages.

Most of your hardware looks pretty standard, although it might take some work to
get the SCSI scanner and printer working.  If you want to keep XP on the main
drive, you need to wipe out RH9 on the second drive (assuming you want to keep
XP or don't have multiple partitions on these drives).  The installer is good
about setting up partitions and guiding you through it, but nonetheless you
should do a back up first.

I don't remember how the installer interacts with GRUB, but if it doesn't do
what you want (boot to XP and debian I assume) you may have to manually edit
grub.conf, which is usually in /boot/grub/grub.conf, which would be on your
linux drive.  Look online for the commands but might be something like this:

title Debian
	root (hd1,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6 ro root=/dev/hda2
	initrd /initrd-2.6.img
title Windows XP
	rootnoverify (hd0,0)
	chainloader +1

I don't use debian all that much (gentoo is my current choice distro) but it has
gotten a lot better after they took out that text installer that left you
compiling your own drivers when you were "done" installing.

GL,
~David~


Howard wrote:
> I want to install Debian on my machine.
> Is this going to be difficult??
> 
> I have 2 IDE drives. Master with  XP and the second drive still
> has Red Hat 9 that I never used much because of lack or support/knowledge 
> in getting all the drivers loaded correctly.
> 
> So I'm thinking by now there should be good support of my motherboard
> devices. Here are the spcifications.
> 
> Asus A7V8X Socket A for AMD Athlon XP currently using an Athlon 2200+
> Chipset: Northbride Via KT400, Southbridge: Via VT8235
> Memory: 512
> Promise PDC20376 Serial ATA Controller
> IEEE 1394 Controller (Firewire)
> Realtek ALC650 
> Broadcom 10/100 LAN
> 
> Here are the installed Cards on the MB
> Geoforce 2 GTS Video Card with 32 Megs
> Adaptec 2940U SCSI
> 
> Peripherals: 
> Plextor 12/10/32S SCSI Burner
> Toshiba DVD ROM 32X I think
> Epson Perfection 1640Su SCSI Scanner
> HP Photosmart 1115 Printer
> 
> So in the past it seemed that I had to unpack and build te drivers for 
> the Ethernet, Audio, and Controllers, as at the time I could find info 
> that they were supported in Debian. Also Grub .91 is the Boot loader at 
> the present moment. I need to figure out how to back up Grub on a floppy
> with 
> the current info, or I was wondering if when installing Debian now it will 
> see the Windows drive, and I can have a new boot loader replace the old one
> with
> the proper info for the Windows partition on the Primary Drive, and Debian
> on the second parttion.
> 
> So will I have to build drivers for any of this, or can the current ISO's
> properly
> detect all this stuff?? And what do I do about Grub??
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Howard
> 
> 
> 
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