arctic Posted May 7, 2005 Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 okay, three things: not every partition will be mounted automatically in linux. it depends on the distro you are running and on the type of partition you want to access. ntfs partitions are tricky, so for sharing files with windows, it is best to have a fat32 partition at hand. these will usually be automounted by mandriva. for some other distros, you might need to edit the /etc/fstab file afterwards, but this ain't difficult. we can guide you through the process. second: when you install mandriva or any other linux distro, it will need to replace the windows bootloader, otherwise it won't work UNLESS you set hdb as the active primary boot partition in your bios. in this case you can keep the win bootloader (on hda) and the linux-bootloader (on hdb). but even if the windows bootloader is gone, there is always a recovery option for the xp bootloader in mandriva. third thing: as you want to install three distros, you should do the following (in case you haven't already done that): create on hdb a swap partition that is 2x ram size. then create three partitions in e.g. ext3 format, each some 5 gb of size. now mount only the first one. this will be your mandriva partition. and create a /home partition, where your user accounts will be stored with all documents etc. once you have installed mandriva, take the second distro and tell her to install on the second 5gb partition you have on your system. when finished, skip the installation of the bootloader. it will tell you that it can not run afterwards, but this ain't a real problem as you already have a bootloader in place from mandriva. you can add the entries for the second and third distro to the /etc/lilo.conf file later. for the third distro, choose 5gb partition number three and skip again the bootloader. you only need one system that works for getting all the others to boot properly. once you have done that, we can guide you through the process of configuring your lilo or grub bootloader (depending on which one you choose) into a working quadruple boot system. good luck for now and keep us informed on which distros you plan to install. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted May 7, 2005 Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 (edited) You can go into the Install Software, and there is a kdeaddon for a search bar for konqueror. Click the Star, then System/Configuration/Packaging/Install Software. Then supply the root password you set earlier. Then look in the list for kdeaddons-searchbar. Or alternatively, install Mozilla Firefox from www.mozilla.org - this will do searches over google. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> a ready packaged version of firefox is available via easyurpmi (see top banner of this page). ;) Edited May 7, 2005 by arctic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largegroh Posted May 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 if i do the firefox thing will it replace konqueror? or do i need to do it somehow myself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted May 7, 2005 Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 (edited) No, Firefox would run in addition to, is just a web browser. Konqueror would still remain. As arctic said (many thanks for joining in, and all the info re dual/triple distro installs!), you can get from easyurpmi. Your urpmi sources are an easy way of getting software, without having to worry about downloading direct from eg: mozilla and installing. The easyurpmi link gives you the commands to type to add main, contrib, updates, jpackage, plf-free and plf-nonfree. That way you can browse what software is on these lists, and then install as and when you need them! :P Edited May 7, 2005 by ianw1974 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted May 7, 2005 Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 if i do the firefox thing will it replace konqueror? or do i need to do it somehow myself? one of the important things about linux that you will learn sooner or later is that there is no "default" application for many things. you can always choose between your favorite application. e.g. for webbrowsing, you can decide if you want to use konqueror, mozilla, firefox, lynx, opera, epiphany or even others. same goes for desktop envrionments, terminals, editors, office apps,... in linux, you have choice. and lots of it. no one forces you to use only "internet explorer", like a well known company in redmond. