Hi.
I've been using various flavors of Linux for years, but haven't needed to do a fresh installation of any Debian-based distro since 2003 or so. This is my first time using Ubuntu/Kubuntu. A friend is hoping to use an older desktop (which runs Windows XP just fine) to learn more about Linux, so we've unplugged the XP drive, plugged a spare drive in for the Linux install, and will mess with dual booting later once things are working.
The problem is getting anything installed in the first place. It took 3 burns before we got a CD that would get past the initial "kubuntu logo" and boot menu. Selecting the "try without installing" seems to work, in that we get a console prompt. Selecting "install kubuntu" fails with some huge long error that looks like a python traceback, but then the screen clears and we get a shell prompt again before we can read the errors.
If I try removing the "splash" boot option and adding one of the vga= options, I can get a working framebuffer text console prompt. I remember how to get to console #7, which in theory has X running on it. There's nothing there. Looking through /var/log/Xorg.0.log and Xorg.failsafe.log gives no error (EE) lines at all. Xorg.0.log ends with "AddScreen/ScreenInit failed for driver 0" which is totally uninformative. Xorg.failsafe.log ends with a call stack that ends about 20 lines deep with "/usr/bin/X blah blah signal 11".
Sorry I can't copy and paste exact text. The target machine is in another room and has no network.
Is there some kind of text-only installer to run at the command prompt? I think everything keeps failing because of X graphics problems. I don't care about X or graphics right now, I just want a working bootable system. No matter what we try, we get some kind of error involving X, which is extremely frustrating.
I've been using various flavors of Linux for years, but haven't needed to do a fresh installation of any Debian-based distro since 2003 or so. This is my first time using Ubuntu/Kubuntu. A friend is hoping to use an older desktop (which runs Windows XP just fine) to learn more about Linux, so we've unplugged the XP drive, plugged a spare drive in for the Linux install, and will mess with dual booting later once things are working.
The problem is getting anything installed in the first place. It took 3 burns before we got a CD that would get past the initial "kubuntu logo" and boot menu. Selecting the "try without installing" seems to work, in that we get a console prompt. Selecting "install kubuntu" fails with some huge long error that looks like a python traceback, but then the screen clears and we get a shell prompt again before we can read the errors.
If I try removing the "splash" boot option and adding one of the vga= options, I can get a working framebuffer text console prompt. I remember how to get to console #7, which in theory has X running on it. There's nothing there. Looking through /var/log/Xorg.0.log and Xorg.failsafe.log gives no error (EE) lines at all. Xorg.0.log ends with "AddScreen/ScreenInit failed for driver 0" which is totally uninformative. Xorg.failsafe.log ends with a call stack that ends about 20 lines deep with "/usr/bin/X blah blah signal 11".
Sorry I can't copy and paste exact text. The target machine is in another room and has no network.
Is there some kind of text-only installer to run at the command prompt? I think everything keeps failing because of X graphics problems. I don't care about X or graphics right now, I just want a working bootable system. No matter what we try, we get some kind of error involving X, which is extremely frustrating.
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