Re: problem installing Fedora 8

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Buz Davis wrote:
For some years I have been running a couple of Red Hat 9 systems
on a home network.  For the most part they got done what I needed
done so I have tended to ignore their being out-of-date. It recently became apparent to me that the Internet was moving away from me, so I began searching for an update.

First I tried a set of disks that came with a book from a used/surplus book store. These were Fedora disks, but without a stated version number so I suspect very early Fedora. With these the install (and I was trying to update) seemed to do well until the second or third disk failed with an invalid media message. Surprisingly the system still runs. Grub offers to boot Fedora but I suspect much of what I am running comes from the earlier RH9.

I just purchased a set of Fedora 8 cds (my boxes don't have dvd capability)
and night before last put them successfully through a media check. But when I attempted to install I got a nearly immediate termination. The messages read (as best as I can decipher my handwriting):

===
Running anaconda 11.3.0.50, the Fedora system installer - please wait ...
install exited abnormally [1/1].
Sending termination signals ... done
Sending kill signals ... done
disabling swap
unmounting filesystems
   /mnt/runtime  done
   disabling /dev/loop0
   /proc  done
   /dev/pys  done
   /sys  done
   /tmp/ranfs  done
   /mnt/source  done
   /src/????  done  (here, I can't read my own scribblings )
you may now safely reboot your system
===

The system consists of an AMD K6 at 500 Mhz, 320 meg ram, and plenty of disk space. I have tried installing in text mode with nousb, but still encounter the problem. Last night I let the memtest supplied on the installation cd run overnight and it completed 8 passes without error, so I think the ram is OK.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

That sounds like the classic "I can't find enough disk" anaconda error.
Unless you do an "update existing system" (NOT recommended when making
as big a jump as you are) or "replace existing system" install (where
anaconda blows the old Linux partitions away and starts over), anaconda
wants "unused" disk space (space not in any used partition).

Fedora 8 is also quite long in the tooth (current release is Fedora 11).
The normal release cycle for Fedora is about 6 months, and support for
old versions ends with the second version released after it:

	New Release	Support Ends For
	-----------	----------------
	Fedora 10	Fedora 8
	Fedora 11	Fedora 9
	Fedora 12	Fedora 10

This may be a bit quick for you (the lifespan is about a year).  If
that's the case, you might want to consider something like CentOS 5.x.
CentOS tracks the Red Hat Enterprise system pretty faithfully and has
similar lifespans (5 years or so).  CentOS 5.x/RHEL 5.x is based on
Fedora 6, I believe.

If you want to live on the bleeding edge (and there has been some blood
loss, believe me), I might suggest you try one of the Fedora 11 Live
CDs.  F11 is pretty robust, although it may not support really old
graphics cards (you have to make the change sometime!)

The Live CD images are are burnable to a CD (thus taking care of the
fact you don't have a DVD drive).  You boot from the CD and the system
runs normally off it.  You can use this mode to see how well it works
with your hardware and you can get a good feel for the system.

Should you decide you like it, the CD contains tools that allow you to
install Fedora via the Internet.  It takes longer to install, but if you
don't have a DVD drive it's your best option.  Note that you can use
some tools to put the DVD image on a USB Flash key and use that for
installation, but it can be tricky and a lot of old hardware won't boot
from a USB key.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer                      ricks@xxxxxxxx -
- AIM/Skype: therps2        ICQ: 22643734            Yahoo: origrps2 -
-                                                                    -
-     The trouble with troubleshooting is that trouble sometimes     -
-                             shoots back.                           -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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