Installation on Old System [was re: WARTY review]

[Tommy Trussell]

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004 19:23:57 -0800, Matt Zimmerman <mdz at canonical.com> wrote:
> To disable DMA in the installer, proceed up to the point where the
> partitioner starts up, switch to a text console and execute:
> 
> echo "using_dma:0" > /proc/ide/hda/settings
> 
> (replacing hda with whichever disk you will be installing to, if you have
> more than one)

[I should have made this a separate thread a long time ago...]

This is a follow-up message to say I disabled DMA the other night as
described, and sure enough, the package installation completed, GRUB
completed, and .... the system didn't boot. BUT it got a lot farther,
so despite that small setback I decided turning off DMA was a key
factor...

I took the system apart again and replaced the original IDE cables
with some fancy 80-conductor ones that came with a new drive and
controller. Then I went back into the BIOS and turned EDMA back on.
(This is a COMPAQ Deskpro 4000 so that's actually more difficult than
it should be.)

THEN I ran ubuntu installer again and it was A COMPLETE SUCCESS! WOW!
So that means the real problem was that the newer kernels are pushing
the hardware much closer to its limit!

BTW I have a few minor gripes about the custom install but nothing
big...I suppose I should enter bug reports?

1) The custom installation completed but until I manually ran apt-get
upgrade it did not pick up the 10 outstanding updates. I kindof
figured it would do the updates automatically during the install,
especially since most came from the security repository.

2) The installation was very simple and the installation has a good
basic configuration but I kindof expected it would prompt me through
adding some other apt sources ... as it is, dselect reports that
EVERYTHING available is installed. I will have to think about whether
this is the best thing for a "custom" install. It's certainly simple!