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largegroh Posted May 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 No, Firefox would run in addition to, is just a web browser. Konqueror would still remain. As arctic said (many thanks for joining in, and all the info re dual/triple distro installs!), you can get from easyurpmi. Your urpmi sources are an easy way of getting software, without having to worry about downloading direct from eg: mozilla and installing. The easyurpmi link gives you the commands to type to add main, contrib, updates, jpackage, plf-free and plf-nonfree. That way you can browse what software is on these lists, and then install as and when you need them! :P <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ok i will try the urpmi above.. will get back to u tomorrow probably..running out of time today. thx again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largegroh Posted May 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 one of the important things about linux that you will learn sooner or later is that there is no "default" application for many things. you can always choose between your favorite application. e.g. for webbrowsing, you can decide if you want to use konqueror, mozilla, firefox, lynx, opera, epiphany or even others. same goes for desktop envrionments, terminals, editors, office apps,... in linux, you have choice. and lots of it. no one forces you to use only "internet explorer", like a well known company in redmond. ;)<{POST_SNAPBACK}> ok sigh. i got firefox exe dl'd. am guessing I missed something above or you assummed i knew. I am used to double clicking an exe file and it installs. guess that does not work in linux. I am feeling very dense atm but ...how do I actually install the firefox exe file? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted May 7, 2005 Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 (edited) :lol: hehehe... well, it was the same experience for me when i started with linux. i tried to run an .exe file and wondered why it doesn't work. okay, here is the correct way to install firefox on your box: once you have set up the software mirrors, using the easyurmpi tool i mentioned before, you can either go to the software section of the mandrake-control-center (="configure your computer" (=MCC)) and install it from there with a simple click on the package you want to install and then accept the selection. urpmi will grab the package from one of the servers then and install it automatically. the icon should appear in your menu under "internet→browsers". the second alternative is not to use the graphical tool (MCC) and do it from a console (the black monitor icon). if you start a console, type "su" at the prompt and enter the root password. you are now running the system as your admin. now type "urpmi mozilla-firefox" and it will be downloaded, installed and added to your menu, just like using the MCC. oh, and if you do not want to use your cds/dvds as a software-source, but only use some web-servers, simply uncheck the box for your cd in the MCC→software→configure software sources/repositories. you can also install certain apps like firefox, using so called source-files (usually .tar.gz files), but this is usually not necessary. so forget about this option until you get more accustomned to the linux basics. you can learn everything else later. ;) good luck for now. if you need more help, just shout. :) Edited May 7, 2005 by arctic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scrimpshire Posted May 8, 2005 Report Share Posted May 8, 2005 (edited) A little help on installing more than one distro. I'm no expert on this, so maybe someone else can explain it better: Here's your basic HD layout: /dev/hda == primary master /dev/hdb == primary slave /dev/hdc == secondary master (usually cdrom or dvd rom) /dev/hdd == secondary slave (usually cdrom or dvd rom) /dev/fd0 == floppy Typically, your BIOS wants /dev/hda (in your case the Windows drive and that's where Windows likes to be...primary master) to be the boot drive and contain MBR (Master Boot Record. When Linux asks you where you want to install the bootloader, just tell it the MBR...each successive distro install may or may not create records of the other Linux distros and those will have to be added later. Whichever distro is installed last is the one you need to worry about editing /etc/lilo.conf in (if you use lilo....some use grub, but I don't know grub, so I can't really explain it). When installing the last distro, just give mountpoints for all your other distros like /mnt/mandriva, /mnt/fedora, etc. Boot to that distro at the end and edit lilo.conf as appropriate. Here's an example: image=/mnt/mandriva/vmlinuz label="Mandriva" root=/dev/hda6 initrd=/mnt/mandriva/initrd.img append="acpi=on resume=/dev/hda5 splash=silent" vga=791 read-only Then run lilo -v. The tricky bits: root=/dev/hda6 should actually represent the partition that the / directory is on for whichever distro you want to boot to...and the initrd and image sections should of course point to the actual file. A /home partition can be shared across distros, but each distro may give your prmary user a different userid and that will mess up access permissions when you boot to that distro and if it is the wrong uid, then you can't log in. What to do in this case is to change each primary user to the same uid in /etc/passwd omar:x:1000:501:Omar:/home/omar:/bin/bash UID GID All the distros can use the same swap partition with no problems. Edited May 8, 2005 by Steve Scrimpshire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieJohn Posted