Jump to content

Going to Install Linux with XP (Dual Boot)


ExoBot
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello there, i am going to install Mandrake 9.2 on my laptop which currently has XP on it.

 

I just wanted to check that i have got the right idea of what to do :)

 

Partition HDD (20gb to XP 10 to Linux) using Partition Magic 5.0

 

Then i just put CD1 in the drive? and follow instructions (i guess)

 

1. Does the installation give the choice of which partition to install to?

2. How easy is the installation? Do i need a wide knowledge of my hardware?

3. When i start up my computer how do i choose which OS i want to load up?

 

Thanking you in advance ...

 

ExoBot :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Yes. You get a and very user friendly representation of you hard disk. You can just select the partition and divide it into different Linux partitions.

 

2. You need some basic knowlegde of your hardware. Like the type of videocard, what network inferface card you have, ... These kind of things.

 

3. During the installation of Mandrake 9.2 you get te option of installing a boot loader (lilo or grub). When you start your computer, you get the boot loader you have chosen with a the installed operating systems.

 

By the way, welcome to the forums! I'm new here myself and I'm sure you will like it here.

Edited by Kristof
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First off, I'm not sure PM 5.0 will resize a ntfs partition. I could be wrong, though. Make sure you defrag the hard drive before doing any partition resizing. I would recommend making a small Fat32 partition as well if you want to share files between the 2 OS's

 

After that, just pop in CD 1 and boot from it. The installation is pretty self-explanatory.

 

It will give you the choice of either resizing your existing partitions, custom partitioning, or installing to the free space on the hard drive. I recommend custom partitioning and making at least 3 partitions. 1 for / (root), 1 for swap (equal to 2x your RAM is the general rule, I have 480 MB for swap on both my laptop and desktop and I have over 512MB RAM in both) and 1 for /home. I recommend with the setup that you want to give about 3 GB to /home.

 

Your hardware will be automatically detected and set up, provided you don't have anything exotic. All of my hardware was detected on my laptop except my wireless card. I wrote a general FAQ about wireless cards here.

 

As far as choosing which OS to load at boot, the Mandrake installer will give you a choice of installing either lilo or grub. Both will be automatically set up for the default boot structure of your system and you will be able to boot to either XP or Mandrake by choosing that option.

 

Hope this helps you out

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would use the windex tools to create another partition, before doing anything else. Windexc will hose on you if you use anything other than its tools. After creating a seperate partion, let linux use it for installation. The point is, do not attempt to alter a windex partition with anything else. You will have trouble. Windex does not play nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so can i make partitions with Mandrake CD1? And if not, and you say not to use PM 5.0 , what should i use?

I would use CD 1 to create your Mandrake partitions, don't use a windows tool for this. For resizing your XP partition and creating (if you want) the small fat32 partition I would use a version of Partition Magic version 7 or higher if you can get ahold of it. There are some good freeware partitioning tools out there, but I have no experience with them. I always use PM 7 to change any partitions on my Windows installation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

sorry for long time with no reply but i have been away this week.

 

ok im getting a bit confused, im sorry if this is a newbie question but what is "Windex"?

 

I amy be getting the wrong impression here but you guys are saying differant things...

 

ok ill start over...

 

I have one 30gb HDD how should i partition it, with what, how big should each bit be.. etc... can you keep it simple please as i have never used Linux befoere :help:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Windex is a derogatory name for windows...

 

You can (and should) use PM to make a new partition for Linux (so now you have two one for Linux and one for windows)

 

Then, use the mandrake tools (that are part of the installation) to further partition the Linux partition.

 

Basically, if I was going to install Linux on a brand new machine, I would partition the drives for / and /home etc as part of the install. Your machine is not brand new so you make a shiny new bit of space on your drive (using PM) and then install on that as if it was a new drive

 

Does that make more sense...?

 

As to how you should partition the Linux section - you would be fine to let the Mandrake installer do it for your first time, but if you want to do it yourself (a good learning experience) then I would personally recommend exactly the same as LiquidZoo did earlier /, /home and swap

 

/ is the root of your file system - kind of like My Computer in windows

 

/home is where all the user files go - this is where all your personal stuff is. There isn't really a windows equivalent and windows doesn't have such a clear user system as Linux does

 

and Swap is basically to help your system manage you memory - as LZ says - 2 x your memory, although you probably won't need more than 512M. I have 1024MB RAM and my swap is hardly ever touched (because I have enough memory, that my system doesn't need help to manage it), but I still have 512M swap

 

Hope that helps/clears it up a little...

Edited by phunni
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The catch to all of this is whether or not you are doing a freash installation or altering an existing installation of windex. xp will hose on you if you alter its partitions with the Mandrake cd. I've done it too many times to count. The safest way on an existing xp installation is to create a partition with windex. Then you can safely utilize the Mandrake tools without damage. But hey, remaking an entire computer system is a great week end project!

 

Be sure to back up your data. B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK i am about to install Mandrake, i am burning 3rd CD as i type, i have partitioned my HDD using PM7... it formatted it to a "Ext2" or something like that is that ok or should i turn it to a FAT or FAT32 partition? and is it normal to not be able to see the partition in "Windex"?

 

reply then wish me luck :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

one more thing, how likely is it that my Linsys Wireless card will work straight away? I have read through One of your FAQ's on the subject but am not quite sure still what to do (linux newbie :wall: ) i will try and if i cant get it working i will just come back and post here (in windex)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is normal to not see other types of partitions in windex. You can see fat, fat32, and ntfs partitions.

 

Partition types to use is a whole discussion in itself! I prefer ext3 or reiser for my file systems. These types are "journaling" and can recover pretty easily from a disaster. I have all reiser in both Mandrake and SuSE.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...