installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Thu Aug 27 15:52 EDT 2020
Installing Linux.
I had to do some on-line research to learn that HP uses F10 (or ESC) to get to the BIOS at power-on.
My flash card with the DVD ISO wasn't recognized until I put it in a USB adapter.
Test this media & install RHEL 8.2: the test failed.
Doing the install without the test doesn't seem to have any problems.
Shrinking Windows C: partition. Size: 953074, available shrink: 912701, shrink: 873074, after shrink: 80,000MB
C: is now 78.13GB wih 38.76GB free. Windows also has 260MB for EFI and 512MB for Recovery
852.61GB partition available for RHEL.
I don't think I've seen much of MSWindows on non-work computers. There's all kinds of crap here. Of course, a work PC is not going to have Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft Store, games etc.
DeviceSizeContentType sda1260MB/boot/efiEFI sda216MBunknownstd sda378.13GBWindowsntfs sda4512MBWindows_RE_toolsntfs sda51024MB/bootxfs sda6851.61LVMrhel LVM50GB/rhel-rootxfs LVM5.77GBswaprhel-swapswap LVM795.84G/homerhel-homexfs
Warning: Processor has Simultaneous Multithreading enabled.
Thursday 19:13
Beginning actual installation (after setting options and partitioning).
Installing 1779 packages....
Thursday 19:50
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is now successfully installed and ready for you to use!
Go ahead and reboot to start using it!
I still need to do some changes to get Dual Booting RHEL 8 with Windows
No Wi-Fi Adapter Found
I apparently have the Realtek RTL8821CE. Others have seen this problem: installing Realtek 8821ce on RHEL 8
Thursday 20:44
I can boot Windows. And Linux. I have dual boot.
That WiFi card shows up on a Red Hat page that says "These card are not certified or supported with RHEL 7." But I have RHEL 8. But it doesn't recognize the card.
Friday 10:54
I looked a lot online for directions on getting the wireless card working in RHEL. I found more for Ubuntu (which also would have done the whole dual-boot install on its own), but nothing that said "THIS is how you do it, and it works" for RedHat. One of my co-workers has suggested that I should be able to use the Windows driver from RH using Wine (a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications).
Sat Aug 29 19:21:39 EDT 2020
WINE seems to have been a bum steer. Maybe it can do it, but I wasn't seeing it. WINE is a layer between the Linux Operating System and Windows applications. Applications make requests to the OS (get keyboard/mouse input, write to the screen, play audio, read/write disks, etc.), and WINE translates these Windows requests into Linux requests. My missing piece is the WiFi driver, the software between the OS (Linux) and the WiFi hardware (Realtek RTL8821CE). So this isn't the problem WINE is trying to solve.
Finding the right search string helps:install realtek 8821ce driver on rhel
I'm going to follow this video:How to install Realtek RTL8821CE WiFi Driver on Fedora ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PLFEF5JEkc
This video will show you how to easily install Realtek RTL8821CE WiFi Driver on Fedora and Fedora based distros (Redhat, CentOS ...)
Steps from the video:Connect to a wired Ethernet network
sudo dnf update
sudo dnf install dkms make kernel-devel -y
git clone https://github.com/tomaspinho/rtl8821ce.git
cd rtl8821ce
sudo ./dkms-install.sh
Disconnect from your Ethernet connection
Now you can connect to your Wi-Fi network
Wi-Fi is working now !
A different project installed cleanly for RHEL:git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git
cd rtw88
make
sudo make install
It would be easier if this were in a text file someplace, so I wouldn't have to retype text from a video. (see Saturday 22:20 - 22:40)
[Most of these commands still had problems. Or required steps that are not included here. But these were close enough that more web searches got me through.]
It would be really nice if each distribution (Arch, Bodhi, CentOS, Debian, Deepin, Elementary, Fedora, GNU/Linux, Kali, KDE Neon, Manjaro, Mint, MX, Oracle, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Zorin, et al) had its work-around lists for these problems. Even better, if they were collected together someplace for comparison - this would give people a place to compare when they were deciding which distribution to use. (I'm already directed to RHEL to match work.)
