from der alte AMI

I have a Packard-Bell Legend 115 Supreme.

All of this information came from a Web site,
http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/600.htm

100MHz Pentium CPU,

 24 MB ram, 72-pin SIMMs, 70 ns

Seagate ST51270A 1.2 GB IDE hard drive, 2485 cylinders, 1282 MB, 16
heads, 63 sectors

 3.5" floppy, 

IDE ATAPI "NEC CDR-2732" 4x CD-ROM,

 SVGA monitor,

 2-button PS/2 mouse, keyboard, sound card, 56K modem, 2 speakers.

The Phoenix BIOS Vers. 4.04 is quite ancient, allows booting ONLY
from a: and c:, or c: and a: (very strange!).  The BIOS is "flash-
EEPROM" but I have not found where to get an upgrade program)

The motherboard is Agoura PB600 Release Ver. 1.17.

Bus architecture PCI 2.0/ISA based system bus (has both kinds of
slots: PCI and ISA)

Built-in video: Cirrus Logic Alpine GD5430 Chipset

Two UARTs 16C550A compatibles.

When I got this used computer, the hard-drive had been completely
erased.

I used V-Com's wonderful program, SYSTEM COMMANDER, Ver.
7.03, to create two primary partitions on the drive: the first one of
1100
MB, in LINUX format, a bootable partition; the second one of 180 MB,
formatted as LINUX SWAP.

I figured this would be the ideal way to install Knoppix 3.3.

Well, it did NOT "fly"!!

I put the Knoppix 3.3 CD in the CD-ROM drive, and then booted the
computer.  It found the CD and began the linuz loading.  

It then went to the BIOS and changed its power-management setting,
saying "APL BIOS found, etc." which I did NOT LIKE, as it changed
to a sleep mode of the monitor after a few seconds!!!!!  (I DO NOT
LIKE THIS ONE IOTA!!!!!)


It checked all the hardware, and then tried to create a LINUX SWAP
partition, EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS ALREADY A LINUX-
SWAP partition on the drive!!!!!   I hit the ENTER key several times,
and it finally began trying to load Knoppix, and stopped when the
screen read

Entering run level 5.

It then FROZE and nothing would shake it loose: CTRL-ALT-DEL
would not even reboot the computer!!

I tried again, and again it tried to create a SWAP partition or file, and
this time, even though I told it OK, it went into

APMD[59] STANDING BY NOW

and hung up again!!

So, I tried again.

This time I formatted the hard drive so that there was a 100 MB MS-
DOS "FAT" partition BEFORE the LINUX and LINUX-SWAP
partition.  I made both the DOS and the LINUX partitions "bootable".

Well, this also did not work!

It got to 

executing /etc/init.d/xsession start:

starting x11 . . .  with only three decimal points!

And it hung again.

I have also tried to load using my Knoppix 3.1 CD, and get similar
results.

Once one of them, I can't remember which, got to what I thought was
a terminal mode, but it could not let me do

su - root

constantly demanding a password.

I never got tot he 

sudo knoppix-installer

which is my goal.

YES, I ALREADY KNOW THAT, under normal conditions,
KNOPPIX can be run directly from the CD.

But this mode does NOT allow for changing of the cursor size
(required reboot, which negates the previous load!!); nor does it allow
for installing printers (which also seems to call for a reboot).,

NO, my goal is to get the KNOPPIX put onto the hard drive, so that
I can run it much faster than the sloth-like CD.

I do believe this can be done.  I just don't know how.

Also, I ultimately want to delete many of the programs that I will never
use, in order to save HD space, and to save load time.

And... "post" ultimately, I want to run Corel WordPerfect8.

I may have missed some of the steps listed above, but essentially this is
what happened. I wish I had been able to keep a log of my efforts!

I am 73 years old, not stupid, but having a difficult time getting this
booger cranked up!!!

Thanx for any and all help!

David Dunbar

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