trunks2k Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 I'm completely new to Linux, so feel more than free to talk to me like I'm 8 years old. In fact, I'd prefer it that way. I'm getting a new laptop in 2 weeks. The laptop comes with the Lycoris distro installed and configured. That's all well and good, but after reading reviews of Lycoris, it seems to be lacking. As such I've decided to dual boot it with Mandrake 9.2 so I can get the stuff I want while still having a functioning Linux OS incase things go awry (although I don't ecpect to have much of a problem as the laptop's hardware obviously works with Linux). So I have a few questions, as I wanna make sure I know how to go about doing this. (i'm currently looking at the 9.1 install guide for a bit of information. I assume the install is pretty much the same in 9.2) During the mandrake install, what option do I choose when it asks where I want to install the OS? Do I just tell it to use existing partitions? Or would that overwrite Lycoris? Or does that just throw an additional kernel onto the partion? I'm assuming this is the way to go. If the option is available, should I tell it to use free space? Or is that option only available if Windows is installed? Or should I create my own custom partitions? I'm not sure if the laptop will be using lilo or be usign grub by default. Do I have to worry about the Mandrake install overwriting the prexisting bootloader without listing listing Lycoris as an option? If it does wipe Lycoris from the bootloader, how do find the kernel file that Lycoris is supposed to use to boot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 Should do custom partitioning so you are in control of what happens. We have a faq on dual booting (written by yours truly) at http://www.mandrakeusers.org/index.php?showtopic=5082 I would make my installation independant of Lycoris so that you can remove it or what not. Go with the Mandrake LILO install. You can always boot into Lycoris and restore its lilo boot manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trunks2k Posted January 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 (edited) Ok. So then exactly what partitions do I need to make for Mandrake? I assume a boot partion will be needed. I doubt I'll need to make an extra swap. Is there any other partitions that should be made? I'm not entirely clear on Mandrake's file system and what partitions it creates, etc. Edited January 7, 2004 by trunks2k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 Probably the only thing you would share as you said is the swap. When you get to custom partitioning you can click autoconfigure and it will ask you if you want an /usr partition. Say yes and it will make them for you. Then you can write down the approx size, mount point, name of each one, remove them individually and recreate to the exact size you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 you may also be able to safely share /home if you make it a seperate partition. if you prefer to be on the safe side, just sharing swap is your best bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 Make home your last partition so if you decide to try sharing you can eventually delete it.. Also, I generally put all of the partitions in an extended partition so I don't have to worry about the 4 primary partition limit.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trunks2k Posted January 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 Make home your last partition so if you decide to try sharing you can eventually delete it.. Also, I generally put all of the partitions in an extended partition so I don't have to worry about the 4 primary partition limit.. Ok. Again, sorry for the probable ease of these questions, but whenever I've done paritions it was usually paritioning one HD into 2 partitions via the Windows install CD, so I don't know the nit and grity of it all. And these are premptive questions so I have a bit of an idea of what needs to be done, so sorry for any lack of information. I'm not sure if that the people that installed Lycoris onto the laptop made an extended partition, or if they just used the 4 primary partitions. How do I tell if they are primary partitions or logical drives off of an extended partition? I assume I'll be given the option of whether or not a new partition is supposed to be a logicasl drive off of the extended partition. Assuming worse case scenario, and they used primary partitions for all the partions, will I just be able to resize one of the primary partions and create an extended partition off of the remaining space? Is there an option to make the partition an extended partion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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