Guest jamesgf Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 hello all! Im going to install mdk9.1 tonight on a second hardrive (primary master has XP, primary slave currently has knoppix/debian). Here are my questions: 1. I have my second drive partitioned with / 5gb /swap 512 mb and /boot 100 mb. Should i wipe the drive and start fresh? Id like to add a /home partition to it as well. Would it be easier to use cfdisk and erase the partitions then allow the mdk installer to partion it? Or can additonal partitions be added during install? The drive is 20gb and is for linux only. 2. Expert or recommended install? Id like to be able to choose XP as default on lilo or grub (make the wife happy). Is this option available as recommended install or just as expert? 3. LILO or GRUB? im leaning toward lilo but really does it matter? thanks alot! -jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 1. I have my second drive partitioned with / 5gb /swap 512 mb and /boot 100 mb. Should i wipe the drive and start fresh? Id like to add a /home partition to it as well. Would it be easier to use cfdisk and erase the partitions then allow the mdk installer to partion it? Or can additonal partitions be added during install? The drive is 20gb and is for linux only. you can use the diskdrake in the install to setup your partitions. this includes adding, deleting, resizing...just about everything. be sure to format everything (accept /home if you already have a seperate partition for it, otherwise, format everything). You don't have to delete the partitions if you don't want to. Just add all the stuff you want. 2. Expert or recommended install? Id like to be able to choose XP as default on lilo or grub (make the wife happy). Is this option available as recommended install or just as expert? expert is the best option for what you're looking at doing. towards the end of the install it will give you a list of all the parts for configuration and you'll need to open up the bootloader section and set the default to windows, or you can do it later after the install through mandrake control center. 3. LILO or GRUB? im leaning toward lilo but really does it matter? I like lilo best, but that's more of a personal preference. Not sure what major differences there might be, I just know lilo works well and hasn't given me any trouble. Be sure to do an install, not an upgrade, as there have apparently been quite a few issues with the upgrade option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesgf Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 tyme- thanks alot for your help. I have nothing important to save on my current knoppix/debian install so ill format it all. -jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Counterspy Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 The only hitch I see is that you are adding a third distro. When you do the Mandrake install, it may be that the Knoppix/Debian boot stanza in the respective conf files, lilo.conf or grub.1st gets overwritten whichever you use. I don't think your XP stanza will get overwritten. Usually the third (or more) distros are stopped from writing to the boot sector then are boot with a floppy disk, with lilo.conf or grub.1st edited by hand to accomodate it (them). If I am wrong about this, hopefully someone else will jump in before you begin your install. Counterspy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesgf Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 counterspy- I only have a single distro installed on my second hd. I did an hd install of knoppix (which then essentially becomes debian) and currently boot from a floppy. I wanted to test my system for compatibility using this distro. When installing mdk9.1 i will install lilo to the mbr to dual boot instead of booting only from a floppy. Sorry for the confusion. In the last month or so of using linux i must say i am very impressed. After being a drone to windows i forgot what it was like to actually have control over a computer. Sure, some may say that it is hard to install, but ive done alot of windows installs that were troublesome as well. The time spent learning and configuring is well worth it for me, as linux offers so much cutomizing it is incredible. I have also found these forums to be a great help for a noob like myself. thanks, -jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Counterspy Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 You should have no problems then. I would personally choose Grub. Redaht no longer supplies lilo with their distros. Counterspy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 The above is excellent advice. The only things I would add are to set your partitions up as extended rather than primary. You can only have four primary partitions on a drive and you could find yourself running out down the road. Extended partitions do not have this limitation. Linux does not need to be on a primary partition to boot. Also, if XP is on a NTFS partition, linux can read NTFS but cannot write to it. Never attempt to write to an NTFS partition with linux or you will likely trash the entire file system. Most people with XP set up a separate FAT 32 partition which both linux and XP can read and write to. It's a good way to share data between the two OSes, e.g. you can put all your mp3s on the FAT 32 partition and both linux and XP will have read/write access to them. You might want to try giving Mandrake 10GB, FAT32 5GB and leave 5GB unallocated as a test partition where you can install and try another linux distro down the