Alpha Linux Installation problems

[Steve Swinsburg]

I have a copy of RedHat 7.2 Alpha and have progressed through the install phase, but after it tells me about the install log it will generrate, it seems to freeze. There is constant hdd and cd activity but it won't respond. its like its in a perpetual loop.
Its been nearly 5 hours and its still doing this.

How would I go about rectifying this?
I ahve an Alphastation255 with 24 mb ram, 3 scsi hdds, all around 2gb each....

Could I install from my other pc, an athlon PC, using its cd drive? Help!!!!!

[Jerome Henry]

This means that the transaction rpm didn't start, seemingly because it couldn't get the right scsi disk to transfer image.

Do you ask for RAID ? Do you set up paritions on all your 3 HDs ? It could be a good idea to try first to install on sd1 only.

Have you read this ? It's for 7.1, but most should fit your install :

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.1-Manual/alpha-install-guide/

Installing from elsewhere will be harder, as adding to the scsi transaction problem, you'll add network. Do this only if you are sure that your CD rom is out on your alpha.

J

[Steve Swinsburg]

I have read heaps of docs...
The first drive wouldn't partitions too well, and it would lock, so I chose the 3rd drive to partition.

I'm pretty sure the CDROM works ok, like I can boot from it fine! its only 4x though.
Should I create a bigger swap space or something?

What if I change the order of the drives so that the one I want to install onto (the 3rd HDD) is actually the 1st?
Does this require changing their position on the SCSI cable or just their ID numbers?

Thanks.

[Jerome Henry]

Turning your 3rd to the firts place is indeed a good idea ! Changing their place is cleaner thant just the numbers (otherwise, your SCSI controler may assign lowest number on reboot back to the farthest device, which is not what you need).

As for swpa is concerned, 2 times RAM is the standard, but seeing your 24 mb, I feel that 75 to 100 MB would fit better (but it depends also on your applications).

What is sure is that the kernel itself needs 55 mb on 7.2 to install, it's safe to have at least that amount...

Good luck
J