Installing Mandrake

If you want it to bring up a GUI login prompt automatically at boot you need to change your default runlevel. You do this by CAREFULLY editing the file '/etc/inittab' and changing the default from 3 to 4.

If you don't mind the console prompt, but would like to bring up a GUI at your wish instead, then type 'startx' at the console prompt. (After logged in of course)

I'm not trying to sound condescending but it sounds like you might be fairly new to this. Good luck.

You can say that I am fairly new. I have used Knoppix for awhile and studied it in school. I will try that as soon as I can. I will update soon.

If you type "startx" but get errors instead of the GUI, please post the exact text of those errors.

If you want it to bring up a GUI login prompt automatically at boot you need to change your default runlevel. You do this by CAREFULLY editing the file '/etc/inittab' and changing the default from 3 to 4..

In Mandrake the GUI runlevel is 5, not 4:

id:5:initdefault:

;)

This is what happened...I installed Mandrake 10.0 community on Virtual PC and all went well until it came time to get the gui going. I could see some but not much. I can navigate around somewhat but I am not sure where to go and its driving me nuts. I so badly want to install this on a real drive.

It could very well be a problem with Mandrake not correctly detecting the correct settings for the virtual video card. As DMR stated, please provide us with the error message(s) :)

...I installed Mandrake 10.0 community on Virtual PC... I so badly want to install this on a real drive.

You might try doing just that. I doubt that Virtual PC is the problem, but you might have better luck if you installed and ran Mandrake natively.

As to the problem though:
The video card and monitor settings are stored in the /etc/X11/XF86Config file; if you can tell us the exact make/model of both your video card and your monitor we can at least tell you what driver/settings you should be using and then see if your config file is set up correctly.

I am not getting a error message. I can see the screen and it is hard to read. So it has to be the wrong settings somewhere down the line. Here are my specs for my motherboard:
Intel® Pentium 4 CPU 2.4Ghz 512 MB RAM
Socket 478
533MHz
VIA® ProSavageDDR P4M266A North Bridge VT8752
VIA® VT8235 South Bridge
Max. 2GB2 DDR DIMMsSupports DDR266 / DDR200Supports DDR333 (conditional)2 SDRAM DIMMsSupports PC133 / PC100
S3 GRAPHICS Savage8
VIA® VT1612A AC'97 Audio CODEC
Samsung 153v 1024x768

Can you post the contents of your /etc/X11/XF86Config file so that we can see exactly what graphics settings the system is using?

I'm not sure about Mandy 10; the file might also be named XF86Config-4.

The specs of your motherboard aren't important at this point. It is really important that we get the error messages that are displayed. If possible, before going into X, post the contents of /var/log/XFree86.0.log here.

Virtual PC, VMware, all of those emulation programs, use virtual devices, that work through your hardware. We need to know what problems Linux is having with the virtual devices.

If possible, before going into X, post the contents of /var/log/XFree86.0.log here.

Right- good idea; there might be some pertinent info in that log file as well.

I was not getting a error message and you would have to bear with me and maybe give me a few step by steps here and I can find what I need to post. In another scenerio I am trying to install on a HD and I burned the three ISO images onto CDs and I tried to install but it did not work so I used a floppy and all was well until it said that it appears not to be a Mandrake installation CD. It maybe needed a scsi driver to read the drive, I am not sure.

I was not getting a error message and you would have to bear with me and maybe give me a few step by steps here and I can find what I need to post.

Can you find the XF86Config file on your system? Try the following few commands to locate it (and remember, Linux is case-sensitive):

which XF86Config
whereis XF86Config
locate XF86Config

When you find the file, note the full path to the file (for example /etc/X11/XF86Config).

The file is a plain text file; once you locate it you should be able to copy it to a DOS/Windows floppy and take it to whatever computer you're using to post here. Open the file in something like Notepad and cut-n-paste the contents into your post:

1. Insert DOS-formatted floppy

2. Type the following to mount the floppy: mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

3. Copy the file by typing: cp /etc/X11/XF86Config /mnt/floppy
(Obviously, if the file resides in a different directory, use that path instead of "/etc/X11/XF86Config" in the above command)

4. Unmount the floppy by typing: umount /mnt/floppy

In another scenerio I am trying to install on a HD and I burned the three ISO images onto CDs and I tried to install but it did not work so I used a floppy and all was well until it said that it appears not to be a Mandrake installation CD.

Did you:

1. Check the MD5sums of the ISO files you downloaded?
2. Make sure to burn the ISOs to CD as images instead of just copying them?
3. Do a media check of the CDs?
More info on the above can be found here: http://www.linuxiso.org/, check the "help with iso images" links in the "Helpful Stuff" section.

It maybe needed a scsi driver to read the drive, I am not sure.

Shouldn't be an issue unless the drive actually is a SCSI drive. Is it?