thawoodking

Sorry, I've been busy the past couple of day's. So i got my nvidia video card working, this is what i done. Changed menu style to kickoff, searched for nvidia, mandriva live comes with a nvidia settings file. I opened it and saved it to the Xserver, the 1280x1024 option wasnt available when i just right clicked on the desktop and clicked configure and then display, it has to be changed from nvidia settings. Anyway i got it changed and was accurately able to change my screen refresh rate HZ as well. Now for the modem, this is the main issue now, I've done some prior research on this but due to lack of time havnt been able to do anything about it. When i go to mandrivas website and click on download and rpm and list by name it always gives me info on a windows computer but in order to download them i have to click find mirror, is this the normal procedure? So about the research i done, more like a google search, i found a couple of people that have had success with a file called slmodem which supposedly works with win soft modems, any idea's? I havnt tryed anything yet or even downloaded a file, actually when i was looking at the rpms i didnt see libdvdcss2 as found on google or slmodem file, but there are other dvd files and slmodem files just with different endings, any help is always appreciated, but due to time im forced to go again. Thanks.

Thanks, I'll try that. But one question how do i check for dependencies because these computers are miles apart not feet. I need to get everything and be set when i get back to this PC.

I need a software update for my agere systems pci softmodem according to google, it said theres a package to download and install and make the modem functionable. I can't connect without my dial up so i need to download the package from a computer with windows. Also my Nvidia video card doesnt have 1280 X 1024 should i expect that to change? The flash drive if portable is 4gb. I read on a pinned topic it could be done from a cd/dvd, if so how would i go about finding the correct file and then installing it from a portable storage device. Thanks EDIT. I just thought of something, i read earlier you could use VMplayer to run linux in windows, would that allow the internet connection from windows to become active?

My opinion is that it doesnt matter as much the cpu and the fsb as long as they are decent, the slow down point usually is the hardrive, a fast hardrive would make running applications smoother. A fast cpu and fsb can only ammount to what the hardrive can read and write. High mhz ram sticks helps matters. Sorry for being off topic.

Ok well i guess this thread is finished, linux installed and im able to dual boot. Resolution. I followed exactly what you said and the installer finished but this time after it finished it ask me to setup the boot manager and restart and remove the live cd. I followed that and checked system storage and i have a 3.3gb drive with 1.1.gb free and 200mb swap, so my conclusion of all this is you need atleast 2.2gb (or 3gb to be safe) to install linux or the installer just closes without notification that it didnt install or didnt have enough room etc. i think this should be fixed maybe with a simple message saying installer failed etc not enough space. Anyways thanks for all the help and now im able to dual boot like i wanted. Now i just got to get my dialup internet connected, the modem is not recongnized and shows the device name but i cant connect with it on the com port or query the modem, always cannot open modem, but ill post that in another thread, thanks again for all the help and patience of this forum.

So what are my options for getting this installed? If i delete the partitions i will have 3589mb of unallocated space 3859/1024 = 3.50GB If i indeed do need more how can i take some from windows, i can delete a few things but as of right now i have 14GB of free space on my C drive for windows.

Does the mandriva free have more software than the mandriva one live? And when i downloaded live i didnt get a option to choose btwn kde or gnome.

Ok using MMC i deleted the 3 linux partitions and the D drive, now i boot linux. Then click on live install, i select use free space, it says formating hda7 etc. mounting, then goes to a loading screen were it shows me the 3 linux products on the mandriva home page. After that finish's it goes away and nothing happens. I go to the linux control center to see the disk partitions, i have my windows one, and 3 new ones, the new ones are as listed. first partition is 1.88GB second is 384MB third is 1.25GB all are 100% free, but in linux it said that the first one is 2% used and the third one is 1% used. But like i said windows shows them as 100% free. So i setup a bootlog and rebooted since i thought it was installed, btw if the installation window is just the 3 linux products and a bar i think it should say what its doing and the percentage complete instead of just having a bar but w/e. Anyways i reboot and windows loads again. So im not sure its ever even installing with that window, my next step is to go back through and click live install, after that its going to give me the option to use existing partitions, then from experience last time of doing this its going to set the 3rd partitions which is 1.25gb as /home and give me the option to set the other one to something, what do i set it to. Sorry this is getting frustrating and theres no desgrevancy whether or not its a 80GB drive, most HD sold at that point in time i bought this one were a few GB under what they were listed, it doesnt have anything to do with gigibyte or gigabyte or gigabit or gigabyte, its just most HD out there arent listed to be sold as a 74.5gb drive or sofourth. Anyways if I cant get this to work by friday im going to download the installer again but this time not the live installer and see if that helps. Friday i will have access to a BB connection. Im not liking the installation process so far, it doesnt tell me what its doing and i have no idea whether or not its installed, when the percentage bar goes away it gives no instruction it just goes back to the KDE desktop. But now under system storage after i click the desktop icon even though partition manager shows i have 4 partitions system storage only shows my C and it says unmounted. But thanks for the help and i have no further ideas atm so ill view the board and thanks to everyone thats taking the time out of there day to assist.

