When booting from CD, the default display resolution is 1024x768. You may be required to change the resolution in order to successfully boot or you may just want to change it to your preferred resolution.
The resolution when running from CD will be used when you install MEPIS on a hard drive or when you fix your X configuration with the MEPIS Installation Center.
If your system only supports 800x600, you will need to change the resolution in order to successfully boot from CD.
In this case you can boot MEPIS at 800x600 resolution by typing the following at the CD boot screen:
linux vga=normal xres=800x600
If your preferred resolution is 1280x1024, you can boot by typing this at the CD boot screen:
lin1280
For higher resolutions, you can specify the resolution at CD boot by typing, for example:
linux xres=1400x1050
Lors du d??marrage ?? partir du CD, la r??solution d'affichage est par d??faut en 1024x768. Il se peut que vous ayez besoin de d??marrer sous une autre r??solution que celle ci ; en effet, cela peut-??tre par exemple pour r??ussir la s??quence de d??marrage en cas de probl??me de compatibilit?? mat??riel ou tout simplement pour ??tre sous votre r??solution pr??f??r??e.
La r??solution utilis??e pendant l'utilisation du CD sera celle qui sera appliqu??e lors de l'installation de MEPIS sur le disque dur ou lors de la d??finition de la configuration du serveur X dans le MEPIS Installation Center.
Si votre syst??me ne supporte que le 800x600, vous devrez modifier la r??solution pour r??ussir ?? d??marrer ?? partir du CD.
Dans ce cas, vous pouvez d??marrer MEPIS sous une r??solution de 800x600 en tapant ?? l'invite de d??marrage du CD :
linux vga=normal xres=800x600
Si votre r??solution pr??f??r??e est le 1280x1024, vous pouvez d??marrer sous cette r??solution en tapant ?? l'invite de d??marrage du CD:
lin1280
Pour d'autres r??solutions plus ??lev??es, vous pouvez sp??cifier la r??solution choisie au d??marrage du CD en tapant par exemple
linux xres=1400x1050
When booting from CD, the default keyboard and locale is for US English.
There is limited support for specifying a different keyboard and locale at boot by providing a two character code, which is usually, but not always, a country code.
For example the command for a default boot with French keyboard is:
linux fr
The following keyboard codes are explicitly supported.
| country-language | code | keyboard | locale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | be | be-latin1 | default |
| Finland-Finnish | fi | fi-latin1 | fi_FI@euro |
| France-French | fr | fr | fr_FR@euro |
| Germany-German | de | de | de_DE@euro |
| Hungary-Hungarian | hu | hu | hu_HU |
| Italy-Italian | it | it | it_IT@euro |
| Netherlands-Dutch | nl | nl | nl_NL@euro |
| Norway-Norwegian | no | no | no_NO |
| Spain-Spanish | es | es | es_ES@euro |
| Turkey-Turkish | tr | trf | tr_TR |
| United Kingdom-English | uk | uk | en_GB |
| United States-English | us | us | en_US |
A boot command can be given when the CD help screen appears or when the Lilo boot screen appears.
If booting from Lilo on a hard drive, press <tab> to get a commandline.
Variations of these commands can be used to overcome boot problems.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
linux |
Normal boot, 1024x768 display, acpi=on |
lin1280 |
Normal boot, 1280x1024 display, acpi=on |
failsafe |
1024x768 display, acpi=off; try if boot hangs initializing hardware |
memtest |
test your computer's memory |
Boot arguments are used to modify what happens when a boot command is executed.
To change your hard drive boot configuration see: How to Modify Boot Arguments for the LiLo Bootloader
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
acpi=off |
disable legacy free bios support; can help if machine hangs during boot |
ide=nodma |
resolves some dma conflicts; can fix disk read problems; is needed if boot stops while "looking for MEPIS Linux" |
aa |
use a different keyboard layout; for example de, fr, or us |
noauto |
disables autodetect; use if autodetect hangs |
nofloppy |
disables floppy probe; use if no floppy drive |
nomce |
disable cpu self-checks |
nonet |
forces the network to be off at boot, including loopback |
nopcmcia |
disables pcmcia initialization |
nousb |
don't probe for usb devices |
smouse |
enable a serial mouse |
vga=xxx |
use xxx vga mode during boot; for example mode 794 = 1280x1024; vga=normal for default resolution |
xres=yyy |
use yyy resolution in X; for example 1280x1024 |
xdrvr=abc |
use abc display driver in X; try vesa or fbdev as last resort |
A boot command is followed by the arguments.
| Example | Description |
|---|---|
linux nofloppy |
boot normal but don't look for a floppy drive |
lin1280 fr |
boot at 1280x1024 with the fr (French) keyboard |
linux xdrvr=fbdev |
boot with the simplest video driver possible |
linux xres=800x600 vga=normal |
boot normal but at 800x600 |
The aim of this document is to show you how to rescue data from a hard drive that will not boot up. This method can be used after trying the ???official Microsoft solutions??? of using the ERD etc.
If rescuing the data is the main objective, I'd use this before fooling around with the PC any more.
If a hard drive is having problems, you want to get access to it and get what you can from it before it refuses to spin up. So on with the Rescue.
You need the following:
Attach the USB HD to the PC. Turn on the USB HD.
Boot with the Mepis CD. You may have to go into the BIOS and change the settings to allow booting from the CD-ROM drive. If rescuing a laptop, make sure you are using the power supply and not the battery.
Read the info on the screen. Hit enter.
Login as root. The password is root. Username and passwords are case sensitive.
Left Click (once only) on the Mount Partitions icon. (Unlike Windows, you only need to click once)
Look for /dev/hda1 ntfs. (This is your hard drive. C:, if you were trying to rescue a Win 9x PC instead of ntfs it would read fat or fat32. )
Right Click, scroll down to Mount Device and Left Click.
Right Click and scroll down to Open in File Manager and Left Click. Wait a few seconds, a window will popup with the contents of /dev/hda1 ntfs. If you have multiple partitions, scroll down till you find the right one. Another way is to open each one in File manager.
I've found it helpful to change the view at this point to the Detailed List View. Next drill down to the User folder under Documents and Settings.
Move the window to the Left side of the screen.
Next you will mount the USB HD. Look for /dev/sda1. Depending on how many partitions you have on this HD, you may also find /dev/sda2 etc. (I've found having a fat32 partition makes things a lot simpler.)
Mount /dev/sda1 and open in file manager. Right Click in that window and Create New Directory. I prefer to name it username-todays date (tmarx-213004 for example).
Resize both windows so they are side by side (/dev/hda1 on the left and /dev/sda1 on the right)
Left Click and drag the files/folder you want to copy and drag it to the /dev/sda1 window and click on Copy Here. Thats how simple it is. I've found it helps to start by copying the most important stuff first (.doc, .xls, .pdf, .pst, .ppt, .mdb files). You can ask the customer for that info. I copy no more than 128mb at a time, if you try to copy more than ?? the amount of RAM in the PC, the process tends to stall.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted world wide without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
*Formatting edited by Warren*
Passwords
The root password is 'root' and the demo password is 'demo.'
Obviously, these passwords are public knowledge. When you install MEPIS on a hard drive, it is very important that you select new passwords, as soon as possible!
Installation
Start the MEPIS installer by clicking on its desktop icon and then follow the instructions provided.
You will need at least 2.5 GB of free space on the hard drive.
The installation usually takes between 15 and 45 minutes, depending on whether you are doing a fresh install or an upgrade. The speed is also affected by the performance of your system.