Mint 14 on old laptop?

[seavagabond]

Next try: will attempt to boot from the USB with Plop boot manager and install Linux Mint 13 "Maya" - Xfce (32-bit).

[excollier]

If you figure out how to use Plop, will you post here please? I have looked at the notes with the download and can't figure out what to do with it.
I would like to put Mint 13 on my old laptop too, before I hand it over to my mother.
Good luck with the attempt.

[seavagabond]

Started making sense of the instructions how to create the Plop Linux - Bootable USB drive.

But now stuck since I cannot find the bash command to recreate the partition /dev/sdb1 that I must have deleted when reformatting the bootable Usb drive with Linux Mint 13 "Maya" - Xfce – 32-bit.

I followed the instructions on how to reformat the Usb drive at:

UNIX/Linux Bash Shell Scripting
(http://www.bashguru.com/2011/11/how-to- ... linux.html)

To reformat the Usb drive I used the following commands:

Code: Select all

umount /dev/sdc1

and

Code: Select all

sudo mkfs.vfat -n "KVMREDDY" -I /dev/sdc1

Now, following the instructions at
http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux/usb.html
I run

Code: Select all

sudo mkdir /mnt/usb

then

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb -t vfat

but it returns:

Code: Select all

mount: special device /dev/sdb1 does not exist

So I'm stuck!

[cwsnyder]

I recommend using the Plop boot manager burned from the .ISO file to a CD (if you need a bootable CD) or written to a floppy from the .IMG file (if you have a floppy drive) and allow Plop to find the USB stick which contains the Linux distro you want to install.

[seavagabond]

I run the commands again and I got:

Code: Select all

francesca@PORTEGE-R500 /media $ mkdir /mnt/usb
mkdir: cannot create directory `/mnt/usb': File exists
francesca@PORTEGE-R500 /media $ mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb -t vfat
mount: only root can do that
francesca@PORTEGE-R500 /media $ sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb -t vfat
[sudo] password for francesca:
mount: special device /dev/sdb1 does not exist
francesca@PORTEGE-R500 /media $

Why the “special device /dev/sdb1 does not exist”?

If I knew how to create that /dev/sdb1 partition I would be done.

cwsnyder
While I started to make sense of the instructions how to create a Plop Linux - Bootable USB drive (http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux/usb.html) I really cannot understand the instructions about Plop Linux - Create a LiveCD (http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux/livecd.html).

I understand the following instructions at http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux/livecd.html:

1.1. Burn an ISO image
You have to download the file ploplinux-4.2.2.iso
K3b is an easy to use GUI for the Linux burner programs. You can simply burn the ISO to a disc with a few mouse clicks.
If you prefer the command line, then use the following commands.

1.1.1. Burn on CD
cdrecord is the Linux tool to burn CD ISO images.
Burn the ISO with cdrecord:
cdrecord -v dev=<devicename> <iso image>
Example:
If your cd writer drive is /dev/hdd.
cdrecord -v dev=/dev/hdd ploplinux-4.2.2.iso

Then do I copy the file linuxmint-12-lxde-cd-32bit.iso to the USB drive or remake it as a bootable USB drive?

How does Plop Linux know to boot from the usb drive and not from the CD?

[cwsnyder]

The Plop Linux boot manager is like the Super GRUB boot manager or LILO boot manager in that you boot into the boot manager and select the device from which you wish to boot. The advantage of using the Plop Linux boot manager over the BIOS boot manager is that it will find the bootable USB thumb drive installation or DVD installation (if you boot from the floppy version of the boot manager) that is not found by your BIOS boot manager.

Plop on a CD would boot into the boot manager, which would then allow you to choose which operating system you would wish. This would give you the option of having an installed USB disk version of LM 14, for example, and boot into it after booting the Plop CD boot manager.

