Hi Everyone,

I'm having a bit of trouble installing KnoppMyth on a computer that's already running Win2003Server (on the primary bootable partition).

I have about 10GB of unallocated space and would like to use that for KnoppMyth, but am unable to get it to install.

I tried running in 'Manual Install' Mode and creating 4 additional linux partitions as per the instructions, but upon going back to the Manual Installation menu, I only get two options (1. Partition and 2. Quit). Aside from not being able to quit, I am also not able to proceed with installation.

Even after re-booting with newly set up partitions in place, I still can't get the KnoppMyth installer to see them.

Where am I going wrong and how do I get it to work?

I'd appreciate a walkthrough since this is my first time trying Linux (yeah, I'm a newbie)...

Cheers and thanks!

JBG

I have exactly the same problem. Manual installation on a secondary partition cannot proceed beyond partitioning. The same partition menu comes again and again and does not let you proceed.

I am using R4V3

JBG,

If you take a quick look around the forums you'll see you're not alone. I've posted my own and replied on a few others with this same problem. See the latest on the end of the following thread:

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=771.

Basically I've emailed Cecil about the problem and where I think the problem is. He forwarded it to Dale who he said is looking into it. In the mean time I'm going the Fedora/Jarod's guide route while I hope that this gets fixed. I'm also encouraging people

- Jason

well you have to understand the mindset here. knoppmyth was designed to be a settopbox. You don't really hear about lots of people complaining that they can't dual boot thier tivo or stalite box now do you? If you are wanting dual boot you would probably be better off with fedora or something else that is not designed to be a lean settopbox.

Knoppmyth is a Linux distribution. It's designed for set top boxes... but lots of people (like myself) want to boot multiple OS's on that set top box.

For example, Windows, so that I can play games on my TV. (Set top boxes lend themselves well to gaming, and Linux is far behind Windows in that regard at the moment).

The point is Knoppmyth is broken at the moment, and I'm doing what I can to help fix it for myself and the larger community... because it's the coolest Linux distribution for Myth by a long shot!

- Jason

Sorry, I in no way shape or form consider KnoppMyth broken(in this area). It was designed to run as the sole OS on a set-top box(auto install). We have not tested dual booting as neither Dale nor I run Windows at home. Some people do have success dual booting, some don't. I have NO interest in dual booting a set-top box(and didn't think anyone would want to dual boot a set-top box). Other than work which requires the use of Windows, I have don't use Windows at home. This doesn't mean we won't try and resolve this, it just isn't high on our priority list. We do appreciate and accept input from the community. Jason, your script is being looked at, Dale and I do have personal and professional lives. Things may not happen as quickly as one would wish. With dual booting working for some folks and not for others, it is difficult to say where the problem maybe.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Cecil,

The "broken" part comes because it doesn't do what it says it does. (Ie, manual partitioning.) As I mentioned in my email, I tried various combinations of manual partitioning... they all didn't work. (Stuck in a manual loop, complete with error message).

If manual partitioning wasn't an option in Knoppmyth (or Knoppix, or every other Linux distribution under the sun) then I wouldn't consider it "broken"... just missing that option that most/all other distributions had.

As far as I can tell, nobody has successfully used manual partitioning to install Knoppmyth... the only dual boot stories are people who pull out the original hard drive, autoinstall to a new one, put back the original drive and play with the boot sector stuff to rig it to boot.

Some people don't see the need to dual boot their set top box. That's cool, it all depends on what you use your box for. If you use it only to record shows, maybe listen to music, then it works great. But I want to use it as the "convergence media box" that everyone mentions, and unfortunately Linux doesn't have everything there yet.

That's why many people are forced to pursue options such as dual booting. It's still a "set top box". It will sit in my entertainment center, and be on all the time. Some people like to dual boot their Myth boxes with other flavors of Linux even. The most poular is for Windows though, as it offers a few things required by many set top boxes (Games primarily!)

I'm with you about having a professional and personal life. I've got a wife, 2 year old and a 3 year old and work (over) full time as an engineer. That's why Knoppmyth is so cool, because it has the potential to remove so much of the tedius/timeconsuming/error-prone steps required in "standard" distributions. Many don't seem to mind spending 50+ hours configuring all that stuff but at the few hours a week I have it's going to take months...

Let me know how I can help. Thanks again for your efforts so far. Take care.

- Jason

Hate to be rude, but take the "dual boot blinders" off and try this:
choose manual install
choose to partition, but before selecting your hdd, try to quit.

Still think it's not broken? R5A16 on my system this creates an endless loop.

Actually, several spots in the menu/scripting generate an endless loop when trying to quit. Why bother putting "quit" as an option if it doesn't work and you don't consider it broken?

I don't have cable at my new house (deep in the country!) so I haven't been using my set top box (it's being used as a dedicated gaming machine at a friends!) but I've been considering what I'll do if I eventually get satellite.

I figured by that time Knoppmyth might have fixed some of the installation problems, I had some friends looking for a similar solution. Oh well... hopefully someone will post if it eventually works!

- Jason

not being designed to dual boot is not an installation problem, it is a design decision. That's like saying a dodge neon won't go over 200 miles an hour so it's broken, it wasn't designed to go over 200 mph.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

A search for the word "appliance" will provide some other discussions of this topic.

Yes. You have options. Gentoo, Fedora, Ubuntu, etc., etc.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Then you don't have a proper understanding of the definition of "broken".

That's what I mean by "take off the dual boot blinders"... It's not a dual boot issue... The menu is broken, plain and simple.

That doesn't mean I hate knoppmyth. It's just a problem, and I guess cesman is taking it personal.

This is the wierdest response I've ever seen to a bug discovery: "It's not broken. Go use something else!"

well I agree that a quit option anywhere that does not work is broken, however the entire install is changing to a graphical install soon, so it's not worth spending too much time on at this moment.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

This might help resolve your problem:
How to move a knoppmyth install from /dev/hda to /dev/hdb