road or just give yourself a little breathing room if you need space for something. I don't really want to weigh in on the grub/lilo debate. I've used both without problems but am more familiar with lilo so I continue to use it. I don't think it makes all that much difference except that more people are familiar with lilo and it might be easier to get help if you need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 hello all! 1. I have my second drive partitioned with / 5gb /swap 512 mb and /boot 100 mb. Should i wipe the drive and start fresh? Id like to add a /home partition to it as well. Would it be easier to use cfdisk and erase the partitions then allow the mdk installer to partion it? Or can additonal partitions be added during install? The drive is 20gb and is for linux only. Since you are wiping it, use Mandrake's disk installer to do the work. One idea is to select "custom partitioner" and click the auto-config button and select the /usr option. It will give you some ideas on how to partition your drive. You can then write it down and clear the partition table and recreate them exactly the size you want. 2. Expert or recommended install? Id like to be able to choose XP as default on lilo or grub (make the wife happy). Is this option available as recommended install or just as expert? The installer no longer provides this option. When you get to the partition step, it provides the custom vs automatic choices. Select custom so you can put your thumb in it :) 3. LILO or GRUB? im leaning toward lilo but really does it matter? Lilo should work fine. I haven't used grub (didn't like the look) so I'm just stating what I use. Just do a default install and it will pick up your XP partition. You can edit your /etc/lilo.conf file to setup the default if you prefer XP to be the default. If you don't like this, you can uninstall lilo later.. lilo -U /dev/hda Some other tips. Don't use XP to manage your 2nd drive. You will destroy the partition table. Put all your partitions in extended partitions so you save your primary partitions. Make your partitions reasonable sizes. You don't need to use your entire drive if not necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesgf Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 thanks for all your help! My XP install is using FAT32(entire primary drive), will i be able to write to it in linux or will this trash it? (ie transfer files from linux to windows) I want to keep XP away from my second drive, as XP doesnt play nice with other operating systems :) -jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 If XP is FAT32 you should have no problem. I don't recall whether Mandrake sets up FAT 32 partitions as read/write or read only by default. I beleive 9.1 sets it up as read/write but if it's read only, it's very easy to change it to read/write. There are many posts on this board explaining how to do so if it is necessary. Or just post back if you need to know how. The problem with NTFS is it's a secret/closed microsoft proprietary format and the linux folks have been trying to hack it for some time to allow read/write access. It's all part of microsft's lock-in strategy. With FAT32 there is no problem at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesgf Posted April 4, 2003 Report Share Posted April 4, 2003 im sure it wont be too long before MS changes the file formats for MS Office as well, to create as much incompatibilty between OO.o and MS Office. Not to mention what they have up their sleeve for the next OS, including DRM and palladium. Thats why im switching/learning linux now. Ill post back after im up and running tonight if things go well. thanks for all the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesgf Posted April 5, 2003 Report Share Posted April 5, 2003 well i got everything up and running for the most part. The install was far easier than i thought it would be. The only thing i missed was making a boot floppy. During setup i must have missed where that was. Can i make one now, after things are set up? Only other thing is my sound card isnt working. I made sure to use the right drivers for my SBLive, and checked to make sure it wasnt muted, but still no luck. Im using Boston Acoustic digital speakers, am i missing something? MDK9.1 looks great, KDE is very impressive. Thanks for all of your help. -jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted April 5, 2003 Report Share Posted April 5, 2003 As for the bootdisk, just open up Mandrake Control Center (should be in your menu's somewhere), go to the boot section, and there's an option for making a boot floppy. It's very odd that your SBLive sound card doesn't work...open up Mandrake Control Center, go into hardware, then click on the HardDrake and see if your sound card is listed. it should be using the emu10k1 module. atleast i belive that's the one the sblive uses... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polemicz Posted April 5, 2003 Report Share Posted April 5, 2003 run aumix, you will probably find, as I and others did, that the volume, etc is set at 0 or very low. my guess is that is your sound problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted April 5, 2003 Report Share Posted April 5, 2003 In all the time I've been using Mandrake, I've never needed a boot floppy.. Just booting off of CD1, hitting F1, and typing rescue has been good enough.. I wouldn't bother unless you don't want to use a lilo or grub boot manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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