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Question on Linux and Dual Booting....

post #1 of 12
11/7/05 at 4:53pm
Thread Starter 
I have been doing research on Linux and what type I want to run. I wanted to say that this will be a new venture, as I have no prior experience with it. I was looking at Red Hat, Novell, and Mandrake Linux. Which do you run, or recommend and why?? I just want to be able to have an open mind when making my decision, and make sure I didnt overlook anything.

I also will be dual booting. I have Microsoft XP Media Center SP2. I know i need to partition the drive with a VFAT partition to hold the Linux /boot records. How do I do that, as I have a ton of crap on my HDD already, and want to make a small partition. Also I need to know how to make the system recognize i have 2 OS's to choose from.....

Any info or suggestions is appreciated
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post #2 of 12
11/7/05 at 9:45pm
get kubuntu, kubuntu.org

and i have no idea what youre talking about with boot records. you need a /swap partition which should be as big as your ram, even though that is overkill IMO, but i think it is required to do suspend to disk. you can get by probably with a 200mb swap partiion if you are low on space. kubuntu needs 1.6ish GB to install, so you will want a / (read: root) partition which is at teh very least 2gb, 5gb would be good, 7-8gb would the be the most you would want, it just depends on how many programs you want to install. then you would need a /home partition for your stuff. this can be as big as you want it, give it is much as you can spare, but make it at least 4GB. basically, you are looking at about 10gb for your linux install.

Finally, the kubuntu installer will install a boot loader for you, which lets you choose between booting kubuntu and windows.
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post #3 of 12
11/7/05 at 10:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by drizek
get kubuntu, kubuntu.org

and i have no idea what youre talking about with boot records. you need a /swap partition which should be as big as your ram, even though that is overkill IMO, but i think it is required to do suspend to disk. you can get by probably with a 200mb swap partiion if you are low on space. kubuntu needs 1.6ish GB to install, so you will want a / (read: root) partition which is at teh very least 2gb, 5gb would be good, 7-8gb would the be the most you would want, it just depends on how many programs you want to install. then you would need a /home partition for your stuff. this can be as big as you want it, give it is much as you can spare, but make it at least 4GB. basically, you are looking at about 10gb for your linux install.

Finally, the kubuntu installer will install a boot loader for you, which lets you choose between booting kubuntu and windows.
Cool. I think im going to run Novell SUSE. I have 220Gb to work with total, so 10-30Gb shouldnt be an issue. Will the auto install partition format wipe out my windows data, or should I leave it alone??? Thanks
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post #4 of 12
11/7/05 at 11:26pm
I run Fedora Core 4. It is a very popular and regularly updated distro. If you want to install it on your current drive without reformating the entire drive you will need a program like Partition Magic. It will allow you to create a partition on the drive without losing any of the data.
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post #5 of 12
11/7/05 at 11:27pm
no, dont auto partition, make sure to do custom so you can be on top of it all, dont want anything screwy to happen with the automatic one. with something as important as this, best to be in control.

things to keep in mind, make sure that you enable user_xattr for your home partition, and choose reiserfs as the filesystem for your /home and / partitions. the swap partition will just use swap. user_xattr is not needed and if you cant figure it out, dont worry about it. however it improves(but isnt required for) support to index your harddrive for quick searching, similair to spotlight on OSX.

and as a sidenote, if you end up liking linux, there are versions made for powerpc, so you can dual boot on your mac as well.
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post #6 of 12
11/8/05 at 12:09am
Thread Starter 
You have a PM
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post #7 of 12
11/8/05 at 12:40am
do a backup before anything!

youll be glad you did if you mess up.!!!
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post #8 of 12
11/8/05 at 12:48am
This is your first time. Download and burn Fedora Core 4. Use Partition magic to partition your drive without losing anything currently on it. Boot your comp from the FC4 install DVD and install it on the partition you made. The install will guide you through the whole process.
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post #9 of 12
11/9/05 at 9:09pm
Make sure you have your data backed up, then install SUSE 10. Tweak the default partition config to reflect the appropriate size, and let it do it's job. SUSE is about the best distro out there right now. IMHO. I'm not an expert though, so take it with a grain of salt.
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post #10 of 12
11/9/05 at 10:21pm
Thread Starter 
HOT DAMN, IM BACK.......Guess what happens when a Linux install fails, and you dont have a driver CD??? You guessed it. I got to reinstall XP MCE and look at it for a whole day while they sent the CD's..... Im back though, and with a stripped down install and faster than ever. I'll let you know as soon as I have SUSE 10 running. I still need to reinstall games, and do a 2nd partition.
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post #11 of 12
11/10/05 at 2:22am
You should have done the partition while you were reinstalling. It would be easier than buying a program to partition a used drive. Once again I have used SUSE and Fedora Core 1-4 and I would definatly recommend you get Fedora.
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post #12 of 12
11/16/05 at 3:07pm
Whatever you do make sure you leave Windows as the first partition. If anything else comes before windows other than an empty partition, XP will pretend not to work or boot, thus making you think that other operating system must have screwed up your disk.
Also if you have a new laptop dont worry about the 1024 cylinder boot limit.
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