Joho the Blog
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December 10, 2006
I'm trying yet again to install Linux to use as a desktop machine. Ubuntu won't install because it tells me there's "no RNG," which apparently is a random number generator. Any way around this? (I'm trying to install Ubuntu 6.10, desktop edition, on a pretty new Intel machine. I can't say that Kubuntu handled this error very gracefully: No explanation, no hints, no joy :( [Tags: ubuntu linux] Posted
by D. Weinberger at December 10, 2006 02:30 PM
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Comments
Wow, that's a strange message. Could you give more context to the error, and the full message if there's more? "no RNG" isn't usefully Googleable.
Posted by: Chris | December 10, 2006 02:56 PM
If you can't install Linux, what hope do the rest of us have? No wonder Windows has market dominance.
I would like to switch to Linux sometime in the near future, but I've yet to find an easy to load version. I tried to follow some tutorials on how to split my hard drive and have a dual boot system, but these were much too complex for the average user. All I've been able to do so far is run Ubuntu off a CD :-(
Posted by: Harold Jarche | December 10, 2006 02:58 PM
How old is the PC you are trying to install on?
I've installed Ubuntu on many PCs without trouble, but the oldest was probably a Dell circa 2001.
Posted by: billo | December 10, 2006 05:15 PM
It gave me a long string of numbers (too long for an error msg or for an address) and then the "RNG not detected" msg. All I could find googling for it was maybe a hint that it identifies Intel chips by seeing if they support RNG, but I'm really not sure.
The computer was new a year ago. Homebrew but made out of well-known parts.
By the way, I was installing Kubuntu because that's what you get automatically - without being asked or told - when you download the desktop version at www.ubuntu.com (or is it .org?).
Thanks!
Posted by: David Weinberger | December 10, 2006 06:09 PM
It shouldn't be fatal. Linux will instead use its pseudo random number generator, so you will be fine. See this problem discussed at linuxquestions.org for the details. Good luck,
Posted by: Karl | December 10, 2006 07:06 PM
Seems like that likely isn't your problem -- if the boot stopped there and nothing further happened, perhaps the problem is in whatever it tried to do after deciding to use a PRNG instead. It would help if we could get an actual boot log; for example, a digital camera photo of the last thing you see on the screen.
Posted by: Chris | December 11, 2006 12:21 AM