May 8, 2005 Report Share Posted May 8, 2005 A couple of additional points. The swap partition only needs to be at the most about 500mbs. If you have in excess of 512mbs of real memory then the 500mb swap is more than adequate. Konqueror is the equivalent of your Windows Explorer. Namely it is your file browser and like Windows Explorer you can also use it to access and surf the internet if and when you want to. Firefox, Mozilla, Galeon and others are the user equivalent of Internet Explorer as you used to surf the net. Kmail is the Linux equivalent of Outlook Express. Although I said the Linux Application are user equivalent, that is where the similarity ends. Be prepared for slightly different , but user friendly and net safe, ways of doing things in your new Linux. Cheers. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted May 8, 2005 Report Share Posted May 8, 2005 i will add now an example of a quadruple boot system, using grub as bootloader, in case you might end up with grub (i prefer grub because it can be modified from any linux-distro, not only the native one). title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10-5-386 root (hd1,4) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hdb5 ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386 savedefault boot title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10-5-386 (recovery mode) root (hd1,4) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hdb5 ro single initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386 savedefault boot title Ubuntu, kernel memtest86+ root (hd1,4) kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin savedefault boot ### END Debian AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST # This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian # ones. title Other operating systems: root # This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing # linux installation on /dev/hdb8. title Yoper-Linux(on /dev/hdb8) root (hd1,7) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-2 root=/dev/hdb8 savedefault boot # This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing # linux installation on /dev/hdb7. title Debian, kernel (on /dev/hdb7) root (hd1,6) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb7 ro ramdisk_size=100000 lang=de apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi nomce vga=0x317 quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img savedefault boot # This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing # linux installation on /dev/hdb7. title Beatrix, kernel 2.6.7 (on /dev/hdb7) root (hd1,6) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7 root=/dev/hdb7 ro ramdisk_size=100000 lang=de apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi nomce vga=0x317 quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.7 savedefault boot # This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing # linux installation on /dev/hdb6. title Mandriva (on /dev/hdb6) root (hd1,5) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb6 ro devfs=nomount acpi=ht resume=/dev/hdb1 splash=silent initrd /boot/initrd.img savedefault boot title Mandriva-nonfb (on /dev/hdb6) root (hd1,5) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb6 ro devfs=nomount acpi=ht resume=/dev/hdb1 initrd /boot/initrd.img savedefault boot title Mandriva-failsafe (on /dev/hdb6) root (hd1,5) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb6 ro failsafe acpi=ht resume=/dev/hdb1 devfs=nomount initrd /boot/initrd.img savedefault boot #[edit will i now add a windows entry on a separate partition in case you might need #info in windows in grub, but usually, grub should set up windows by default in your #bootloader] # This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS # on /dev/hda1 title Windows 95/98/Me root (hd0,0) savedefault makeactive chainloader +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largegroh Posted May 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2005 ok guys, all this sounds good, confusing but good. you are getting way ahead of me though. i pent several hrs yesterday trying to get firefox installed with no luck yet. therefore i am still at the one distro stage. lol I tried to follow your layout Artic but I could never find firefox using either the easyurmpi or the mcc. The mcc looks like it should be easy to use but .... i apparently have not gotten the mirrors set up right or something. it always gives file not found or in the case of the mcc firefox is not in the list. apparently i need more detailed step by step instructions. it is somewhat humbling to not be able to do this since i have worked with windows for many years and seldom have trouble. sigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted May 8, 2005 Report Share Posted May 8, 2005 (edited) yes, it sounds that you made some minor mistake, although not when trying to set up the mirrors, i hope. in case you made a mistake with the mirrors, here we go again: (if everything is okay, scroll down, where we discuss package installation!) the easyurpmi site tells you to select some servers to which you connect later in order to grab the software. once you have selected these, proceed to the next step, as explained on the site. remember to set up your mirrors for 10.1 Official Edition. once you got there, everything else should be easy. at the bottom of the page, as final step, the easyurpmi site will ask you to add some mirrors to your system, using the console. now, this is quite easy if you know how to do it: 1. open a terminal (the little black monitor icon) and type "su" at the prompt. now enter the root password. you need to be root to set up the mirrors. 