On 12/28/2023 15:41:40, Bob Rogers wrote:

From: joe a Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2023 15:12:18 -0500

ASUS A7V733-c.

Created DVD's from ISO images (Tumbleweed, a few days old) and get "active partition not found".

Round and round . . . tried some older Knoppix, Mint, Windows rescue DVD's (R) and they boot fine. Thinking "These new DVD, Staples labled, are, umm, less than good", burned another on an older SONY blank. Same error.

Seems no ISO images of recent vintage want to boot. Tried USB bootables, but the BIOS only knows USB FDD and USB ZIP, so, no boot either, just blinking cursor upper left corner.

Could you do a quick-and-dirty install with one of the older images, then use that to set up a network install of the current Tumbleweed?

-- Bob Rogers http://www.rgrjr.com/

A thought at that, but, if no longer supported, just an exercise.

Le 28/12/2023 à 22:22, Bob Rogers a écrit :

Yeah, seems you are seriously out of luck.

eventually debian? jdd -- https://artdagio.fr

On 12/28/2023 15:48:02, Felix Miata wrote:

joe a composed on 2023-12-28 15:12 (UTC-0500):

...

ASUS A7V733-c.

Created DVD's from ISO images (Tumbleweed, a few days old) and get "active partition not found".

...

Round and round . . . tried some older Knoppix, Mint, Windows rescue DVD's (R) and they boot fine. Thinking "These new DVD, Staples labled, are, umm, less than good", burned another on an older SONY blank. Same error.

...

Seems no ISO images of recent vintage want to boot. Tried USB bootables, but the BIOS only knows USB FDD and USB ZIP, so, no boot either, just blinking cursor upper left corner.

Athlon/Duron CPU support from TW ceased over 6 months ago. Likely 6.2 was the last TW kernel working, but maybe older still.

Ah, well, it was fun while it lasted. Still it should boot, then warn/refuse to install?

David C. Rankin composed on 2023-12-28 22:20 (UTC-0600):

Felix Miata wrote:

...

Athlon/Duron CPU support from TW ceased over 6 months ago. Likely 6.2 was the last TW kernel working, but maybe older still.

So my favorite Athlon "Thunderbird" whizzing along a 800MHz is dead to Tumbleweed? Bummer. To think of all the SUSE versions, then openSUSE versions it ran....

I'm not sure it was the kernel that did it. I think it was zypper or rpm that died first. -- Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion, based on faith, not based on science. Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata

On 12/28/23 22:37, Bill Walsh wrote:

I was given al OLD laptop from .well lets just say it is OLD. I didn't want to use it with the old Windows and proprietary software. I looked around at various versions and finally decided on Mint. It now has new life and works great if a bit slow. I use it as an old "beater" that I can keep in the trunk of my car and have available when I'm at work or .........    Save my good laptop.

It's funny what still runs. I have an old long-retired tower that weights about 50 lbs (~22.7 kg) in the corner of the bone closet that still runs SUSE 9 Pro. It's been a few years (15 or so?) since it was mothballed. Hostname is "blackbird" due to it making more noise than a SR-71 Blackbird on takeoff.... When all you need is an editor and a shell, matters not how old it is -- as long as you don't connect it externally :) -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.

On 12/29/23 07:29, joe a wrote:

On 12/28/2023 23:37:45, Bill Walsh wrote:

...

I was given al OLD laptop from .well lets just say it is OLD. I didn't want to use it with the old Windows and proprietary software. I looked around at various versions and finally decided on Mint. It now has new life and works great if a bit slow. I use it as an old "beater" that I can keep in the trunk of my car and have available when I'm at work or .........    Save my good laptop.

What version of Mint?  Apparently I lied when I listed Mint as one of those that booted (17.3), as it does not.

Knoppix 7 does though.

Not sure off the top of my head but the "latest and greatest" earlier this year. -- “The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.” ― Albert Einstein

On 12/30/2023 03:42:42, Bengt Gördén wrote:

On 2023-12-29 15:19, Bill Walsh wrote:

...

On 12/29/23 07:29, joe a wrote:

...

On 12/28/2023 23:37:45, Bill Walsh wrote:

...

I was given al OLD laptop from .well lets just say it is OLD. I didn't want to use it with the old Windows and proprietary software. I looked around at various versions and finally decided on Mint. It now has new life and works great if a bit slow. I use it as an old "beater" that I can keep in the trunk of my car and have available when I'm at work or .........    Save my good laptop.