Saturday 21:17
I've connected the new laptop to wired Ethernet, and it sees the outside world. NTP has set the clock.
OLDNEW BrandLenovoHewlett Packard ModelT42017-BY3053CL Memory15.5GiB11.3GiB ProcessorIntel® Core™ i5-2520M CPU @ 2.50GHz x 4Intel® Core™ i5-1035G1 CPU @ 1.00GHz x 8 GraphicsIntel® HD Graphics 3000 (DNB GW2)Intel® UHD Graphics (Ice Lake 4x8 GT1) Display14.1"17.3" Resolution1600 x 9001920 x 1080 Disk2.0 TB909.1GB DistributionUbuntuRed Hat Enterprise Version18.04.5 LTS8.2 Kernel#113-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jul 9#1 SMP Mon Jul 20 Release4.15.0-112-generic4.18.0-193.14.3.el8_2.x86_64 OS type64-bit64-bit GNOME3.28.23.32.2
The HP has a backlit keyboard, which seems to be pretty common now. The Lenovo has the ThinkLight, a LED at the top of the screen that shines on the keyboard. A pretty simple and effective solution for typing in the dark. (Before that I had to use a plug-in USB light.)
The (left) control- and function-shift keys are swapped. I think the HP may match the layout on the Dell at the office - which doesn't count for much at the moment. Wouldn't it be nice if they all just decided on something did it the same way? (My opinion? Control should be closer, since it is used more often.)
Saturday 21:36The dkms package is not supplied or supported by Red Hat.
DKMS packages for RHEL are available in the third-party EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository
Linux: Installing DMKS on Red Hat/Centos
January 17, 2014
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL)
(after EPEL setup)
http://www.techpository.com/linux-installing-dmks-on-red-hatcentos/
$ sudo yum install kernel-devel
Saturday 22:20
Created a github.com account. (Had to use Chrome to see/hear the human-test challenge.)
Someone already has the name I would normally use, but none of my likely old email addresses was already taken. (So it's probably not an account I created years ago and forgot about.)
Saturday 22:24
New github account does not work for the git command.
Saturday 22:35
github account was not complete. There were steps off the bottom of the screen.
Saturday 22:40
There was a typo in the git command I typed from the youtu.be video. It didn't need an account at all.
Saturday 23:03
Disabled Secure Boot in BIOS.
Saturday 23:09
After rebooting the new laptop, it still doesn't see the WiFi hardware.
I am able to scp files between the laptops.
Sunday 00:04
Trying different code from https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88....
This does not have the pointer conflict error.
Sunday 00:18
I have WiFi on the new laptop.
Monday 00:40
I need to change the boot sequence to start with the internal hard drive instead of (1) any USB drive followed by (2) any DVD. The current settings make it easy for someone to grab control at boot with Linux on a thumbdrive.
Tuesday 01:45
I'm having trouble with the remote-access software (Citrix) for work. The installation instructions on the Citrix website didn't work, but an alternate method worked. (I think the same thing happened with Ubuntu.) Now the application runs, but it won't connect to the office. I think the problem is security certificates - As it was with Ubuntu. But one of the commands for fixing that - if the fix should be the same - isn't installed with RHEL. And the directory where Ubuntu had the missing certificates doesn't exist on RHEL; I copied the certs from the Ubuntu laptop.
Before that I tried to install SNAP, RHEL's application "store". That didn't work either, following directions from the RH site. I was hoping Citrix would be in the store, to simplify that installation.
Sad to say, Linux is NOT for everyone. It's not poised to take over the world. There's too many points where the documentation isn't quite right - or isn't there at all. Too many places where the average user may be completely stuck, and left with an unusable computer. Places where (s)he will need the help of someone experienced with installing software, or better, writing and debugging software. Someone who will understand what the cryptic error messages mean, and who can recognize the messages that aren't germane.
I'm not saying the "average user" can't figure this out. I'm saying no one should need to spend the time it takes to resolve these problems, and we shouldn't be solving problems over and over again when we upgrade the OS or the hardware.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/1166641.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Installing Linux.
