What is wrong with the Mint installer? Is it incomplete?
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it should be
somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be misleading.
You did put the necessary information in your first post, and I
must have scrolled too quickly on that one. That's the reason
initrd can't unpack, is it's a resource issue. Not enough RAM to
unpack initrd.
On 2/8/26 12:45, Graham J wrote:
What is wrong with the Mint installer? Is it incomplete?
I drifted away from Mint many years ago, but the last few versions that I used all
had a problem when the Ubiquity slideshow appeared during installation. Removing that
slideshow with the package manager while running live from the CD, before installing, fixed the issue.
Looks like they're still talking about that as recently as a few months ago. <https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=451308>
Whatever trouble you're running into, I suggest spending some time at the Mint forums. They were excellent whenever I needed help.
Paul wrote:
[snip]
What is wrong with the Mint installer? Is it incomplete?
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it
should be
somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be
misleading.
You did put the necessary information in your first post, and I
must have scrolled too quickly on that one. That's the reason
initrd can't unpack, is it's a resource issue. Not enough RAM to
unpack initrd.
OK understood. Pity about the misleading error message - as bad as Microsoft! Why doesn't the installer check for sufficient RAM?
Snip other good stuff.
I could hunt for more RAM for the ASUS M2N61-AR motherboard, but my
initial view was that I would see if the machine worked before investing time on that.
I have several other old machines (stored in a lock-up) which might be
newer than the HP Pavilion and could well have a useful amount of RAM -
so will try them first.
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it should
be somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be misleading.
And some ditch a wonderful, solid, working installer as is YaST and
invent a new one like Agama and release it on us while incomplete.
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 14:10:37 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
And some ditch a wonderful, solid, working installer as is YaST and
invent a new one like Agama and release it on us while incomplete.
Nothing to stop anybody continuing to include YaST in their distros.
On 2026-02-09 22:00, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 14:10:37 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
And some ditch a wonderful, solid, working installer as is YaST
and invent a new one like Agama and release it on us while
incomplete.
Nothing to stop anybody continuing to include YaST in their
distros.
That it is not maintained and adjusted for the current system
features.
Carlos E. R. wrote:
[snip]
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it should
be somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be
misleading.
Found another 1GB RAM, so the machine now has 2GB. It boots the Mint
DVD, takes several minutes to start, and looks useful.
So the next step is to try the installer.
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 22:14:54 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2026-02-09 22:00, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 14:10:37 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
And some ditch a wonderful, solid, working installer as is YaST
and invent a new one like Agama and release it on us while
incomplete.
Nothing to stop anybody continuing to include YaST in their
distros.
That it is not maintained and adjusted for the current system
features.
It is “maintained” by anybody who wants to take the code and make
updates to it.
On 2026-02-09 22:54, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 22:14:54 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2026-02-09 22:00, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 14:10:37 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
And some ditch a wonderful, solid, working installer as is YaST
and invent a new one like Agama and release it on us while
incomplete.
Nothing to stop anybody continuing to include YaST in their
distros.
That it is not maintained and adjusted for the current system
features.
It is “maintained” by anybody who wants to take the code and make
updates to it.
There are none.
Graham J wrote:
Carlos E. R. wrote:
[snip]
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it should be somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be misleading.
Found another 1GB RAM, so the machine now has 2GB. It boots the Mint DVD, takes several minutes to start, and looks useful.
So the next step is to try the installer.
Done!
Took about 2 hours from booting the DVD to having the update manager install everything it thought it needed.
Now to play, so more questions coming ...
On Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:54:20 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2026-02-09 22:54, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 22:14:54 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2026-02-09 22:00, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 14:10:37 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
And some ditch a wonderful, solid, working installer as is YaST
and invent a new one like Agama and release it on us while
incomplete.
Nothing to stop anybody continuing to include YaST in their
distros.
That it is not maintained and adjusted for the current system
features.
It is “maintained” by anybody who wants to take the code and make
updates to it.
There are none.
If you care so much, why don’t you step forward to do it?
Remember the software only existed because somebody cared enough to
create it in the first place.
The code doesn’t write itself, you know.
Because I don't have the skill set required.Pay someone who does. SUSE did.
Remember the software only existed because somebody cared enough to
create it in the first place.
The code doesn’t write itself, you know.
No, in this case it was a company that created and maintained it, for business purposes, for decades.
The "top" command can show you (status lines) how your supply of
memory is going, and how much you have "dipped into swap".
