996rxa Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 Hello, I'm new to Linux. I've purchassed a DVD in a French magazine it's Mandrake 2006. I had it installed on an older computer where there was already a version of Windows XP (formated NTFS). When I boot there is a dialogue box that prompts offering the two OS, if I wait Mandrake starts up and waits till I type my ID (root) and password; or if I use the arrows I can select XP and Windows becomes the OS. All works fine as it was done by a technician. I want to install myself Mandriva 2006. As I of ten installed Windows myself I'm confortable doing it. Currently XP is all set up and working fine on a 120Gbit harddrive. The drive is almost entirely free. I wonder if I install Mandriva myself will I also obtain this dialogue box at boot up? Or do I need to follow specific steps to obtain this dialogue box? (I hope I'm clear as I'm French speaking!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coverup Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 Welcome to the board. Certainly, you will be able to install Mandriva alongside Windows. First backup your Windows files (just in case). Then you need to defragment the Windows partition, as you will need to resize it to make room for Mandriva. Even though the disk is almost free, Windows tends to claim all available space by putting some files at the end of the partition. After you have defragmented the HD, put the Mandriva DVD in the tray, reboot the box and make sure that it boots off the DVD. This depends on the BIOS, in some cases you need to change the boot device sequence in the BIOS, in other cases you can interrupt the boot process and specify that you wish it to boot off the DVD. Then follow the installation instructions. The Mandriva installer will detect the presence of XP on the disk and will ask you whether you want delete it or make room for Mandriva. Choose the latter option, and you will be prompted to resize the existing Windows partition. From there, just follow the instructions untill you will be asked where you want put the bootloader. Choose the default option (called MBR if I am not mistaken), this will allow you to boot to Linux or Windows at your will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieJohn Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 I too say welcome. When you do the install as suggested, I would like to recommend ( despite some probable comments from others) to select Grub as the boot loader and to install it to the MBR as Coverup correctly suggests. That defragmenting bit of Windows is vital because Windows does believe it owns the whole drive (presently one partition) and scatters data all over the drivepartition. That is why windows slows up so badly and has to be defragmented often even in normal windows usage. Cheers. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 That is why windows slows up so badly and has to be defragmented often even in normal windows usage. That's not true for NTFS filesystem ( was the case over FAT32). NTFS deoes use smart file placement, and the fragmentation does exist, but is rather negligible- in short one full defrag every year or so should suffice, and all those "advanced windows defraggers" are nothing more than a clever way to grab some $$$ from unsuspected customers ( as well as torturing the harddisk due to exhessive, totally unnecessary file I/O). But yes, before shrinking a partition a full defragmentation is surely the indicated thing to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 For xp, use windows to create a new partition first. xp deliberately places files at "both ends" of a partition. By having windows create a new partiton, windows itself handles the job nicely without mishap. Then, use the new partition for installation and reformat with the Mandriva tools. If you use the Mandriva tools to do all of it, 20 percent of the time windows complains. It is a windows problem, so let windows "fix" itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coverup Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 It is a windows problem, so let windows "fix" itself. Good point :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
996rxa Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 I too say welcome. When you do the install as suggested, I would like to recommend ( despite some probable comments from others) to select Grub as the boot loader and to install it to the MBR as Coverup correctly suggests. That defragmenting bit of Windows is vital because Windows does believe it owns the whole drive (presently one partition) and scatters data all over the drivepartition. That is why windows slows up so badly and has to be defragmented often even in normal windows usage. Cheers. John. Hello John. Thanks to all for your welcome and tip. As I said I made a new installation of Windows XP allowing it to use all the 120Gbit space on the drive. I first installed windows and got all the updates, then I added Office XP and got all the updated, after that I defreg the drive. The next step was to install the drivers for all the hardware, after I degraged. Finally I installed a few programmes I would need, and yes again I defrag. Some will say: I over defrag the drive. I was told it was best to do that many defrags to keep the thing in good order before Windows becomes crazy :-) . Now John you are speaking chineese to me. "Select the Grub" and "MBR". Could you give me a few hints on that please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted March 8, 2006 Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 Mandriva installs a bootloader, a program that allows you to choose windows or linux at boot time. lilo is the default, but grub is another option you can choose. I have used lilo for many years, others have used grub. Either one is fine. Mandriva should default install the bootloader to the Master Boot Record, the mbr. There are other choices, but just use the default. If you just click OK through that part of the install, lilo will be installed to the mbr. It's rather easy. B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
996rxa Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 [i can manage installing Windows because it's rather simple. I can change the boot sequence on my computer and reset it without any problems. (Thnks to those who gave me the tip). Now how on earth do I get Windows XP to redemention it's "boarders"? I have NTFS formating on this drive. If I resize the drive as mentionned I should end up having a "C" and "D" Local Disk. How will I know during the installation of Mandrake that I'm targetting the correct Local disk? You gentlemen shure know allot. Wish I was a pro too :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted March 8, 2006 Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 Your partitions will show up graphically if you choose "custom" partitioning. You should have an "hda1" and an "hda2," with "hda2" being the new empty partition. Select "hda2" and then "auto". If you do not format the new partition, linux will automatially choose the unpartitioned space. Also, your "d" drve will disappear the next time you're in windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
996rxa Posted March 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 Thank you gentlemen for your tips. I was able to install Mandriva. During the installation I encountered the screen that demanded if I wanted to delete Windows and the next one to resize the alotted space on the hardrive for Windows (This was the blue rectangle). I reduced the space from 120G to 80G (Windows was newly installed so I had not used all the hard drive and I did defrag before installing Linux). I'm not certain if I alloted the correct setting for the other parts (the green one for SWAP, bright red and dark red). Thing went well during the instllation of Mandrake. The computer resarted and I had the pale blue screen with the Pinguin, I have 4 choices Linux at the top and Windows XP at the bottom. I waited as the countdown started to see if all was ok (could have hit enter, I know that...lol). Next another pale blue screen appears with the Pinguin, I hit ESC to see the intallation progess, once over I end up with a black screen as if in DOS. Here is the text that appears: Mandriva Linux release 2006.0 (official) for i586 Kernel 2.123-12mdk on an i686/tty 1 Local host login: I then type: root and a Password is asked for. I type 123456 Next appears: Last login: Fri Mar 10 19:34:19 on ttyl [root@localhost ]# Can anybody tell me what I did wrong or what I didn't do? I hope I explained things clearely. Tks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 type "startx" at the command prompt and see if your x server (graphics) starts. What video card do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 It sounds like during setup your graphics wasn't configured at the end of the installation. Type "mcc", and choose Display in the menu that pops up, and then configure your screen according to your video card, etc. Also, make sure you add another user, don't use root to login and use daily as a normal system account. You can use root though for configuring your system, since you have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
996rxa Posted March 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 It's ASUS Nvidia GeForce4 Ti4200 AGP8X. I checked the list of the hardware detected and verified that all was fine before continuing the installation. TKS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 The default driver for nvidia chips is not good. You should choose generic vga in order to get your gui and then download the linux driver from nvidia. It will install and make the necessary changes all by itself. http://www.nvidia.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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