I had to do some on-line research to learn that HP uses F10 (or ESC) to get to the BIOS at power-on.
My flash card with the DVD ISO wasn't recognized until I put it in a USB adapter.
Test this media & install RHEL 8.2: the test failed.
Doing the install without the test doesn't seem to have any problems.
Shrinking Windows C: partition. Size: 953074, available shrink: 912701, shrink: 873074, after shrink: 80,000MB
C: is now 78.13GB wih 38.76GB free. Windows also has 260MB for EFI and 512MB for Recovery
852.61GB partition available for RHEL.
I don't think I've seen much of MSWindows on non-work computers. There's all kinds of crap here. Of course, a work PC is not going to have Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft Store, games etc.
DeviceSizeContentType sda1260MB/boot/efiEFI sda216MBunknownstd sda378.13GBWindowsntfs sda4512MBWindows_RE_toolsntfs sda51024MB/bootxfs sda6851.61LVMrhel LVM50GB/rhel-rootxfs LVM5.77GBswaprhel-swapswap LVM795.84G/homerhel-homexfs
Warning: Processor has Simultaneous Multithreading enabled.
Thursday 19:13
Beginning actual installation (after setting options and partitioning).
Installing 1779 packages....
Thursday 19:50
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is now successfully installed and ready for you to use!
Go ahead and reboot to start using it!
I still need to do some changes to get Dual Booting RHEL 8 with Windows
No Wi-Fi Adapter Found
I apparently have the Realtek RTL8821CE. Others have seen this problem: installing Realtek 8821ce on RHEL 8
Thursday 20:44
I can boot Windows. And Linux. I have dual boot.
That WiFi card shows up on a Red Hat page that says "These card are not certified or supported with RHEL 7." But I have RHEL 8. But it doesn't recognize the card.
Friday 10:54
I looked a lot online for directions on getting the wireless card working in RHEL. I found more for Ubuntu (which also would have done the whole dual-boot install on its own), but nothing that said "THIS is how you do it, and it works" for RedHat. One of my co-workers has suggested that I should be able to use the Windows driver from RH using Wine (a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications).
Sat Aug 29 19:21:39 EDT 2020
WINE seems to have been a bum steer. Maybe it can do it, but I wasn't seeing it. WINE is a layer between the Linux Operating System and Windows applications. Applications make requests to the OS (get keyboard/mouse input, write to the screen, play audio, read/write disks, etc.), and WINE translates these Windows requests into Linux requests. My missing piece is the WiFi driver, the software between the OS (Linux) and the WiFi hardware (Realtek RTL8821CE). So this isn't the problem WINE is trying to solve.
Finding the right search string helps:install realtek 8821ce driver on rhel
I'm going to follow this video:How to install Realtek RTL8821CE WiFi Driver on Fedora ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PLFEF5JEkc
This video will show you how to easily install Realtek RTL8821CE WiFi Driver on Fedora and Fedora based distros (Redhat, CentOS ...)
Steps from the video:Connect to a wired Ethernet network
sudo dnf update
sudo dnf install dkms make kernel-devel -y
git clone https://github.com/tomaspinho/rtl8821ce.git
cd rtl8821ce
sudo ./dkms-install.sh
Disconnect from your Ethernet connection
Now you can connect to your Wi-Fi network
Wi-Fi is working now !
A different project installed cleanly for RHEL:git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git
cd rtw88
make
sudo make install
It would be easier if this were in a text file someplace, so I wouldn't have to retype text from a video. (see Saturday 22:20 - 22:40)
[Most of these commands still had problems. Or required steps that are not included here. But these were close enough that more web searches got me through.]
It would be really nice if each distribution (Arch, Bodhi, CentOS, Debian, Deepin, Elementary, Fedora, GNU/Linux, Kali, KDE Neon, Manjaro, Mint, MX, Oracle, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Zorin, et al) had its work-around lists for these problems. Even better, if they were collected together someplace for comparison - this would give people a place to compare when they were deciding which distribution to use. (I'm already directed to RHEL to match work.)
