OK – this is my first ever Linux install.
I got given an old Digital AlphaServer 1000A 5/400. This has
a 400MHz RISC CPU, 256MB ECC RAM and a single 2GB SCSI disk in a built-in 7
disk hot-swap enclosure.
Graphics is a Number 9 Motion 331 (Trio 64V+ I think).
I’ve done the following so far:
- upgraded the firmware
- switched to the SRM (as opposed to AlphaBIOS)
- worked out how to get the network card up at 100MHz FD
- installed Debian from a CD I downloaded (as the only
OS)
- set the system to auto-boot at power-up
- installed SAMBA and XFree86 on top of the basic profile
Now I’m a bit stuck:
- How do I change from DHCP to Static IP – I know
it’s just a text file somewhere – but what and where?
- What is the recommended text editor? I’ve had a
go with emacs, but it’s terribly arcane for a Windows user.
- Where is the SAMBA config file?
- Why doesn’t the XWindows work. I get “Starting
the Gnome Display Manager (gdm)” just before the login prompt, then
a box says “I cannot start the X server (your graphical
interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly. Would you
like to view the X server output to diagnose the problem?”. If
I say yes, the box is empty. It then asks me if I wanna run the X configuration
program. If I say yes, it asks for the root pwd, then tries to restart the
X server and goes round the loop again.
Any help much appreciated – but its only an
experiment, so don’t bust a gut ;-)
Cheers,
Alasdair Cunningham-Smith.