What version of Mint?  Apparently I lied when I listed Mint as one of those that booted (17.3), as it does not.

Knoppix 7 does though.

Not sure off the top of my head but the "latest and greatest" earlier this year.

There are some ASUSTek A7 in the linux hardware database. One of them is installed with Mint 13.

https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=d0f1010c18

You can also go through some other ASUS to see if a distro might do.

https://linux-hardware.org/?view=computers&year=2002&vendor=ASUSTek+Computer&model_like=A7

Thanks for the link. Appears the board is now too old for the game. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

On 12/28/2023 16:50:04, Robert Webb via openSUSE Users wrote:

On Thu, 28 Dec 2023 15:12:18 -0500, joe a wrote:

...

ASUS A7V733-c.

Created DVD's from ISO images (Tumbleweed, a few days old) and get "active partition not found".

Round and round . . . tried some older Knoppix, Mint, Windows rescue DVD's (R) and they boot fine.   Thinking "These new DVD, Staples labled, are, umm, less than good", burned another on an older SONY blank.  Same error.

Seems no ISO images of recent vintage want to boot.  Tried USB bootables, but the BIOS only knows USB FDD and USB ZIP, so, no boot either, just blinking cursor upper left corner.

Try changing the boot priority list to put DVD first. -- Robert Web Symptoms persist even with only DVD available to boot.

joe a composed on 2024-01-05 16:28 (UTC-0500):

I suppose one thing might be to download a more recent version and burn another DVD?

Does your target have a disk with Grub already on it? If yes, you can put the NET installation media's initrd and linux on it and have Grub load them to initiate a NET installation. If the disk doesn't already have Grub on it, it's more work to make a place for it first, but it is doable even if nothing you have boots, if you have access to another PC to loan the target disk to just for that purpose. -- Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion, based on faith, not based on science. Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata

On 1/5/2024 16:58:04, joe a wrote:

On 1/5/2024 16:46:03, Felix Miata wrote:

...

joe a composed on 2024-01-05 16:28 (UTC-0500):

...

I suppose one thing might be to download a more recent version and burn another DVD?

Does your target have a disk with Grub already on it? If yes, you can put the NET installation media's initrd and linux on it and have Grub load them to initiate a NET installation. If the disk doesn't already have Grub on it, it's more work to make a place for it first, but it is doable even if nothing you have boots, if you have access to another PC to loan the target disk to just for that purpose.

No Grub.  The cook quit.

The first attempt was with a windows 2000 on the hard drive.  Tried again with a drive with unknown stuff on it.  Same issue.

I am puzzled though.  Why should this be an issue at all with an "installation" image?

With a "clean install", there would be nothing on the HD at all.

Does not the installer create a "virtual" file system in RAM for purposes of preparing installation?   I admit having given such installation concepts very little thought.  Ever.

Downloaded both full install and network install images, burned to DVD and CD respectively. Each loads the installer then presents blank,black, screen with fast blinking cursor (underscore) in upper left corner of monitor. I believe I setup the network installer correctly for static IP and http target. The original DVD still boots the installer and runs into the kernel panic.

On 1/5/2024 22:33:31, Felix Miata wrote:

joe a composed on 2024-01-05 21:12 (UTC-0500):

...

Each loads the installer then presents blank,black, screen with fast blinking cursor (underscore) in upper left corner of monitor. I believe I setup the network installer correctly for static IP and http target.

...

The original DVD still boots the installer and runs into the kernel panic.

This new behavior smells like a problem getting graphics mode installation to start with your GPU. You can try appending nomodeset to the installer cmdline before proceeding with boot. If that doesn't work, try appending textmode=1 instead. https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Linuxrc

The ("a" ?) "Graphics" screen appears when the CD or DVD first loads, presenting the choices for boot hard disk, installation, etc., with the various F-key choices at the bottom. The behavior noted previously happens after selecting and initiating "Installation". For the "network" install, I first use the F4 key to select Http and set a static IP, etc, for the machine. I am perplexed by your suggestion regarding the "installer cmdline", "before proceeding with boot". "Booting" has already occurred, from the CD or DVD and it presents the "graphical display" with choices as to how to proceed.

On 1/5/2024 22:33:31, Felix Miata wrote:

joe a composed on 2024-01-05 21:12 (UTC-0500):

...