On 2026-02-10 20:34, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
If you care so much, why don’t you step forward to do it?
Because I don't have the skill set required.
No, in this case it was a company that created and maintained it,
for business purposes, for decades.
Carlos writes:
Because I don't have the skill set required.Pay someone who does. SUSE did.
Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
Remember the software only existed because somebody cared enough to
create it in the first place.
The code doesn’t write itself, you know.
Carlos writes:
No, in this case it was a company that created and maintained it, for
business purposes, for decades.
I.e., they cared enough to create it and maintain it. A company is a
group of people.
The code doesn’t write itself, you know.
A company is a group of people.
Carlos writes:
Because I don't have the skill set required.Pay someone who does. SUSE did.
Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:--
Remember the software only existed because somebody cared enough to
create it in the first place.
The code doesn’t write itself, you know.
Carlos writes:
No, in this case it was a company that created and maintained it, for
business purposes, for decades.
I.e., they cared enough to create it and maintain it. A company is a
group of people.
On 11/02/2026 6:19 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
A company is a group of people.
.... who are, generally, trying to make a buck out of their product!!
On 2026-02-11 10:21, Daniel70 wrote:
On 11/02/2026 6:19 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
A company is a group of people.
.... who are, generally, trying to make a buck out of their product!!
And I sustain that they will make fewer bucks by ditching YaST. YaST was
the sole product that made SUSE different and interesting.
On Tue, 2/10/2026 11:14 AM, Graham J wrote:
Graham J wrote:
Carlos E. R. wrote:
[snip]
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it should be somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be misleading.
Found another 1GB RAM, so the machine now has 2GB. It boots the Mint DVD, takes several minutes to start, and looks useful.
So the next step is to try the installer.
Done!
Took about 2 hours from booting the DVD to having the update manager install everything it thought it needed.
Now to play, so more questions coming ...
The "top" command can show you (status lines)
how your supply of memory is going, and how much
you have "dipped into swap".
Paul
Because I don't have the skill set required.
Pay someone who does. SUSE did.
I don't have that money.
A company is a group of people.
.... who are, generally, trying to make a buck out of their product!!
htop is similar but also can act as a general task manager
Now to play, so more questions coming ...
Graham J wrote:
[snip]
Now to play, so more questions coming ...
File sharing with Windows set up, from <https://ipv6.rs/tutorial/Linux_Mint_Latest/Samba/>
Firefox on Mint shows the [samba_share] section in as a single line in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file ... confused me for a bit.
Installed xrdp and can now use remote desktop from my Windows PC
More playing soon ....
Carlos E. R. wrote:
[snip]
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it should
be somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be
misleading.
Found another 1GB RAM, so the machine now has 2GB. It boots the Mint
DVD, takes several minutes to start, and looks useful.
So the next step is to try the installer.
On 2026-02-09, Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:
Carlos E. R. wrote:
[snip]
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it should
be somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be
misleading.
Found another 1GB RAM, so the machine now has 2GB. It boots the Mint
DVD, takes several minutes to start, and looks useful.
Well Mint says it needs.
2GB RAM (4GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
20GB of disk space (100GB recommended).
1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).
I would look for another 2GB of ram. Working with 2 GB RAM is going to wear you down.
So the next step is to try the installer.
On 4 Mar 2026 23:48:34 GMT
Gordon <Gordon@leaf.net.nz> wrote:
On 2026-02-09, Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:I'd suggest trying an older or less resource intense linux - Puppy or Tinycore, though these use mounted "backup" images - different to
Carlos E. R. wrote:
[snip]
The installers have a minimum memory requirement to run, to; it should >>>> be somewhere in the documentation. And the messages they give can be
misleading.
Found another 1GB RAM, so the machine now has 2GB. It boots the Mint
DVD, takes several minutes to start, and looks useful.
Well Mint says it needs.
2GB RAM (4GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
20GB of disk space (100GB recommended).
1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).
I would look for another 2GB of ram. Working with 2 GB RAM is going to wear >> you down.
mainstream linux implementations.
I have a 20year-old laptop, boots Tinycore happily in 1G. disk images are
of the order 10's of megs, not gigs.
| Sysop: | DaiTengu |
|---|---|
| Location: | Appleton, WI |
| Users: | 1,116 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 85:22:01 |
| Calls: | 14,305 |
| Files: | 186,338 |
| D/L today: |
629 files (178M bytes) |
| Messages: | 2,525,478 |