Linux student driver wannabe

[olopbob]

I thought I could just install Mandrake or Redhat on my 60 gig hard drive, so I could learn the O/S. I had XP partitioned and Partitionmagic and Bootmagic to do the rest. Well, that was two weeks ago, and now all I need is a link to give me step by step instructions. I have spent hours just trying to change a NTFS partition back to FAT32, so that tells my sorry story. So if there is a place (link, webpage or guru) to go, I have backups made and am ready to reformat. (will still need Partitionmagic ).One link, all I ask is one link, but be forewarned, I will return, GRANDMASTERS.

Note: Why do I get asked to hit any key to boot to my only O/S after partitioning, when there is no where else to go?

 

[Ecniv]

hmm, not really understanding what you want the link to walk you through.. Just the installation of Linux? If so, you dont need one, very simple, just use partition magic to resize the current partition down to give yourself a few gigs of space, then boot to the mandrake CD, (I would recommend mandrake for a linux newbie, which I kind of still classify myself as) and walk through the install, tell it to put Linux in the free space on the drive, and go through the install, at the end it should configure the LILO bootloader, and you wont need bootmagic. If you need any more help, let me know!

 

[olopbob]

I have Partitionmagic, Mandrake and Redhat on disk.I just don't want to blow clean install after previous disaster.I will reformat and reinstall XP, then try to install Mandrake as dual boot and share(Teach the children to play nice together). My present NTFS wouldn,t config with FAT32 Linux partition, so I plan to format back to a total FAT32 HD.I just needed some guidence as not to blow this install after going through backing up and reformat.

 

[Ecniv]

Bah dont do that at all, Install XP using NTFS, leave a few gigs free unpartitioned, the boot to Mandrake, install in unpartitioned space as ext2 Filesystem, and it will set up the bootloader for you, whala, all done.

 

[shan]

yea, linux shouldn't be formated for Fat32 or NTFS, it should be ext2. After you resize your drive in PartitionMagic, apply the new settings and the restart your computer, it will change all of the drives around, and load up windows. go to my computer to make sure that your c:\ drive has changed sizes. then you can load up the linux install and use the ext2 to install on.

PS: If you load up LILO as your boot loader, make sure to add a label for MS Windows on hda or when you start your computer you'll be able to choose your o.s. my friend didn't put a label for ms and thought linux totally wiped out windows, he freaked out . it was funny