Linux installation

[U-Toast]

Ok, i wana install linux suse 9.1 here at my moms place on the pc listed in sig.
I got 2 hds as u can c
the 20 gig is in 2 partitions, 7 gig for xp, and rest in formated in ntfs, but nothing is on it.
The 40 gig one is full at 100% with all my games n apps.
What i wana do is install suse 9.1 on a new partition on the same drive that my os is on.
I want to dual boot, iv read sooo many guides and stuff, but i dont understand anything!

If any1 could give me ideas on how i could setup this dual boot, and help me go through the installation plz

 

[horndude]

That second partition needs ntfs removed and left empty.Leave the existing XP install on there, just get rid of the remaining ntfs part.SuSe I do believe makes partitions on its own, you should be able to do an install from that point.Once thats done, you will need to go thru the process of installing either grub or LILO which will let you decide at boot time which OS to boot.I dont know how Suse does this but it should give you a prompt and let you know its doing it when it happens.

 

[U-Toast]

well i have installed suse at my dads for testing and all, and when u install suse, it asks were to install and all, and were to pur grub. Should i put it in master boot record or the first boot sector? What differance would it make?

 

[horndude]

First boot sector, master boot record can be dangerous.

I'd assume windows will be on /dev/hda1 -- primary ide drive,1st partition

so put Suse on /dev/hda2 , not sure how it asks,but once setup thats where it will be listed in /etc/fstab

 

[U-Toast]

whats etc/fstab?

 

[horndude]

/etc/fstab is where linux usually shows the setup or configuration for what drives are installed and mounted at boot time.

/etc is the standard directory where most of the configuration files are.

 

[U-Toast]

ohh ok, thanks, well ima try this and install, dont have much to lose anyways. So i install linux on a non aloocated partition on same hd as os, then install grub on 1st boot sector, afta that, are there any changes i am supposed to make in the configs to get dual boot?

Thanks

 

[horndude]

shouldnt be as far as I know, but grub or whatever bootloader suse uses should have entries for both OS's or you wont have a choice at boot time.

You may have to configure X and network and a few other things, Ive never used SuSe. dunno how much of that it does for you during the install.

 

[U-Toast]

aight ty, what do u use? and is it good?

 

[horndude]

Slackware 9.1 on one machine, a thin client made from basiclinux which is based on slackware 3.5 on machine #2, a custom made from scratch linux on box #3, and a custom made version of redhat 7 on my fileserver box .