[seavagabond]

cwsnyder
I downloaded the file ploplinux-4.2.2.iso
and burnt a CD.
I loaded the CD and inserted the bootable Usb drive in the Sony Vaio. When I started it did start with Plop Linux (GREAT!)
In the menu I selected “Plop Boot Manager”.
A small menu appeared with the options:

hda partition 1
floppy
cdrom
usb
network
setup
about
shutdown

I selected “usb”

A new screen appeared with:

Loading EHCI Driver
Searching on Hosts
Host 1
Port 3: service connected

Then nothing happens.

After reformatting the Usb drive I re-created a bootable Usb and the outcome was the following:

Code: Select all

sudo dd if=~/Desktop/linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso of=/dev/sdb oflag=direct bs=1048576
811+0 records in
811+0 records out
850395136 bytes (850 MB) copied, 90.9042 s, 9.4 MB/s


Is there something wrong with the bootable usb drive? What else can I try?

[seavagabond]

Even with Plop Linux the laptop refuses to boot from the USB, I tried with both Mint 13 Xfce and Mint 12 Lxde.
Still using Plop Linux I could boot from the CD version of Linux Mint 13 Maya 32-bit made by Gutknecht (viewtopic.php?f=46&t=103449) but it only runs from the CD.
Why is the laptop starting from the CD, but not installing Linux?
I will try now to create a LiveCD with Plop Linux ….

[seavagabond]

Non start, I thought the idea was to include the Mint ISO file in the Plop Linux CD itself (http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux/livecd.html#licreate) but maybe not.

[seavagabond]

Always using Plop Linux booting manager I tried to install Ubuntu 12.10 from a bootable usb, then tried Ubuntu 12.04, but the laptop wouldn't boot from the usb drive.

I burnt a CD with Ubuntu 12.10 (the mini.iso that would fit in the CD)
and finally the laptop started to boot, only to find out that the PAE is missing in the laptop.

Now, what Linux (if possible Mint) version will be supported by a laptop without PAE?

[seavagabond]

Found a Ubuntu 12.04 non-PAE mini.iso, it is installing fine with Plop Linux only to find out that
one needs to be an electronic engineer to complete the installation. I need to know what is the Wireless ESSID, the eth1, the DHCP hostname, WEP security key, … or abort installation.
Been on this ten days now …. I had enough.

[seavagabond]

OK, after several attempts with 2 DVDs and 4 CDs, 3 attempts with bootable USB drive, in total having tried to install Mint 14 Cinnamon, Mint 13 Mate, Mint 13 Mate reduced CD version, Mint 13 Xfcce and Mint 12 Lxde CD version, I finally installed Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS with Xfce4 desktop downloading the mini.iso image from:
Index of /ubuntu/dists/precise/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/non-pae
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... t/non-pae/
I used Plop Linux booting manager to get the laptop to boot from the CD.
I should be able to upgrade to Mint 13 now ….

[seavagabond]

Mint 13 Mate installed and working, at last! It only took ten days.

@excollier, it took me two full days reading over and over again the page to understand how Plop Linux works, also suggested by cwsnyder, but basically it boils down to:
1. download ploplinux-4.2.2.iso at http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux/livecd.html
2. burn it on a CD
3. burn the .iso file of the operating system you want to install on another CD
4. insert the Plop Linux CD in the computer
5. restart the computer
6. a menu will appear, select Plop Linux manager or Plop manager (not Plop Installation)
7. a new small menu will appear with the options: HDA partition, Floppy, CDROM, USB, Network
8. select CDROM
9. take out the CD with Plop Linux and insert the one with the .iso file to install
10. restart the computer and it will boot from the CD (Ubuntu in my case)

On the old Sony Vaio, Mint would start as Live CD but Ubuntu installed properly.

As vicking777 says in his post http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=94719, there's certainly some issues with Mint and old computers.

Ah, it helps taking some passiflora drops or camomile tea between one attempt and the other.
Cheers

P.S. Certainly not the weather for motorbikes, I suppose you have quite a lot of snow where you are!

[seavagabond]

I forgot to mention the excellent tutorial [How to] Convert Ubuntu 12.04 to Linux Mint 13
http://blog.shaffner.net/how-to-convert-ubuntu-12-04-to-linux-mint-13/

that allowed me to convert Ubuntu 12.04 to Linux Mint 13.