Ok my next course of action is use mmc to delete D and the 3 linux partitions go through the installer and click use existing space and see what happens, ill post a update once this is done.

Ok i checked the drives in linux and this is what it shows Device type size hda 5 Journalised FS:ext3 369Mb 0% used hda7 Linux Swap 73MB hda8 Journalised FS:ext3 346Mb hda1 msdos win fat32 71MB about 16GB free hda6 msdos win Ntfs 2.76gb 3% used So i tryed seeing if i could get things worked out just to see. This is the steps i took, i booted the live cd, selected install live, i had a choice now to choose existing partitions. I selected that option, then it said hda8 for /home and gave me a choice to put which one for hda5 i selected /boot. I clicked next and kde installer crashed, it said no root user and the next line said, CHECK_HDA_ROOT_&_BOOT. I went back through and instead this time i selected / to be on hda5, it went to a screen saying it was formating the drives. After that finished it went to a screen showing the mandriva products one, powerpack, and usb. It had a loading bar at the bottom like it was installing something, after that finished (aprox 30mins) it just went away. I assumed that to be the finish of installation, i configured the boot record under grub, i selected hda and the drive name. It created a boot log but it had options to choose hda1 or hda5 ect. I didnt change the option and created it like it was set up. After that i rebooted, it loaded windows. I tryed the using the Lilo boot screen with text and it didnt work. Im still confused, and i already tryed what you said jim, thanks for the information but thats how i got in this situation was through those steps. After "3. Now go ahead and install Mandriva as you did before, but, when it asks, select the "Use free space" option. It will create the necessary partitions and format them automatically." Then i had the 3 partitions, i have enough space on my hardrive to do this, with everything deleted and put back on C i have about 20GB, should be more than enough. I also have another computer just sitting with winxp and a free hardrive, the hardrive is slower but i could take that hardrive out and erase it and install linux on that. But then like i said it would be much slower so i dont want to do that. Anyways im still working on it, if you have any ideas or resolutions, plz post and thanks for any replys and ixthusdans patience lol.

Ok so i am limited to a few minutes tinkering around with it in between time today intill about 5 hrs from this post, but i checked in linux on the hardrives. It shows my C drive as Hda1 my D drive as Hda6 it also has 3 partitions listed but only shows 2, im unsure about this, the third partition not shown anywere is a 74mb partition that i have no idea even existed. I clicked on live install once more and clicked use existing partitions, it showed the two Mmedia ones, and had a list for me to choose from, it already selected the second one to be /home. But my girlfriend is here so i need to spend some time with her, if someone woudl just give me instructions on how to just start over that would be nice. This probably isnt that difficult to do, but since i dont have a winxp cd and cant lose my winxp partition i am making this more difficult than it actually is. Thanks for all the help so far and i look forward to being a linux user, and maybe one day this can turn around and I actually help someone with linux, ha. LOL anyways thanks and intill next time.

Before i log off windows, since i wont be able to get online with linux, i went to disk properties, hardware highlighted the disk and clicked properties its showing under volumes that i have 3 no names the first is 369 mb second is 74mb third is 347 mb and the other two are C and D. Im gonna look for diskdrake now. Btw the hd is IDE not sata, its 1 HD 5 partitions, IDE.

Ok heres the update, i checked windows and it shows that i have 5 partitions, 2 labeled and 3 unlabeled, i booted from linux and installed grub and it said linux and windows hda1 is the short of it. anyway i saved that and rebooted. nothing happened it loaded windows. I dont know what disk drake is but if ur talking about storage devices on the desktop of linux it only shows 4 partitions 2 windows and 2 Mmedias and no cd drives or anything. Im not for sure i even have linux installed, it might just be booting from the cd and showing the cd as a mounted iso image like a cd drive. Im still confused, the 3 partitions showing in windows that dont have labels might be for linux, or one might be a sys backup. still unsure, but i do appreciate the help and if we could get this worked out that would be most appreciated. Just explain what info you need and ill definately post asap. In the mean time im going to try to find out what disk drake is and post that info. Thanks.