Each loads the installer then presents blank,black, screen with fast blinking cursor (underscore) in upper left corner of monitor. I believe I setup the network installer correctly for static IP and http target.

...

The original DVD still boots the installer and runs into the kernel panic.

This new behavior smells like a problem getting graphics mode installation to start with your GPU. You can try appending nomodeset to the installer cmdline before proceeding with boot. If that doesn't work, try appending textmode=1 instead. https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Linuxrc

Neither of those boot options made any difference

On 12/29/2023 01:03:17, Masaru Nomiya wrote:

Hello,

In the Message;

Subject : OT- semi and demi - Old and Older hardware - iso DVD active partition not found Message-ID : Date & Time: Thu, 28 Dec 2023 15:12:18 -0500

[JA] == joe a has written:

JA> ASUS A7V733-c.

Isn't A7V133-c correct?

JA> Created DVD's from ISO images (Tumbleweed, a few days old) and get "active JA> partition not found". [...] JA> Seems no ISO images of recent vintage want to boot. Tried USB bootables, but JA> the BIOS only knows USB FDD and USB ZIP, so, no boot either, just blinking JA> cursor upper left corner.

Very old, but did you check the lens of the drive?

Best Regards,

--- ┏━━┓彡 野宮 賢 mail-to: nomiya @ lake.dti.ne.jp ┃＼／彡 ┗━━┛ "Bill! You married with Computer. Not with Me!" "No....., with money."

I have no idea how to check the lens.

Hello, In the Message; Subject : Re: OT- semi and demi - Old and Older hardware - iso DVD active partition not found Message-ID : <71c4cb56-1165-40d0-9805-669d0ca42bd9@j4computers.com> Date & Time: Fri, 29 Dec 2023 08:25:28 -0500 [JA] == joe a has written: JA> On 12/29/2023 01:03:17, Masaru Nomiya wrote: [...] MN>> Very old, but did you check the lens of the drive? JA> I have no idea how to check the lens. You can check by; $ dd if=/dev/sr0 of=/dev/null In my case; 4431868+0 records in 4431868+0 records out 2269116416 bytes (2.3 GB, 2.1 GiB) copied, 344.204 s, 6.6 MB/s Moreover, In the Message; Subject : OT- semi and demi - Old and Older hardware - iso DVD active partition not found Message-ID : Date & Time: Thu, 28 Dec 2023 15:12:18 -0500 [JA] == joe a has written: [...] JA> Created DVD's from ISO images (Tumbleweed, a few days old) and get "active JA> partition not found". [...] I assume you created the DVD with the drive in question? If so, you should use this to check if the DVD is created correctly; $ dd if=/dev/sr0 | md5sum - /path/to/file.iso Kind Regards. --- ┏━━┓彡 野宮 賢 mail-to: nomiya @ lake.dti.ne.jp ┃＼／彡 ┗━━┛ "Maddox hopes that empowering users to pick their own algorithms will get them to think more about what’s involved in making them. " -- Bluesky's Custom Algorithms Could Be the Future of Social Media --

Le 29/12/2023 à 18:36, joe a a écrit :

In any case, have to hunt up or buy another DVD drive.

may be an usb one? and the network install may work from a cd (not tested) jdd -- https://artdagio.fr

On 1/10/2024 09:46:33, Liam Proven wrote:

On Thu, 28 Dec 2023 at 20:12, joe a wrote:

...

ASUS A7V733-c.

This motherboard?

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/kt133a/a7v133/a7v133-105.pdf

That's very old. No 64-bit distro will run on that. You *must* use a 32-bit distro. I guess you know that, though.

...

Seems no ISO images of recent vintage want to boot. Tried USB bootables, but the BIOS only knows USB FDD and USB ZIP, so, no boot either, just blinking cursor upper left corner.

The PLOP boot manager will let many CD/FDD only machines boot from USB successfully and I used it for years.

https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/index.html

You can put it on a floppy, boot from that, and it will then boot from USB or whatever.

Once it works, I recommend Ventoy as the easy way to try lots of ISOs.

https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html

Tumbleweed does still support x86-32 but it's not a lightweight distro at all.

I'd suggest antiX, the Raspberry Pi Desktop (the x86 version of the Pi OS) or maybe Alpine. Void Linux can also be quite lightweight.

Thanks for those links. They may prove handy.