2. mark the first entry of "urpmi...." on the webpage with your cursor and copy the entry. now go to the console and hit shift+Ins (or select "paste" from the window-menu) and press enter. it should start to download the package information from the mirror. 3. once it has completed this first step, go ahead and repeat the same thing with the other mirror adresses you got from easyurpmi. once all are set up correctly, you can type "urpmi mozilla-firefox" and it will be installed. if the console tells you that there are already some mirrors set up, then remove them in the mcc before setting up new mirrors. PACKAGE INSTALLATION as stated earlier, the command is as root "urpmi mozilla-firefox". you need to keep in mind that linux systems are case sensitive. so if you type "urpmi Mozilla-Firefox" it cannot locate the file. ;) in the MCC, there are various sections. go to the internet section, where you should find the mozilla-firefox entry. mark the package and click on okay to proceed. in case it still does not work, do you have set up all mirrors that you need? what error message do you get in a console? i know, things might be a bit confusing at the beginning but we are patient, helpful and very friendly.... i hope. :D Edited May 8, 2005 by arctic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largegroh Posted May 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2005 (edited) urpmi mozilla-firefox is the console error I keep getting. the mirrors i have sellected are: Contrib: Belgium (http://ftp.belnet.be) Plf-free: Australia (ftp//ftp.planetmirror.com) i may have had someothers yesterday and don't really know how to clear them out. edit: almost success!! i was able to get firefox in the list to install and install started. stopped with error: usr/X11R6/bin/Xauth is needed by install mkxauth-1.7.8mdk ?????? Edited May 8, 2005 by largegroh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theo Posted May 8, 2005 Report Share Posted May 8, 2005 (edited) It's not so difficult to install firefox from the tar.gz file since Mozilla had the very pretty nice idea to make an installer like windows applications! Another advantage is that you're always up to date (not necessary to wait for an available rpm package) + once installed, it's very very easy to install new version. Feel free to follow those instructions to install Firefox from the tar.gz package (from mozilla's web site): Once downloaded in a directory (/home/nickname/ is a good start): open a konqueror session, go to the directory where is the file, left click on the firefox-1.0.3.installer.tar.gz file, choose 'Action' / 'Extract Here'. A new directory is now available (/home/nickname/firefox-installer/ for example). Open a terminal (konsole for example): run 'su' and enter your root password. Now run 'konqueror &' in this same terminal. You're now exploring with root permissions: take caution to only do what you have to do, i.e. these steps: - go to the new created directory (/home/nickname/firefox-installer/) - double-click on the 'firefox-installer' file in this same directory - let the default options EXCEPT the installation directory (this is the reason why we're doin' this with root permissions): choose '/usr/share' for installing Firefox in the /usr/share/firefox folder - next, next, next ... (not so different than windowze, don't you think!?) Now, you've just finished the installation of Firefox: - close the konqueror session - close the terminal session (you're now safe killing all the root sessions) As normal user (you), just run 'firefox' in a terminal and Firefox should appear on your screen! You can add a shortcut on your desktop but this is another 'how-to' ;) (finally not so different than in windoze you know...). Cheers and good luck. PS/ After this tutorial, I only can recommand you to correctly configure urpmi because THIS is the general way to install applications (99% of them). Here's a link to a web page you have to read and follow the steps -> http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/ & in a final step, just copy/paste line per line (in the end of this web page) in a terminal (as root) to configure your urpmi tool. After that, as root, run this in a terminal: '/usr/sbin/urpmi.update -a -v' followed by '/usr/sbin/urpmi --auto-select -v' & copy/paste the result in this topic. Cheers and good luck. Edited May 8, 2005 by theo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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