nah51dog :
I plan on trying both antix and mepis tonight... The problem is though that I can not get them to install onto the harddrive! I guess I need something that can clear and format the harddrive without an operating system. Is there a program specifically designed for that? Or how would I go about doing that before I start?
Begin by downloading an early version (1.3.5) of SystemRescueCD at sourceforge (
SystemRescueCd - Browse /sysresccd-x86/1.3.5 at SourceForge.net)
Next, either a) get UNetbootin from the same source (
UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads) then make a bootable small USB Flash Drive using UNetbootin and the sysresccd-x86-1.3.5 ISO file, both just downloaded or b) download the ISO file and burn it to a CD at no more than 8X
Set your system BIOS to boot to either USB or cdrom first, then boot to your new System Rescue CD USB stick or CD.
After it boots, SysRescCD wants you to hit defaults (hit Enter) a couple times. When you end up at the multi-colored prompt on the page asking user to enter either "startx" or "wizard," type in the desired "startx" and Enter.
This brings up the XFCE mouse then a yellow-colored terminal.
In the yellow-colored terminal, type the command "gparted".
Partition your hard drive. If you don't know how, use the Slackware basic strategy of
one partition for root ( / ) -- 10GB (or to copy DVDs use 15GB), use ext4 file system;
one partition for swap -- one gig should do; and
one partition for /home -- most or all of the remainder
(keep some unallocated should you desire to expand one or add a partition later).
NOTE: in the OS install, when partition dialog pops up, choose Manual and then either Edit or Modify for each partition created previously with gparted, telling it to yes, use the partition, format it using ext4 file system for / and /home; swap should be okay. So, write down how you partition, noting /dev/sda1 or sda2 or sda3, size, label (if any), and file system (ext4).
It's easy. When done partitioning, simply enter the command "init 6" in the yellow terminal window and reboot follows.
Put your install or LiveCD disk in the cdrom drawer before typing "init 6" and you will boot to it.