Hi, I thought I'd give Linux a try, and I've been reading that Mandrake is easy to install and setup. So I downloaded Mankrade 9.0 and burned the cd. I booted with it on a newly formatted hdd and I chose the option to install. It copied the files to memeory, and then the screen went black and it said "in second stage install Pleasse wait while probing serial ports" That's it - it just sat there doing nothing. Is my Cd no good? Can anybody who is a Linux user/expert help me out with this. I reaaly wish I could give it a try and not keep relying on Windows. Please help. Thanks a lot. PS My system is an AMD K6-2 500MHz with 128 PC100 ram, and 3.1 GB HDD. Is that enough?

Hi I have the same system as you have and I am using RedHat Linux7.3 I think RedHat is more good and efficient than mandrake so I suggest you to try RedHat. And it is more easy to install and to use. Thanks.

uh huh what crap... Alright, don't use linux, use any OS that atleast gives the power to the user. Its YOUR computer, not Microsoft's! I've heard Microsoft is planning to release versions of MS Office in the future which doesn't let the user store files on his own computer...everything will be stored on Microsoft's server! Also, the (xp you call it?) is s---ty s---ty and s---ty. ABSOLUTELY NO SECURITY AT ALL. anyone can do anything on the system...and guess what all Microsoft does to your system when you're online...The whole OS is FULL of spyware, and all info about you ends up with Mr. Billy Gilly. Don't use Linux if you (don't like the name?) Use any "free" (as in free speech) OS. Use FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD whatever... In my opinion, if you're new to unix type OSs, (and you're not a geeky guy), stick with redhat. Actually, many people, because they come from windows, think that if theres a problem in the OS, or if your printer isn't supported out of the box, it can't be corrected, or theres a problem with Linux... Think of it this way...Linux is only the kernel, and has support for all the devices that a good kernel should have, and all the other things, to make a complete OS, come from various other sources... like X from Xfree86 project, basic tools from GNU, Destop Environments from Gnome/Kde, etc... And there are printer daemons to manage your printer, and printer drivers to make it work... Now if you haven't installed any of these, you can't expect your OS to perform those functions! The Distro is nothing but these packages provided in an easy to install bundle...But you have to tell the installer to install them! (or if you want the installer to install everything by default, you'll have a system bigger than 10 GB! Actually in windows, there is no proper support for any hardware (exept for a few partial drivers) Everything comes from the makers of the hardware...And its a pity, only 30% of them make drivers for other OSs...and those too are non-free (not open source) thats why, all the drivers in the kernel are written by 3rd parties... Kajfat, There could be a problem with the CD, try downloading again (you could have check the md5 checksums but you'll need the md5 program for that, which is a part of linux... If it doesn't work even with a new cd, then theres a bug in mandrakes installer, download redhat and install that (I presume downloading isn't much of a problem and you have a high speed connection), else, order the cd.

Thanks all for your comments. USAma, I'll keep what you said about Redhat in mind. Michabe, I respect your opinion but I don't think I will pay much attention to what you said. Balram I have checked the MD5 checksums - in fact I downloaded the file from 2 different sources 3 times to get it right!! I still have the same problem so if someone can please recommend something I'd be very much obliged. Thanks

i can't help but i can say i have had a similar problem. when you boot and if gives you the choice of a graphical install or press F1 for others it does that saem thing in graphical install but if i do a text intall it finishes the install and reboots but never full boots this is a pain cuz i cant get redhat 8 anyhigher than 800x600 on my machine

For the new Linux distros aimed at the desktop user like mandrake and redhat you need a leat a 5-6 drive to ensure you have enough space to install everything and then deselt some of the servers you do not wish to run. The rest of the system should be fine. The size of you drive you have is fine, just not for full install. RH 8 now takes about 4-5 gigs and I think mandrake was pretty close to that. Hope this helps.

Erm sorry to sort of steal the thread but... Balram Adlakha, what the hell are you talking about? 'I've heard Microsoft is planning to release versions of MS Office in the future which doesn't let the user store files on his own computer...everything will be stored on Microsoft's server!' - That is rubbish. 'Also, the (xp you call it?) is s---ty s---ty and s---ty. ABSOLUTELY NO SECURITY AT ALL.' - How the hell do you know, you dont even know its name! XP is very secure, the major insecurity is user ignorance (e.g. WOo an email from someone I dont know! whats this? an attachment! *Opens and becomes infected*) 'The whole OS is FULL of spyware, and all info about you ends up with Mr. Billy Gilly.' - Again, BS. Fair enough, you may not Like windows, but this ignorant bad mouthing is annoying. Anyway, back to the post... The fact that this hangs on the serial port probe makes it sound like a hardware problem.. Is there anything plugged into the serial ports? If so, disconnect them for now and configure them later (only a guess, but something similar has worked for me with a different OS) Have you tried looking at the other Linux sessions that are going on when you try and install? pressing alt and fX (X being a number, not sure how many sessions there are but alt-f7 is the graphical session) Maybe one of these other sessions will show an error or something?? -Chris