External HDD install.

rich_c · posted: 2008-10-28 16:59

As I mentioned in my 1st post here, I planned to have a go at getting an external drive to boot. I did it!

I've got a 10gb 2.5" ide drive in a USB2 case off Ebay. I plugged it into my main desktop (Mepis 7), fired up Gparted and partitioned it for seperate root, home and around 1/2gb swap. Then, I plugged it into the Dell Inspiron 1501 I mainly intend to use it with having booted said laptop with the Live CD. I did a normal install using the custom partitions I already created & making sure there was a tick in the initrd bit of the GRUB install screen.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't boot. Grub let me choose what I wanted to boot, then errored. I tried the UUID in menu.lst and fstab fix but still no good! What fixed it was editing menu.lst to remove references to hd (1,0) and replacing with hd (0,0). Now it boots! I haven't had any time to play with it, apart from going into Synaptic and upgrading everything but wicd & installing Opera but I'm sure it'll provide many hours of FUN! __{{emoticon}}__

The only slightly odd thing is I can't see any messages when the system is coming up. All i get is corrupt screen type garble (Coloured lines about 1/8" thick...) until the login prompt kicks in 7 all is fine. Any ideas on that one? __{{emoticon}}__

anticapitalista · posted: 2008-10-28 17:22

To fix the garbled screen, edit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Change splash to nosplash and if that doesn't fix it, maybe vga=791 or vga=normal

rich_c · posted: 2008-10-28 18:37

Nice one! Thanks! Will have a go at fixing that this evening. Also, hopefully I'll have a moment or two to upgrade & fix wicd.

Now I've actually done the HDD install, I think a friend of mine might try it too. He's a fan of DSL at the moment but I think I've been going on about it enough to pique his curiosity regarding antiX.... __{{emoticon}}__

masinick · posted: 2008-10-28 18:59

rich_c wrote:Nice one! Thanks! Will have a go at fixing that this evening. Also, hopefully I'll have a moment or two to upgrade & fix wicd.

Now I've actually done the HDD install, I think a friend of mine might try it too. He's a fan of DSL at the moment but I think I've been going on about it enough to pique his curiosity regarding antiX.... __{{emoticon}}__

I think that both of you will really enjoy antiX, whether on CD, USB, or on the hard drive. I do find antiX to be the fastest when it is installed on the hard drive, but installing it on USB, storing persistent data on the USB and loading the entire image into memory (at least if you have enough memory) makes antiX a very fast system indeed!

I like antiX as a Live CD, a rescue CD, and a fast desktop system.

rich_c · posted: 2008-10-28 22:01

Nosplash option worked nicely! Still lots to tinker with but antiX is deffo what I needed to play with! __{{emoticon}}__

anticapitalista · posted: 2008-10-28 22:11

Great.
There is a lot to play with.
IMO antiX has to be one of the most flexible small distros out there. You can choose to keep it based on Debian Testing/Etch mix (default), or go for Testing only or for the ambitious Debian sid.
You can also install sidux kernels and upgrade some useful sidux apps already in antiX (eg Ceni and infobash). The latest Mepis kernel can also be installed as well as the latest Mepis utilities.
You can even install Debian kernels.

Have a read of the documentation available, especially for the smxi script included in antiX.

But most of all, have fun with the 'mean and lean' distro.