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| Thread ID: 12135 | 2001-10-17 01:42:00 | Installing Linux on second hard drive - advice please | Guest (0) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 21705 | 2001-10-17 01:42:00 | Hi, I'm planning to install a second hard disk, and I would like to run Linux Mandrake on that (running Win98SE on the primary HD). I'd be grateful for advice, tips and comments on what I should watch out for (any gotchas) as to prep/setup/formatting of the 2nd HD for running a different OS and for the dual-boot config. Or is this a silly idea, and I should rather install Linux on a separate partition on my primary HD? ------------------------ Current system specs: Athlon 600/256MB RAM with Maxtor 20GB HD and Matrox G400, running Win98SE. ------------------------- Thanks, Britta |
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| 21706 | 2001-10-17 02:47:00 | I would avoid the dual boot .. if you are planning to keep the Windows as well. It is 'cleverness', and can give trouble. You can even have a floppy disk to boot from. What I use instead is the loadlin.exe programme, which runs under DOS. You need on your primary HD a copy of the kernel file, loadlin.exe, and a batchfile invoking loadlin with the appropriate arguments. . Just go through the standard installation, use the option to give you a floppy disk start, make sure that the WIN/DOS disk is mountable from Linux (an option in setup), then copy the kernel file (called vmlinuz, bzImage, or something like that -- the biggest file in /boot, anyway) to the /DOSWIN directory.You get loadlin off the CD (utilities directory?). There will be a HOWTO file about it anyway. Just a floppy boot is quite effective too, but a bit slower, and needs a compressed kernel. (If the big file in /boot is < 1430000 long you can 'dd if=/boot/bzImage (eg) of=/dev/fd0 bs=72k'. This is what the making of an emergency floppy does ... But before you start: RTFMs ...there will be a lot of HOWTO files on the CD. You can browse the CDS from your Windows before you do anything. |
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| 21707 | 2001-10-17 02:59:00 | Mandrake will do all the partitioning for you, just make sure you point it to the second hard drive. You may want to choose expert install to give you more control (don't worry it doesn't get too technical). You should check your hardware support before you install to avoid suprises (eg PCI Modems). www.linux-mandrake.com I've been told that Matrox cards are very well supported. |
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| 21708 | 2001-10-17 03:11:00 | Thanks, Graham and bm - I'll make sure I plough through all the documentation beforehand. Have checked hardware support. Cheers, Britta |
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