Very disappointed in installer :-(

I'm not really sure if indeed you had troubles, or if you are trolling, but the tone of your message does not invite to lend an altruistic, helping hand.

Just being used to Ubuntu's installer does not make the Mepis installer have 'convoluted logic'. Herds of new users have successfully installed Mepis without a hitch, so the problems you were having were probably not generic.

I guess setting a static IP address should not be to difficult. The installer has a section that says 'Network Interfaces'. In there you have severak tabs to set IP, DNS, Wifi config etc. Shouldn't be too difficult.

Running the rest of the installer is by no means a complex exercise either. You just tell it which partition to use, where to put home and you should be off. I'm not sure about the Grub issues. Have not had problems myself, but I guess it could have overlooked the Ubuntu entry.

It could also be you have a bad burn. When you reboot, you should at least see the kernel loading. The invalid ext3 issue looks like a format problem in the installer. I would invite you to burn a new disk and get some more specific information that we can help you with. But maybe you just don't feel like it.

If you are an avid Ubuntu user, why not just install the kde desktop packages and revamp your OS to Kubuntu. You might just be a happier person if you can stick to what you've got.

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Hi, -- if youŕe still around.

Tale of woe:
I am an active Ubuntu 6.06LTC user.

....It is Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, jusst a minor remark.

I love KDE, so I got the Mepis 6.0RC2 iso and burned a CDROM. I booted it just fine. I like the GUI and it seems like a nice active "live" CD.

...You didn't check your Wireless USB interface ?

However when I cleared off 40GB to install it, I was very disappointed. The Installer is primitive.

....The K/Ubuntu graphical installer on 6.06 LTS couldn't even handle my 20 partitions on 2 harddisks. I had to revert to the "alternative version". The Mepis installer works very nicely, but you ASSUMED that the grub used in Mepis is the same as in Mepis. Well, it is not. IF you had installed Mepis 6.0 and had its grub write to the rootpartition (NOT MBR), then your Ubuntu grub/menu.list would have picked up Mepis correctly. As it stands you destroyed your own grub settings in the MBR.

I had no clue how to set the my static IP address and DNS entries.

....Never even tried the Mepis Old OS Center or System Settings, now did you?

My ZD1211b wireless USB interface was not recognized, even though there are modules loaded in the new kernel.

....and you did not bother to look a round or ask.

I tried to follow the convoluted logic of the installer, allowed it to mash my Ubuntu grub and menu.lst and succeeded in getting to an end screen where I agreed to try and reboot.

....Your remark about "convoluted logic" is a bit presumptuous and it was a rather dumb thing to do - mashing up your own grub in the MBR (without previously checking what grub package is used (it is grub-gfxboot).

The reboot failed to do anything but a black screen. Apparently the grub menu entries are totally bogus.

...and you still don't know why......?

So I recovered my old menu.lst, did a grub-install and modified it to add in what I hoped was the new MepisRC2 partition. I can mount the partition just fine in Ubuntu and edit the menu.lst on that partition with no problem. However every thing I do ends with Grub telling me I have an invlaid ext3 file system and a thpe 83 partition Smiling what a hassle. I can not make MepisRC2 fire up no matter what I do. I even tried the initrd option and it did nothing useful.

.....Mepis does not use any initrd.img - although you CAN choose to use it during installation.
Basically you screwed up your own system and you now blame the installer. Tssskkkk......!

(1) Is there any way to install MEPIS from the command line? and ignore the darn crippled GUI?

....No, not that I am aware of.

(2) Is there any way to upgrade from Ubuntu to MepisRC2? (o.k. this seems silly and dangerous)

....No. Mepis has an extended kernel (built using the Ubuntu kernel). There are numerous differences in configuration.

(3) Is there any other CD distro for Mepis that is not "live" but is an alternative ?

....No, all Mepis-CD's are (installable) LiveCD's.

thanks for an afternoon and evening of "fun". I guess I will try Mepis again in a few months when it works better.
Ken

.....You're very welcome to do so. Have fun with Ubuntu. And in the meantime readup on the existing differences between Ubuntu and Mepis. Mepis is not some derivative of Kubuntu. It's what Kubuntu should have been.
For what it is worth: I tried/tested all Dapper Drake testversions (and the 6.06 LTS release of Kubuntu), so I am well aware which one is better - even as beta or rc testversion.

Regards, Ko

Ko Bros

Way to go, Ko... did Germany win the worldcup yet??

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Newbie or not Newbie, there's always a question

Don't get me started on that one.......

Ko Bros

Ko Bros

Spoken like a true distro-junkie.

Chris

Oops......Corrected:

This:

should read as:

The Mepis installer works very nicely, but you ASSUMED that the grub used in Mepis is the same as in Ubuntu. Well, it is not.

Regards, Ko

Ko Bros

Hey Ko, I'm glad you caught that last error there. For a minute I thought you meant that the Mepis grub was different in Mepis and I was getting confused

Thank you for making some good points to khopper.

To khopper, if you're still interested in help: There are a lot of very good folks on this forum who know Mepis (and *buntu) very well. I'm sorry that your first go around with Mepis was not a golden experience. In your initial description it does not appear that you used Mepis's Live CD for its intended purpose, that being trying out your hardware. You give no indication that your wireless card worked with Ubuntu. Thus we must infer that it did. But rather than letting us guess as to what kind of system you have and whether everything works in Ubuntu, please be specific. Please give us more information on your hardware, and let us know how your hard drive is partitioned.

We have all had "bad hair days" so if you wanted to vent your frustrations only then thank you for sharing. However, if you want some help from others here, please ask. Just remember: you are the one pushing the buttons. If you say "yes" and something breaks, you are the responsible one. So if we give you advice, and you are not sure what the effect might be, stop and ask us first. We've righted many a wrong install, but we ain't miracle workers

I hope you have better learning experiences with all of the Linux distributions you try.

Jon

Very good, Ko. Very good indeed!

-----------------------------
Microsoft and Open Source can play well together. Just look at how well Orca and penguins play together.

I'm curious, khopper, how would you compare Kubuntu to MEPIS?

Also, when you say you are an active user, does that mean you consider yourself a novice user, and experienced user, or a guru?

My experience is that while it may take some getting used to, or perhaps reading the pdf manual, the MEPIS installer is no better or worse than several those on several other distros I've tried.

I was wondering how you could even attempt to set your IP and DNS if you couldn't get MEPIS to boot up? If you ever get MEPIS installed then fire up the MEPIS OS Center (old) and choose the tab to install the network. As you make changes on each tab, to turn things on or off, click apply before you change to another tab.

Also, you might want to add your wireless driver to the blacklist so that it wont' load during boot. Then you can use the OS center to configure it.

--
GreyGeek

I use mepis and (k)ubuntu and find livecd installer from Mepis much better then (k)ubuntu better worked out and much more stable, because lots have problems with it just read the ubuntu forums about it.

Damn just a few more days and then i move my main (laptop)partition to mepis, hope it will stay as stable as in the beta's.