Hello, I’m trying to install Suse 9.1 on a very old machine (a Pentium 133Mhz w/ 48Mb of RAM and two Maxtor hard drives, one with 1.2Gb and another with 1.5Gb) Since my CD-ROM doesn’t seem to read recordable CDs, I’ve been trying a network installation (I’ve downloaded the installation directory into another PC on my LAN that’s acting as FTP server). I’ve created the three boot floppy disks and I’m booting my machine from floppy. I can configure my network card using the appropriate modules disk. When I first tried to install, it told me there was not enough memory and had to create some swap space. I then used the rescue disk to try to do something about it. I used fdisk and set up these partitions: /dev/hda1 – Linux /dev/hda2 – Linux Swap /dev/hdc1 – Linux Then I did a mkswap –c /dev/hda2 and the swapon /dev/hda2 The swap has 280Mbytes. I rebooted the machine and started the installation process. Once again it said I had to create swap space, and I went to a console terminal and did the swapon /dev/hda2 command – no errors. This seamed to have worked, because it started to download the installation image. It was all going well until it needed to use the swap space. I can see activity on the hard drive, but the download stops and the installation hangs. No error messages that I can see. Can anyone help me on this one? I have very little experience with Linux, I’m probably doing something wrong… Thank you! Paulo -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 267.2.0 - Release Date: 27-05-2005
On Monday 30 May 2005 01:12, Paulo Coelho wrote:
Can anyone help me on this one? I have very little experience with Linux, I’m probably doing something wrong…
No, you did everything right, and if you really have "little" experience with linux I'm very impressed. What you've discovered is just that hard drives are several thousand times slower than internal memory. The phenomenon is known as "thrashing", meaning you have so little memory compared to what the installer needs that it has to swap in and out stuff almost constantly. If you wait long enough for it, it will complete. An easier option might be to find a machine with more memory in it, put the hard disk in that one, then do the install and switch the drive back
I really have little experience with Linux... basically all of my experience has been trying to deal with this problem. What I did I saw on web pages and mailing lists, and I guess I don't fully understand everything... Regarding my problem, I was expecting it to be slower when using the swap instead of real RAM, but in my case it really seems to stop... My FTP server shows a progress bar for the uploads, and it stops... and after a while the activity on the hard drive seems to end too... I guess I'll try to find some more RAM for my old machine, or try your suggestion. Thanks! Paulo -----Mensagem original----- De: Anders Johansson [mailto:andjoh@rydsbo.net] Enviada: segunda-feira, 30 de Maio de 2005 0:19 Para: suse-linux-e@suse.com Assunto: Re: [SLE] Problem with swap space on Suse 9.1 installation On Monday 30 May 2005 01:12, Paulo Coelho wrote:
Can anyone help me on this one? I have very little experience with Linux, I’m probably doing something wrong…
No, you did everything right, and if you really have "little" experience with linux I'm very impressed. What you've discovered is just that hard drives are several thousand times slower than internal memory. The phenomenon is known as "thrashing", meaning you have so little memory compared to what the installer needs that it has to swap in and out stuff almost constantly. If you wait long enough for it, it will complete. An easier option might be to find a machine with more memory in it, put the hard disk in that one, then do the install and switch the drive back -- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 267.2.0 - Release Date: 27-05-2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 267.2.0 - Release Date: 27-05-2005
The Monday 2005-05-30 at 00:40 +0100, Paulo Coelho wrote:
shows a progress bar for the uploads, and it stops... and after a while the activity on the hard drive seems to end too...
Allow it an hour or two. If it hasn't locked up completely, you might be able to check process activity: I don't remember if 'top' is in the install image, if not, use 'ps'. But don't leave top running, it uses memory. -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
participants (3)
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Anders Johansson -
Carlos E. R. -
Paulo Coelho