Installation help!

[Monish]

I am a newbie to the GNU/Linux system. I've run gNewSense 2.3 using a bootable 'live' USB memory stick. During the installation process( to install the os on a hard disk ) at the 'Prepare disk space' step, instead of my computer's hard disk as the option i get the USB memory stick as the drive to install the os onto. How can i change this, to select the hard disk drive instead?

[reed9]

The harddisk should be listed as an option during the install. Gnewsense 2.3 is based on Ubuntu 8.04, so this guide should look similar to the the Gnewsense installer. On the "prepare disk space" step, it only gives an option for the USB drive?

On another note, if you're installing gnewsense because you value and want only free software running, more power to you, but if not, as a new person coming to linux, I would recommend going with regular Ubuntu or Linux Mint, perhaps. Assuming you want to be able to watch flash videos online, or play movies, or whatnot. Also, gnewsense hasn't had a release is two years and is getting a little long in the tooth.

If you do want a completely free system, check out Trisquel, which just released it's latest version on March 24th.

[Monish]

Yes, it gives the USB i used to boot the os as the destination to install. But this happens only on my pc. It doesn't happen on my friend's computer. On it , i got both options: The hard disk and the usb as the install destinations. What could be the reason for this? I mean, why is it happening only on my pc?



Well, i've basically started programming about a year ago(mostly C++). As of now i am at the basic level, but i'd like to get better, so i want to view source codes, study them, learn more and become a better programmer. So my motive is just to learn, i do not know much on the issue of 'free software' as of now, though i like the basic idea, as it enables me to learn. Also, Could you also please tell me what the difference is between Ubuntu and gNewSense?

[reed9]

I've never run across your problem before, so I'm really not sure. I would guess either a hardware problem on your computer, or a bug in gnewsense with your computer. If you try other distros and the same thing happens, I would assume it's your hardware.

The biggest difference between Ubuntu and Gnewsense is that Gnewsense only includes "free software". Since an awful lot of hardware has no completely free drivers, and most digital media fall under licenses or patents that are not free, it can be difficult to run a completely free system and most people are not willing to put in the effort to do so.

[Monish]

Oh, in that case i'll try running my distro on a few other systems and see what happens. Like you said, if it's happening only on my system, maybe there's some problem with the hardware, maybe the 'communication' between hardware/software isn't happening properly or something.


Anyway, i think i'll also try to use an external hard disk drive and see if the computer detects that, and i can install the os on it. I'll try installing other distros as well, and see if there is a problem with my particular gNewSense distro. I'll get back here if i have more trouble. Thank you for your time and the help you gave!