Hi

I am trying to install ubuntu on my IBM R30 2656-62T, the following happened

1) I got to the first screen ( and I selected the first option, start and install ubunta)

2) it didn't go to the graphical installer, instead it gave me a shell prompt (initramfs)

3) later on, I tried to select other options from the first screen, the results were the same => the shell prompt

4) I burned the iso file ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso on CD, and had it checked on other machine, it's all good.

5) the HD doesn't have any effective OS on it. I just want to do a "clean fresh" installation

6) PIII-1G CPU, 256 RAM

Can anyone help?

many thanks

If it won't boot on the lappy, then try Feisty Fawn instead, and make sure you are using a 32-bit edition as you can pretty much guarantee it will work.

it wont do you any good to install if the Live CD won;t boot, it'll be the same just on your HDD


I assume that 7.10 (Gusty i believe) Boots to GUI?

If so click the install ubuntu icon on the desktop.

Then have the installer do it automatically, just answer the questions when it asks.

Its not hard on a clean HDD, if you were doing it with Windows we woul need to partition and all that but Ubuntu offers several options for automatic installation.

If you have questions on which one to use don't hesitate to ask

thank you very much for the quick reply.

No, it didn't boot to GUI, I read the online-menu, I only got to the first screen after choosing to boot up from CD device (press F12 to boot up from CD), and I've tried to select different options from that first Ubuntu menu, no matter what I picked, it alwats ended up with a shell prompt (initramfs).


Is R30 too old for ubuntu 7.1??

many thanks

okay lemme check, its a circa 2002 laptop so im not sure. im looking now though


im looking at the trident graphics as the culprit, you should have Vesa support out of the box. i dont think the graphics would send you to the shell prompt though. it would at least boot to a black screen.

Hi,

I've checked F1-Help menu, it stated that I need 384 RAM to run this install CD but I only have 256 RAM on my R30. Will this be the problem? If so, can this be fixed by using alternative CD (text-based installer)??


by the way, what is the function alt-F1 (key) in this CD?? it jumped to a black screen, showing 'Loading, please wait ..." forever??


many thanks

sadly, I don't know the solution to your problem. Other people here might know, though. However, I can tell you that I've done a successful install of Ubuntu on my p4 2ghz(with 256mb ram) from 2002. So that should not be your problem. Also, if you cant get your problem solved here, you can always try http://www.ubuntuforums.org

You could try to use the text based installer, but the regular installer should work on 256mb ram..

Yes, I've tried text-based installer. But it got stuck with "CD-ROM" setup, I don't have the driver in floppy (R30 didn't come with a floppy driver) and there's no way to skip the CD-rom setup (Mine is actually a DVD-rom, any difference??)

Or, is IBM R30 too old for Ubuntu 7.10 ?? Should I try older version?

many thanks

I installed Ubuntu 6.1 on a P3 800 with 256mb ram. I had to put the computer aside as work demanded it. Months later for reasons too complicated I needed an hard drive for a PII 333 with 95MB ram. I put the Ubuntu HD in figuring I'd have to wipe it clean and put Win98 on it when lo and behold it booted to Ubuntu and worked! All different hardware and it booted. Kinda slow as you would imagine but everything functional.

I guess Ubuntu will run with less ram but needs the 384 to install. That's my guess

Monton