SUSE (Linux) on my i9300....So long Mr. Gates!

Did the same thing last night (and tonight).

I use Ubuntu for everything but gaming.

That's great news - I'm going to be putting Kubuntu onto my XPS once it's here and keeping a windos partition purely for gaming.

Do you guys dual boot or do you use a bootable external drive?

I used Partition Magic to create a 10 GB partition for Linux.

I still retain all of my music on my Windows drive and just mount it under Linux and play it from my Windows partition.

10 gigs is plenty thus far.

I dual boot with Grub.

Hi GZW,

I was thinking of organising an eSATA drive to use via the express card slot, sticking windows on a partition on the external drive and booting from it when I want a gaming sesh. That way my laptop feels 'cleaner' ehehehe.

The first thing to do of course is soak my laptop in soapy water overnight so I can get the windows sticky label off

I'm going to vote that it won't work.

Windows doesn't like to be second on the MBR, but you can try it.

Hi GZS (sorry about the moniker mixup above!)

Yeah I noticed that when setting up a dual boot with win2k. As long as Win2K was installed first it was fine. Dear old windows (bless her heart) really likes to think its the only OS installed doesn't it. As for XP? I've managed to limit my exposure to it so far. I have no idea whether it will be a pain in the freckle or not, though I fear you are very probably right

Speaking of dual booting, we may need to be careful with the next gift from Mephisto: Vista. Looks like there could be 'inadvertant complications' with dual booting setups...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04...neier_infosec/

Once I get moved into the XPS and organised I'd like to post a guide here for others wanting to give Kubuntu a go. Could be a hoot

I'm sure dual booting XP as a secondary will give you an assload of problems, but you may be able to work around it so that it's at least civil and boots for you.

The last time I had issues with mine, I had to reformat, repartition and rewrite the MBR so that windows thought I loved it.

This might help:
http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux...w2k-HOWTO.html

Only applies if (and I quote)
* Your machine already has Windows installed, and you are installing Linux as a second operating system, and
* You want to leave the Windows boot loader (NTLDR) on the MBR (Master Boot Record). This allows you to continue to boot Windows with no issues. I've heard that Windows 2000/Windows XP or anti-virus software may complain if the MBR does not contain the Windows boot loader

Looks like (a) Grub shouldn't occupy the MBR and (b) I shouldn't try to type after half a bottle of house white...

Cheers

I'd like to know what is the general idea behind all this.

Unless Dell have a boot from express card slot option in the 9400 BIOS, I'm afraid that you probably won't be able to boot from eSATA via express card. I can't boot from eSATA via PCMCIA.

Hi znk0r,

Which idea do you mean? Trying to turn an XPS etc into a linux box or the idea that Vista might be trying to block dual boot options?

As for the first, I'll report on success or failure and as for the second, assume the worst, at least then you won't be disappointed

Bugger.... I foresee long nights ahead filled with reboots and the sounds of cussing

Ur right about dual booting. Windows must be installed first and then Linux. (STUPID BILL!) I believe it will even tell you that when you are installing Suse. The YAST interface makes the Linux noob more comfortable when installing for the first time. I have tried dozens of flavors of Linux and keep returning to Suse (especially on Dell and Gateway) The fact is that Suse just works. No big issues installing and for the most part it does all the configuring for you. I have found issues with DVD playback with Suse, it can be a pain to figure out if you are in the USA. (Some copyright issues)

I would also suggest (for the Novice) if you you want to play around with Linux and was to get some experience before you install it, try a live cd. I have used a few of them and they are slower but you can really get a feel for Linux without messing up your system. I suggest SantaFe or Knoppix. I have a Knoppix live DVD and have used it on several different systems. One again you can get it for free.

Last suggestion: If you are serious about Linux and really want to learn to use it proficiently, buy a book. I have seen a Suse 10 book which includes the DVD or CD version of Suse 10. I know you can download it for free but this method will allow you to follow the book exactly because you and the author are on the same exact version. Its not too expensive but also not cheap at 59.00+. Its a great way to start to understand how linux works.

Hi BFD,

Funny you should mention copyright issues - that was the reason I dumped SuSE in the end. I felt that once SuSE was controlled by a corp under the curse of US copyright / IP legislation that it was only a matter of time before it was neutered. This may or may not be justified but it was my _personal_ feeling about the whole sellout of SuSE and I kind of feel justified in what I have seen so far.

I switched to Kubuntu/Ubuntu to get back that philosophical "clean" feeling and I haven't looekd back since. But, having said that, SuSE was my linux wet-nurse and I loved it for that. Plus I can only wholeheartedly recommend it for people starting out in linux. However, once you feel the need for solid food there is:
(a) advanced SuSE;
(b) other distros (even though Debian showed me that I am unintelligent scum and made me want to crawl back to windows) ; OR
(c) openBSD/MacOSX -Apple is cool. If only I was brave enoough!

Anyway, gotta go, LOTR II is on PAUSE and my glass is empty....

Cheers

fans work perfect in gentoo using my a kernel I configured myself, My guess is the kernel wasnt compiled with all the lovely ACPI stuff.

Open up the system apps program, I can't think of the name for the life of me.

Type in i8k. (gkrellm will have to be installed as well if you want the UI. Otherwise do an "i8kmon -d" to run as a daemon)

It'll install I8k (fangui) which is essentially the same thing as the windows counter-part. It's just not as pretty, and does not display in the panel, but it works.

I have to have a fan control applett because my system runs so hot. It works just fine, though I'm currently trying to find out if it's possible to dock the app in the panel.

be prepared to do some work setting up wifi in kubuntu on you m1710. Intel has released drivers but they are still in beta, so they wont work out of the box with dapper. Shouldnt be too hard to set up though.

And to the OP, what version of suse are you using? i havent been able to get wifi working on my 9300 in it.