I'm not going to be up for long before going back to bed, but yes i already knew how to do that in windows, but what is the numbers like 336M media and the other one, does that mean that linux is installed or do i need to installed it. Since linux is booting from a ISO image it might be the cd mounted is what the numbers represent, but ill check back tommorow. plz provide any information. Thanks

Well im really confused now, but mostly tired. I've done all I have time to do for now. When i put the live cd in and booted up i checked the drives, i now have 4 different ones, i have 363M media (336mb 4%used) and another one thats new called 387M media (357mb 100% used) and i also have my two normal windows partitions (C and D). I also checked sysguard and i had 80 process's running, with about exstimate 336,000 kb used and around 4000-7000kb free and it also said no available swap. If i remember correctly, because i havnt found out how to save a file from linux and open it with windows, i tryed saving a txt but that didnt work. One of the new partitions said hda5 mounted on hd2 i believe. I checked the bootloader and it said no configuration setup and that it was going to create a new one, i clicked next and it said grub hd1 something. I ended up canceling that before i screwed up. But im about to fall asleep at the keyboard so any help is appreciated and i will view the board and follow up. If it helps again i will give some system specs 80 gb hd 2 win partitions 2 not sure about 363M media and 387M media 320mb ram win xp sp2 Thanks for the help guys.

I am absolutely new to the linux world but have been wanting to try a distro out for a long time. I am a dial up user and havnt been able to aquire a copy intill recentely. So i decided to go with mandriva because its a well established version and seems pretty logical for a windows user to comprehend. So I have a pretty good knowledge of windows xp so far and understand the logic pretty well but linux is a little different. Like the system storage and media sda1 for flash and everything, im not familiar with any of this so far but it seems to be the equivalent to C:/local for windows i believe. Also with the live cd it boots in KDE and i understand konqueror is like my windows explorer. So with that said so far im taking my approach from what i know about computers and comparing the two, im not sure if this is the way to do it but i gota start somewhere. So the first time i tryed installing mandriva live 2008 went like this: I booted from the cd clicked on install live, it took me to a window saying choose partitions, i selected use existing space from windows it gave me a bar to select what i wanted to leave with windows i moved it back about 1/4 way giving windows 3/4 of the operating system or so i believe and clicked continue. it gave me the run through with chkdisk and backup but i didnt do any of that and proceeded. It loaded a bar and i assumed it was installing it, after it done alot of loading and never told me what it was doing it only showed i had 1 partition which i actually have 2 and when it finished it just went away and didnt give any further instruction, so from that i took that i should restart, well on shutdown it said something about disk unmountable disk is busy please remove medium and try again, i removed the disk and hit enter or ctrl J as it requested and it said drive busy system halted and turned off. So i absolutely got no were with that little trial run. I booted back up and windows loaded without any hesitation, both partitions were there linux didnt copy any files or seem to have even existed on either partition. So what im left to do, since i am native to windows i have given it some thought and please give advice on what to do but this is my plan i have one 80 gb drive which is partitioned as so C (fat32) = 71 gb with 16gb free, D (ntfs) = 3 gb with 2.63 free The cleanest way i see to do it is leave the majority with windows since most data is on C and partition as follows format d clean add 3 more partitions because as i understand it 4 primary is max 4gb for root / 4gb for /home /swap twice the ram size in this case only 640mb im kinda confused on partitions using linux, i dont understand what the slider bar represents so would it be ok to do the partitions in windows and then boot linux and install? and i can take empty space from C and add it to another partition right, and does it matter what the partitions are named. This confuses me beacuse i dont have alot of experience in doing this so any help with this is definately appreciatted. also this isnt as important right now but my modem is unrecongized and in windows shows the location to be PCI Slot 2 (PCI bus 0, device 4, function 0) and whne i used linux to try to get online i tryed all the com ports and dev/modem which is probably for dsl modems but still it was unable to query modem it said unable to open device i believe, if theres a easy way of fixing this please post it with the reply but if not i just wanna get the OS installed and dual booting with win xp sp2 and i will work out the bugs later on because ive still got a really long way to go in my linux knowledge as it seems but this definately isnt the end of the road. BTW mandriva is amazing, a os thats free and boots from a cd, i had absolutely no problems running the os from the cd on my friends new comp it ran like a charm and was online with no user configuration , im definately interested in getting this going and learning more and thanks to all the people who made this possible. A few more questions and ill stop running so many thoughts together, if i used the existing space on windows when it ask me partition options whats the safest way to go about doing that. And when installing linux whats the difference between kde and gnome, my understanding is kde or gnome is the kernel so which is better, i havnt gotten a chance to even use gnome, and KDE using Compiz Fuzion seemed nice graphically, metisse didnt seem to have any effects but did have more desktop controls 1-9 i believe. Thanks for all the help guys.