Linux newbie needs 2.6 installation advice

First off: thanks for bothering to look at this. I know what a pain in the bum newbies can be... and sorry if this seems a bit long winded but I'm going to try to give you the background that I think might be relevant.

For everyday computing I use Macs. I occasionally go into the terminal, but not often. I have a web server running CentOS but again: I only do what I really need to so my knowledge is limited (I'm a PHP and Database programmer really). And finally, I have a PC with Windows XP running Mach3 to control my milling machine.

Of late I am becoming frustrated by Mach3s lack of control structures so want to try linuxCNC.

A friend recommended Mint Debian, so I downloaded the ISO to my Mac, burned it to a flash drive, plugged that into my PC and booted from it. Beautiful. I love the Cinnamon interface. Everything that I could think of for everyday use was easy to find. My Macs are pushing 7 years old, as is my partners WIndows PC, and I can see Mint Debian as the future for us.

Finally come to LinuxCNC: I download the .iso for 2.6 with Debian Wheezy to my Mac and try to follow the instructions here
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Hybrid_Iso
to burn it to a flashdrive... but the sudo dd command complains and won't do the job.
I didn't make a note of the complaint but I think it becomes irrelevant... forgive me if I'm wrong.

Next I booted my PC using Mint Debian, downloaded the .iso to that, and tried again with the instructions. All seemed well i.e. the sudo dd command left me waiting for several minutes while it did it's thing. However, at the end of the process, the (2nd) flashdrive on which I've tried to install it is blank.


As a Linux newbie I am not sure how to proceed.

The fact that I got Mint running suggests to me that I am not doing anything stupidly wrong i.e. I understand the file paths, device ids, and command syntax, enough to be doing what I should.

I've read that hybrid .iso files can be temperamental re flashdrives... so I've ordered some DVD-R discs off eBay. That might sort it?

However, given my thoughts re Mint, I'm wondering if I should try to compile from source to run with that? I've never compiled anything from source on Linux before so I don't know how easy/difficult that is or whether it's likely to be problematic in the future (with upgrades etc)?

I spent about 6 hours on this yesterday with no joy... and considering I had Mint up and running in under and hour the day before... well I thought it was time to ask for help.

Thanks for reading. Any help, suggestions, or opinions will be gratefully received.

but the sudo dd command complains and won't do the job.

It does not complain, it gives error messages, unless you share them we cannot help you

I've read that hybrid .iso files can be temperamental re flashdrives... so I've ordered some DVD-R discs off eBay. That might sort it?

Just burn to DVD, it works.

A lot of flash drives have all sorts of windoze sh*t on them, (Sandisk are the worst but not the only ones) with hidden sectors which allegedly 'protect' your files,
but unless you wipe them completely with a special utility, you cannot boot from them, because the boot sector gets written above the hidden sector and is not found at boot, or similar.

regards

Thanks ArcEye

Re the error message: it would involve some messing about to go back and recreate it at this stage. I CAN do that if you think it would help... but you seem to think that DVD is the way to go anyway?

As for hidden sectors and issues with the flash drive:

1. I initially installed Mint on a 32gb drive (which worked).

2. I then put Mint onto an 8gb drive (which also worked), so as to free up the 32gb drive.

3. I then used the 32gb drive for LinuxCNC/Wheezy (which doesn't work).

I think that indicates that the 32gb drive is not the issue?

It will be down to what dd did as to whether the image was written properly in that case.

I should just use DVD, I have never bothered with a USB stick yet, have loads of CDs and DVDs kicking around

Just make sure you follow the instructions for burning linked from the home page.
Windows will try to make a DVD which contains the iso as a file and not burn it as an image, if you are not careful.

regards

If you want to try a USB pen (I highly recommend it) and to see EACH step of the installation you can follow:

www.wiki.eusurplus.com/index.php?title=Install_LinuxCNC

emcPT wrote:

If you want to try a USB pen (I highly recommend it) and to see EACH step of the installation you can follow:

www.wiki.eusurplus.com/index.php?title=Install_LinuxCNC

My problem is that I can't create the live pen... so I can't even get to step 1 on what you showed me there.

My problem is that I can't create the live pen.

I have never used the conv=fsync switch but it should not make any difference, just force a flush of data.

Download the iso to a known location and cd to it
eg
download to /home/yourname/Downloads and then open a terminal and cd Downloads
Do ls -A and you should see the .iso file

Insert the USB stick. If Mint is 'clever' and mounts it, you need to unmount it before you can write to it
(that may be where it all went wrong)

then
dd if=./somename.iso of=/dev/sdX
where X is the drive letter of your unmounted USB stick

Should just work, the default block size is 512 bytes and because boot sectors are multiples of this size I usually leave it 'as is' when transferring bootable stuff

regards

I use Lili USB creator for that purpose, on a windows machine. Give it a try, very easy.

It's been a couple of days since I could play with this however ArcEye's suggestion that Mint might be mounting the drive intrigued me so I tried again.

That WASN'T the issue, however, as I was now part way though the process, I decided to try it without the conv=fsync switch (also ArcEye's suggestion) and presto hey: I now have a bootable flash drive.

Now to install to my hard drive and give LinuxCNC a try. Yay!

Thanks guys.