Hikarunix FAQ for Linux newbies

If you are like me, then you were probably fascinated to learn that there was a flavor of Linux called Hikarunix dedicated to go. You took the time to burn it to a CD and got it running on your PC, and now you are staring at this strange desktop and wondering, "What next?" Or perhaps, "Why can't I use my mouse?" Or "Where's the Start button?" Rather than bash you over the head for daring to jump into the realm of Linux without already being an expert in it (like some would do), I thought it would be handy and friendly to start a FAQ to help out fellow Hikarunix users who may be trying out Linux for the first time. Many of these Q&As are based on my own problems and the answers I found through my own research. I'm not saying they are authoritative. They worked for my problem and on my equipment. YMMV.

Table of contents Why does the backup/restore utility freeze up when I try to use it? What if my USB pen drive is not detected? It doesn't seem to be in the file system table.

Why does the backup/restore utility freeze up when I try to use it?

Answer: Probably because you are telling it the wrong device. It is looking for something like hda1 or sda1 and not /dev/sda1 or /mnt/sda1. Here is how you find out what device to use. First, you need to pull up a bash shell. Right click on the desktop. On the context menu that comes up, go to Apps --> Shells --> Bash. At the command line, you type the following:

cat /etc/fstab

And get something like this result:

/dev/hda2  	/  	ext2  	defaults  	1 1
/dev/hdb1 	/home 	ext2 	defaults 	1 2
/dev/cdrom 	/media/cdrom 	auto 	ro,noauto,user,exec 	0 0
/dev/fd0 	/media/floppy 	auto 	rw,noauto,user,sync 	0 0
proc 	/proc 	proc 	defaults 	0 0
/dev/hda1 	swap 	swap 	pri=42 	0 0

This is an example of what is listed in your file system table, which is a list of the storage devices you've got mounted. You see in the middle, there are lines for your CD-ROM and floppy drives. The top two lines are the lines representing hard drive partitions. Those are your options for backing up and restoring. If you have a USB pen drive installed, and Hikarunix detected it , then you ought to have a line like this:

/dev/sda1     /mnt/usb      auto

That last four-character value in that first column (hda1, sda1) is what the backup/restore utility is looking for.

What if my USB pen drive is not detected? It doesn't seem to be in the file system table.

Answer: In bash, try:

mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1

--Edward Hammerbeck, 2005-07-18