installing mandrake 8.1

[DUSTIN]

hi
i have windows xp installed on one hard drive(i have 2) and i want to install mandrake 8.1 on the other. the second one is a 20gb, and i'd like to use some of this space for windows. they are both formatted in ntfs. how would you suggest partitioning the drive? i'm not sure what partitions need to be made for linux. also, will it change the file system to ext2 for linux? will i be able to see files on the linux partition from windows and vica versa. can i just put in the mandrake cd when i boot and install on the second drive--will everything work ok with the boot manager and everything? sorry about all the randoms questions and thanks for any help.

[OOPS!]

OK Dustin,

Did you format the 2nd drive as 1 big partion? Or several smaller ones?

If you did several smaller ones all you need to do is boot from the Mandy CD, and select the partions you want to use for it. I always figure using about 3gigs total for a Mandy install. You will need to make 4 partions and 5 is recommended. You will need / (the root, for Mandy I use 150megs. It will use up about half of this), a swap (recommended = to the amount of ram you have), /usr (this is where your programs go, depends, I use about 3gigs. I have lots of programs , I would recommend 1.5~2gigs), /var (some don't use this, but it is recommended. log files and such are stored there. I use 200~250megs for this), and last but not least. /home (this is where the users can store their stuff. I use about 200~250megs per user). If you are going to err on the side of making one partion too big, do it to the /usr. That way you will have room for any new software you may want to install.

If you did one big partion, simply select the second drive. You can still diviy it up the same way. You just need to tell it where to stop. And it will format the partions that you tell it to use to ext2 by default.

Linux will see the ntfs partions no problem. It can even read and write to them. But XP will not see the ext2 partions. They will simply disappear as if they were never there.

I've not used XP myself, but the recommendations are to use the XP bootloader. But no one has been able to tell me why this is better than LiLo or GRUB, the linux bootloaders. It should work just fine with either one. I persoanlly, for what it's worth, would use LiLo. Mostly because that what I'm used to.

Hope this gets you started. Remember, BACKUP ALL IMPORTANT FILES FIRST!!!! That way if something does go bad, You just need to reload your OS's. While cussing me out .

Relax, enjoy, and have fun. This is going to be a new learning expirience. You will make some mistakes. But it's how we all learn.

OOPS!

[DUSTIN]

ok, thanks
i got mandrake installed
i can boot to both, using lilo
do you know how i can edit the boot manager or switch to xp's boot manager?
thanks

[OOPS!]

Well, if LiLo is working I'd leave well enough alone for now. Play with Linux a little first to get the feel of it. Check out the man pages and docs.

What is it that you want to change? And Why? Not trying to talk you out of it, but you are now in new waters. Things are gong to be different. I don't have any expirience with XP, so I don't know how the bootloader works there.

OOPS!

[DUSTIN]

i just wanted to change the boot manager so that there wasn't that 4 second time limit. i want it to sit at the boot manager until i choose which one to run
also, i was wondering if you could change the names of the options...so i could have "windows xp" instead of "nt"

[DUSTIN]

also, do you know how i can view a fat32 partition or ntfs partition from mandrake? right now i click on "home directory" and i can only see the linux partition
i'd like to play some mp3's from another partition
thanks

[OOPS!]

You can set the wait time to a longer period (in seconds), but I don't think you can set it to infinity. The best you can do is move the arrow key down to a different choice. It will wait until you hit the enter key before it procedes.

To change the delay time, I will assume you are using kde. click on the Mandrake control center icon. Click on boot, then the boot configuration. Click configure and the enter a new number in the box for delay. It is set in seconds. I suppose you could set it the delay for a millon seconds.

To change lilo to show XP instead of nt, you will need to log in as root. Open a file browser. go to /etc/lilo.conf open it in a text editor. You can do this by right clicking on the file and choosing open with... Then go to the line that says other=/dev/hda1. the line under that should say label=nt, just edit so it says label=XP. Save it, rerun lilo and you should be set. Oh, to re-run lilo, open a terminal window from root. Type lilo and hit enter.

To mount your ntfs partions you need to open a file browser again, expand the /root dir, then click on the /mnt dir. It will show you all your mountable drives. click on the appropriate icon and there you go. You can add a desktop short cut if you would like by simply dragging and dropping it to the desk top. This works in kde.

A word of caution to a Linux newbie, only log in as root only when needed. To run as root all the time is asking for trouble. If you just want to use the OS log in as a user. It will prevent you from making accedental mistakes.


OOPS!

For got to add, Welcome to the wonderful world of the Penguin!!! All the real power now lays at your fingertips!!

[DUSTIN]

hi
once i click on /mnt i get cdrom, cdrom2, disk, and floppy...but they are all empty. is there something i have to do to be able to access the files on disk?
thanks

[DUSTIN]

i don't know if this has anything to do with it but sometimes i get an error that says:
"could not read \"...or something like that

[revelation]

You can change the default OS to boot within the Mandrake Control Center. Where you see the list of Operating Systems choose NT, and it will give you the choice to click on the radio button to choose it as your default.

As far as seeing the NT partition, I was never able to see it either. I could see the partitions that were FAT32, but not NTFS. I just put the files I wanted to see in both OS in the FAT32 partition, that way I could see them from both Linux and Windows 2000.

[OOPS!]

Dustin,

I spoke too soon I geuss on ntfs. After consulting some manuals. The support for it is still considered "experimental". Meaning you can recompile your kernel for support, but it may or may not work. I know others have done it, so I assumed it was good to go. If you want to try for it, I recommend poking around linuxdocs.org, or perhaps a site with info on the kernel.

Sorry for leading you astray on the ntfs part.

OOPS!