hi to all ...

here is what im looking for

A Distro that can be installed on a Windows Partitions (prefrabely Fat32) and is based on one of the good distros like Debian core or Redhat core or etc . ... should have a good GUI and not too GEEKY stuff in it ..

kindly Tell me a name if possible and where to download it from instead of reffering me to Distro Watch website ..

much appreciate ..

Zipslack does that.

Hi and welcome to LQ!
if it is entirely possible, you should try and partition your drives and give your linux a native linux format (ext3, ext2, reiserfs) other wise you might get poorer performance.

zipslack looks like the way to go, conventional wisdom says it can't be done- but if you really want to/have to put linux on fat etc, then look a zipslack- based on slackware- THE first linux distribution.

titanium_geek

Is there any reason you can't repartition and put Linux on ext3 instead of FAT32?

i guess i should have explained the reason as well for it too ..
ive been installing linux in my system by partiotiong the right way ... that is making a ext-ext3 partitions in the same HDD but not having much knowledge and lack of internet connectivity i had quite alot of problems and my HDD was like getting format everynow and then until the time i got a new HDD and a 24/7 net connectivity ...
i check the distros and installed Ubuntu on one of the HDD and was having fun without any problem ... until my linux HDD got BOOMED and now i got only winxp on the big hdd ... now i dont wanna repeat history by again doing partitioning and then installing again and then facing some problem and blah blah blah ...
the thing is i just use linux for like a month or so and then there is always some kinda problem cause of which i have to delete it (when ever it is installed on the same hdd as that of Winxp that is) ... im just a curious linux user ... i dont have coding and that sort of things to do for which i use linux ... just a curious guy .. preety soon im gonna be buying a good graphic card and then will need windows for all the good games and then itll be bye bye linux for a loong time .. so i just wanted a linux which can be installed in FAT kinda partitions so that i can fulfill my curiousity and dont have to do the partitioning thing again ..

Well, if your computer's already partitioned, you don't have to repartition it--you just have to have the Linux installer pick the partition, and it will automatically reformat that partition as ext3.

And, if you just want to play around with Linux to satisfy your curiosity, why even install it? Just get a live CD. Ubuntu, Mepis, and Knoppix have great live CDs. The live CD runs off your computer's memory and doesn't affect your hard drive at all.

I agree that CD distros of linux are a good way to goof around without messing up your HD, half the fun of linux is trying to get it to work on your system and you can't write to a CD. You can mount FAT, FAT32, and NTFS filesystems in Linux fairly easily. Have you tried dual-booting Linux and WinXP? It's a good way to keep all your games and things and still have full linux functionality. Of course dual-booting can open up a whole new can of worms.

PS: NTFS mounting in Linux is only stable in read mode as far as I know. No writing to the NTFS partition through linux safely. Good Luck!

I agree- partitioning can be a pest when you are just starting out- it's either ALL windows, or ALL linux (trust me, I've been there- most people have) but I have to tell you that it is worth it. A great learning experience- yay! now I am moving on to a 4 linux and a windows system- very excited. The partitioning has behaved. The tool of choice was cfdisk on a knoppix live CD (booted as knoppix 2 at the first prompt) and I have had no problems- but yeah, I had a lot of partitioning headaches before this point.

Don't worry, you'll get there. Partitioning isn't that bad.

titanium_geek

thanks for the great idea guyz !!
specially from AYSIU abt LIVE CD .... i also had another idea that struck me last night after my last post .... actually i started doing that already ...

iam installing linux from the MS VIRTUAL machiene program ... it installs linux and any other OS within ur current OS (u guyz might know i better) ...


and if this fails i guess it wouldnt hurt to partition my new HDD for a little linux partition at all .. ... so heres the next question ... is it good to make a linux partition in the last portion of an 80GB HDD ? or should i make a partition within the first 15GB section ?

An 80G hard drive may have problems with the antiquated BIOS used in computers. The BIOS can only access the first 1024 cylinders of your hard drive. The fix is partitioning to overcome this. The following table will show this.
/dev/hda1 Partition 1 50-100M this is your /boot partition for linux
/dev/hda2 Partition 2 XXXM this is your Microstuffed Windoze partition.
/dev/hda3 Partition 3 RAMx2 This is your linux swap partition.
Extended partition
/dev/hda5 rest of disc This is your linux root partition.
Hope this is helpfull.