Linux Nooby Linux Question

I have XP installed currently running. I want to use daulboot Linux and XP. My brother doesn't want the hassle of Linux, but I want to tinker with it. Since where sharing 1 computer because I sold the others, I have no chose but to daulboot. My questions in order:

1. Lets say I burned my CD's... And I'm installation is ready to run. Is the installation DOS or is it like a Windows Installer type thing?? If the installation runs, is there anyway I can look through it without installing?

2. Is there any distrobutions that have a daulbooting option. If anyone can list some it would be very helpful because I don't want to get confused doing it manually.

3. The drive setup is currently: "A: , C: , D: , E: , F: drives. A is floppy, C is local, D is Local as well, and E and F are CDRW and CDROM's. Is there anyway to copy my D: files to C: and just install Linux on D: ?? When I try copying the "Program Files" in D: it gives me and error saying the programs may not work. Help me out here :'(

Thanks a bundle

 

I would be very careful if you decide to do this. Make backups of all your important files first. Now, I suggest using the Mandrake distribution. It has a nice graphical installer, and it automatically installs a boot program so you can option into Linux or Windows (a lot of distributions have these two features, I think). So, yeah, Mandrake is most likely one of the better ones for newbs.

Now, as far as question 3 goes... hmmm... you are in quite a pickle. I am guessing that you have Windows installed across two hard drives, right? What other windows-related folders are on the D drive besides "Program Files"? Bye the way, I am pretty sure that you *cannot* move the "Program Files" directory like that... there might be other ways to consolidate your windows installation onto one hard drive, but I am not sure what those ways are.

 

EDIT: sheesh...sorry for writing a novel here. Didn't realize I had so much to say.

I think most every distribution of Linux will let you dual boot. It's not so much the distribution as the boot loader...LILO for instance. When you install linux, you will install and configure LILO or GRUB or some other boot loader. Essentially, when your machine boots up and posts, you will be presented with a menu to choose which OS you want to boot. Windows or Linux. You choose one then boot it up.

The Linux installation will not be a windows installation. You will either boot off the cd image you burned or use a boot disk. Stick the cd in, reboot the machine with the BIOS set to boot from CD-Rom first, and you should be in business. You can look at things without installing. When the cd first loads, it is loading the root kernel information into memory so that the install can procede.

Now, for which distribution. Keep in mind that Linux runs on a different file system than windows. It uses ext2 (most commonly...there are a couple of others) whereas windows uses FAT32 or NTFS. So you will have to create new partitions to install linux on. This is why compjinx is telling you to be careful. You will have to run fdisk (a linux version of it) and create linux partitions.

Like compjinx said, Mandrake is supposedly very n00b friendly. I haven't used it so I can't say. But Red Hat was very easy for me to install. Then I installed Debian which was also pretty easy. And now I am running Slackware. They are all have their place in the linux world...Red Hat is more "windows" like where as Debian and slack allow you to get into more of the bloody guts of linux. There is also a distribution called Knoppix which runs entirely from cd. That may be something to look at so you don't have to mess up anything on windows.

You can't just move entire programs from one drive to another. Well...some you can...but not real programs like Office or games. They have registry entries that are setup and point to where you installed it originally. I believe there are programs you can get that are supposed to allow you to move programs...but I'm not sure how well they work. IMO the best way to set up a dual boot mchine like you are talking about is too start from scratch and create all of the required partitions then install XP to it's partition and Linux to its.

 

I know Linux distro's all work with multibooting. What I was really asking was: Is there any distro's that have a daulbooting option during installation??

 

Redhat-9 and Fedora do (think fedora does - redhat definately does!).

Anyway its only like one file to edit if you don't get the option when installing (say if you used gentoo or something)

 

yar,
they all will run with multiple boot.. linux has nothing to do with it.. its the way YOU configure it that counts. you can use LILO or GRUB as your bootloader, but windows does already have one. i think the safest thing to do is to NOT install the GRUB/LILO bootloader to the master boot record. and to enable the option of writing it to the boot partition that linux needs anyway. this is a much safer option, and you should always be able to get into windows even if you have mamed your linux partiton. to get to the linux partiton once you have written to the boot partiton, you will need to go into windows and edit the "boot.ini" file, which tells it where to look for your partitons.
WARNING : BE VERY CAREFUL, YOU CAN SCREW YOUR SYSTEM VERY EASILY IF NOT DONE CORRECTLY.
so, when installing linux, write down a list of what partitons are where, their number, whether logical or primary, then change the boot.ini file to look at the linux boot partiton that you should have made. this has served me well in the past, and i hope that was of help.

P.S. back up all your data before you try any of this!!

 

I know there mostly all compatible. What I want to ask now is, when I install Gentoo to my PC, will it give me the option to install to my D: ?? The D: is the only thing Im willing to give up

 

if your a linux newbie, gento is a NO, NO. seriously i wouldnt even think about considering it. if you do, may it be at your own peril.

try redhat 9 or something like mandrake to start with, use it for a couple of months, maybe then try gentoo

 

not to be all fussy but : What I want to ask now is, when I install Redhat to my PC, will it give me the option to install to my D: ?? The D: is the only thing Im willing to give up.

Can you answer the questions about the drives sir?? Sorry to bother.

 

yes, redhat seems to have easiest way of installing to pecific places, etc.

in the redhat installer it will give you a list of partitons you have.. you will need to delete the D: partiton, and create a boot, swap and / partition(s).

it will also ask you whether you want to use the MBR (master boot record) to put the bootloader in, as i explained earlier, you can do this... and it will add XP to the bootloader list, but it is far safer to use the windows bootloader, as im sure that will be your primary OS. so, dont select write to MBR, then go into advanced options in that sections and put it in the boot partition you will have created in some of the space left over from the D: drive

 

If you read my post, i said that redhat and fedora will "give you the option to install to d:". I said that gentoo and a few others won't give you that option, but even so, it's only a matter of editing one single file to 'enable' dual boot.

As unclean said, don't bother with anything other than a newbie friendly distro just yet. Again, make a note of what he said about having to delete your 'D:' partition and create some others. Linux requires a minumum of two partitions - though three is ideal.

Why don't you try Knoppix first? It is a distro that boots from CD and won't touch your hard drives, so you can try out linux without having to even think about messing with partitions and all that stuff.

 

yeah
knoppix is a good idea! if you like it.. then give redhat or some thing similar a go.

 

Seems like I remember somebody suggesting knoppix back up in post #3. Of course I'm sure it got lost in all of that other mess that person typed up.

 

Lol!

 

Sometimes you have to mention things three times before certain people actually begin to take note Deviate [btw, 1000 posts ]

Did we mention you could try Knoppix? You don't have to worry about it touching your HDDs because........................

 

How about Knoppix?


(Seriously though, get a feel of nix first with it then if you feel you want to explore more into it, install a proper distro)

 

just a note: linux won't say "I'll install to your d: drive" because linux doesn't do drive letters

and I do quad-booting through grub, it's simple

and have you looked in knoppix?

 

you forgot to mention Knoppix.

...

 

just to be different Mandrake also has a bootable option now called Mandrake Move if you want two options ..
and look i even post links..

 

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