Saturday 21:17
I've connected the new laptop to wired Ethernet, and it sees the outside world. NTP has set the clock.
OLDNEW BrandLenovoHewlett Packard ModelT42017-BY3053CL Memory15.5GiB11.3GiB ProcessorIntel® Core™ i5-2520M CPU @ 2.50GHz x 4Intel® Core™ i5-1035G1 CPU @ 1.00GHz x 8 GraphicsIntel® HD Graphics 3000 (DNB GW2)Intel® UHD Graphics (Ice Lake 4x8 GT1) Display14.1"17.3" Resolution1600 x 9001920 x 1080 Disk2.0 TB909.1GB DistributionUbuntuRed Hat Enterprise Version18.04.5 LTS8.2 Kernel#113-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jul 9#1 SMP Mon Jul 20 Release4.15.0-112-generic4.18.0-193.14.3.el8_2.x86_64 OS type64-bit64-bit GNOME3.28.23.32.2
The HP has a backlit keyboard, which seems to be pretty common now. The Lenovo has the ThinkLight, a LED at the top of the screen that shines on the keyboard. A pretty simple and effective solution for typing in the dark. (Before that I had to use a plug-in USB light.)
The (left) control- and function-shift keys are swapped. I think the HP may match the layout on the Dell at the office - which doesn't count for much at the moment. Wouldn't it be nice if they all just decided on something did it the same way? (My opinion? Control should be closer, since it is used more often.)
Saturday 21:36The dkms package is not supplied or supported by Red Hat.
DKMS packages for RHEL are available in the third-party EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository
Linux: Installing DMKS on Red Hat/Centos
January 17, 2014
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL)
(after EPEL setup)
http://www.techpository.com/linux-installing-dmks-on-red-hatcentos/
$ sudo yum install kernel-devel
Saturday 22:20
Created a github.com account. (Had to use Chrome to see/hear the human-test challenge.)
Someone already has the name I would normally use, but none of my likely old email addresses was already taken. (So it's probably not an account I created years ago and forgot about.)
Saturday 22:24
New github account does not work for the git command.
Saturday 22:35
github account was not complete. There were steps off the bottom of the screen.
Saturday 22:40
There was a typo in the git command I typed from the youtu.be video. It didn't need an account at all.
Saturday 23:03
Disabled Secure Boot in BIOS.
Saturday 23:09
After rebooting the new laptop, it still doesn't see the WiFi hardware.
I am able to scp files between the laptops.
Sunday 00:04
Trying different code from https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88....
This does not have the pointer conflict error.
Sunday 00:18
I have WiFi on the new laptop.
Monday 00:40
I need to change the boot sequence to start with the internal hard drive instead of (1) any USB drive followed by (2) any DVD. The current settings make it easy for someone to grab control at boot with Linux on a thumbdrive.
Tuesday 01:45
I'm having trouble with the remote-access software (Citrix) for work. The installation instructions on the Citrix website didn't work, but an alternate method worked. (I think the same thing happened with Ubuntu.) Now the application runs, but it won't connect to the office. I think the problem is security certificates - As it was with Ubuntu. But one of the commands for fixing that - if the fix should be the same - isn't installed with RHEL. And the directory where Ubuntu had the missing certificates doesn't exist on RHEL; I copied the certs from the Ubuntu laptop.
Before that I tried to install SNAP, RHEL's application "store". That didn't work either, following directions from the RH site. I was hoping Citrix would be in the store, to simplify that installation.
Sad to say, Linux is NOT for everyone. It's not poised to take over the world. There's too many points where the documentation isn't quite right - or isn't there at all. Too many places where the average user may be completely stuck, and left with an unusable computer. Places where (s)he will need the help of someone experienced with installing software, or better, writing and debugging software. Someone who will understand what the cryptic error messages mean, and who can recognize the messages that aren't germane.
I'm not saying the "average user" can't figure this out. I'm saying no one should need to spend the time it takes to resolve these problems, and we shouldn't be solving problems over and over again when we upgrade the OS or the hardware.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/1166641.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]