GNU/Linux on a Dell Optiplex GX270

Steve Thompson
Originally written: 06 Nov 2003
Last updated: 07 Feb 2005

back

Happy to say that I have a new Dell desktop.

Step 1: Remove metallic “Designed for MS Windows xxx” sticker located on computer case.
Step 2: Install Debian GNU/Linux.

Machine specifications

Making a Debian Install Disk—Use Jigdo!

In making my Debian install disk I first try to use jigdo (Jigsaw Download), as suggested. For some reason I didn't get it to work with my Mac using fink so I try to download the entire CD directly. Downloading the full image is slow and risky. Definitely avoid doing this! I was able to get jigdo to work on my Debian laptop. I run apt-get install jigdo-file as root to install the program. Then following the directions at the Debian site, things went fine and in no time I have the .iso image.

Next, I transfer the .iso image to the Mac with rsync (I don't have CD burning on my GNU/Linux laptop). I then burn the image to a CD. Don't make the mistake of copying the .iso file directly to the disk—the disk will no boot! Instead, use the Mac's Disk Copy utility (Applications --> Utilities --> Disk Copy). Under File --> Burn Image... the proper install disk is produced.

(I did wander into the land of making-boot-floppies and here is what I learned: download the floppy image, insert a floppy, then (on your GNU/Linux system) run dd if=/path/to/floppy/image.file of=/dev/fd0 bs=1024 conv=sync ; sync. This gives you a boot floppy, that may or may not work.)

The Debian GNU/Linux Installation

Installing Woody is easy if you don't have your head up your ass (as I have most of the day). Boot from your fresh Debian disk and follow the instructions. Pretty hard right?

I got stuck at the Install the Base System with the error: debootstrap exited with an error (return value 1). After almost killing the cat, I find the problem: I wasn't careful when mounting the root filing system (/). My partition list is something like this:
hda1 --> boot partition with 50Mb
hda2 --> swap partition with 1024Mb
hda3 --> the main partition where everything else is going to live
 Being careless at the Initialize a Linux Partition section, I mounted the boot partition. Since it is small, the install routine ran out of room when loading the base system, thus the error. Obviously, this problem is solved by mounting hda3.

NIC at Nite

On my new machine I have a Intel PRO/1000 MT network interface card. The initial install of Debian didn't properly set up the driver so the machine is connectionless. Intel has a site describing how to get this card to work with GNU/Linux. I'm going to try to get this going now ...

This guy tries to compile and install the e1000 driver. It appears he had some success, but when trying to configure the NIC, something went wrong. The follow-up to this message suggest trying the kernel-image-2.4.20-bf2.4 since it has the e1000 driver with it.

I'm going to first try installing the driver directly. I download the latest file—e1000-5.2.16.tar.gz—from this site, and write it to a floppy disk. To format the disk run: fdformat /dev/fd0 as root.

Stop this! (For reasons I don't want to get into) I have failed with the said approach. I'm going to try to take the kernel approach using the 2.4.20 kernel. Going to the download page, you can download the .deb file. The initial install is barren. To get the software needed to compile and load the new kernel, I use my Debian CD. To use the CD as an apt source run (as root) apt-cdrom add. I continue by follow the nice instructions for using Debian's kernel-package kernel compiling method from this site. Since I don't have the networking working yet, I have to run dpkg -i on the kernel .deb file.

Now run make menuconfig to configure the kernel and select the following additional options:

Boot Problems

OK. I have had this same problem before. After compiling the kernel and following the steps here, the new kernel isn't booting. Looking into /boot you see the old and new kernels. It looks like LILO was set up properly. The /vmlinuz file points to the new kernel in /boot. For some reason the old kernel boots. I see this by looking at /var/log/dmesg. Stumped with this one. As with the last time this has happened (4 months ago with my Dell laptop), I can get around this with making a book disk (mkboot /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20.xxxx) and booting from it. This is undesirable since the system is dependent upon floppies for booting. There is some conflict LILO has with the new and old kernels. This is on my list to solve. If you know anything please email me (sct at ucsd dot edu).

NIC Works ... Get Hooked

The kernel is now configured properly and the Pro/1000 is all good. Now to set-up the network, edit the /etc/network/interfaces file. Add something like:

iface eth0 inet static
address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
netmask xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
network xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
broadcast xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
gateway xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

where you fill in the appropriate x's. This tells the computer the properties of the NIC eth0. Next, edit the /ect/hosts file to tell the computer who it is with something like:

127.0.0.1 localhost
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx lovemachine

where the x's make up your IP address and goober is your host name. Finally, to set up your name resolver, edit (or add) the file /etc/resolv.conf with:

nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

where the x's address your nameserver; mine is simply the gateway address.

X Windows Setup

Now, on to setting up the X Windows system. First I run, apt-get install xserver-common xserver-xfree86 xfree86-common, then run thru set-up questions:

The specs of the monitor can be found on the provided CD from Dell. Continue with the configuration:

The configuration tool is done. Now trying startx and, of course, it doesn't work. I get:

(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

This has happened to me when I set up the laptop. I just need to figure out what to do—I think the problem is that the version of XFree86 I'm using (4.1.0.1) doesn't support the nVidia GeForce4 MX 440 card I'm using.

I see that the testing distro included version 4.2.1. I will now upgrade to testing. To do this, change all the `stable' to `testing' in the /etc/apt/source.list file, run apt-get update, then apt-get upgrade (as root).

Now reconfigure X windows with the command dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86.

Looks like the newer XFree86 is yet to be installed; startx fails with same error. Run apt-get install xserver-common xserver-xfree86 xfree86-common. A bunch of stuff is installed.

OK. Now running startx it get a different error which is good since I'm now running version 4.2.1.1 and X is detecting my video card. I just have to deal with the new error(s), which is:

Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'; the X server's font paths might be misconfigured, remote font servers(s) may be unreachable, and/or local fonts may not be installed or are not configured correctly.

Now, run apt-get install x-window-system-core x-window-system. Ha ha, looks like it is installing fonts. (In retrospect, I believe this last command is the correct command to install x-windows!)

Running startx—something different. Screen blanks. Great. Time to get a beer.

When viewing the /var/log/XFree86.0.log file I see the following errors:

(EE) xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/input/mice No such device.
(EE) Generic Mouse: cannot open input device
(EE) PreInit failed for input device "Generic Mouse"
 and
Could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list

I don't think that the (EE) error are the problem since my Debian laptop has the same.

Got Things Working! (for now)

Ok. The X install was on the rocks, but after some searching I'm up and running! Credit goes to this dudes blog entry. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, here is my configuration file: XF86Config-4. In order to make this work, I have to use the vesa driver. Some time in the future I will revisit this problem and try a newer nVidia driver.

This is all for today.

top

Valid HTML