hello everyone im trying to get my laptop to dual boot windows and linux...i currently have Windows Media player...i have never used linux so i am not sure on which distro to use.....i have a 200GB hard drive so size is not a big concern of mine.....my laptop is a dv8333cl hp pavilion media center..duo core 1.83, 256mb geoforce go 7600, 200GB hd, 1GB ram......so if anyone has any suggestion please feel free to lend your thoughts....

nathan

I am a relative newbie myself. I found this article to be of tremendous help: http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/...ot-laptop.html

One of the cool things I am finding out about the linux community is the willingness to help and the amount of options you have. I used the above article as a guidline, used different programs (Probably used hammers where I should have used tweezers so to speak, but I had fun) and ultimately installed openSUSE 10.2, it seemed to work the best and I just "liked" it better.

I have a Compaq Presario V6000 (V6120US from Circuit City)Laptop
AMD Turion 64x2 (1600Mghz?)
100GB hard Drive
1GB RAM
NVidia Geforce 6150 Go
Super Multi DVD Drive
1280x800 widescreen Display.

Running Windows XP @20Gb
Suse 10.2 @30Gb
Fat 32 Shared Partition @35Gb
2Gb Swap
5gb Home Partition (Linux)

3D works with newest NVidia Drivers (Could not install with yast as it wanted to give me older drivers that would not work)And Beryl Cube is cool as long as I am careful with the settings.
Wireless now works with ndiswrapper for the most part. Sometimes won't connect without a reboot.

Having Linux on it's own partition let me install and try other Distros and also fool around with the settings. If I messed up I just reinstalled OS 10.2 (DId this about 3 times before I set everything right.)

Sorry for the long answer, I am just jazzed that my laptop works with OS 10.2. It is fun getting it set up--next up headphones and Wine (Totally confusing right now).

As a rule an operating system needs a partition of its own for residence. Thus a user giving the entire hard disk to XP will need to resize the XP partition first to get empty space back for the creation of partitions.

A Linux needs no more than 10Gb but the first one you install also requires a swap partition because Linux has no need to defrag its filing system and this is achieved by using a scratch area. A swap is generally about twice the physical memory and 1Gb should do in most cases because with more ram the scratch area will be get used less. Second, third....to hundredth Linux will all use the same swap partition if you install them.

It would be sensible to get a Windows-based software to resize xp first to obtain the space. This is because a proprietary software has to be used and they are obligated to work and preserve the integrity of the XP system. If you are unwilling to pay for the proprietary software then use the "latest" Linux resizing tool Gparted or Parted Magic, available in free downloadable Live CD iso images, as they are also reliable. The Gparted program embedded in the Linux distro is generally older and may not work.

Ideally the creation of Linux partitions is carried out by a Linux Live CD. Many Linux Live CDs are installable. Therefore when you are happy with it you then opt for the installation into the hard disk. Partitions created in Windows are no good to Linux as Linux use a different filing system and partition ID.

It is recommended a Windows user take some time to use the Linux in a Live CD to familirise with Linux convention on naming of partitions and hard disks, satisfying its capability and compatiblity with Windows partition (as Linux can work on most of the Windows data) before installing the distro into the hard disk.

During installation just tell the installer the partitions you want it to install.

It is possible to let a Linux to resize, to automatically install and sit back to do nothing but if things don't work out you could be in a situation not knowing which operation has gone wrong and couldn't describe your problem to get it resolved.

In a normal installation a Linux will detect every partition and include that partition for booting. As a MS system always has a boot loader inside its root partition Linux can dual WIndows automatically.

DO i need to set up the partition to use a live cd distro....and can anyone recommend a good live cd distro to use.....thanks

Any Live CD will do as it will have the cfdisk and fdisk commands in terminal.

Some Live CDs give you the admin right, as the root user, directly other require you to work as an ordinary user. You are better off to stick with the former which you can get from Slax, Puppy, Kanotix etc.

You don't need to do anything with a Live CD. It runs on the CD and uses the ram only to operate. Never touch your hard disk unless you want it to, like to create partitions.

It is the installer's duty to format the partition.

do you recommend a particular live cd.....

Slax and Puppy are my favourites. I don't think you can go wrong with Slax.

ok when i try to load slax it starts up but just when i think its about to go to desktop the screen turns black what do i do??

This is a frequent problem in Linux that the distro installer could have mismatched your video. Since you can't see it you think the system has hung.

However press ctrl+alt+backspace can drop you back into a command mode.

You can then run a program call "xorgconfig" at the terminal to let Linux to configure the essential hardware manually.

If you have a trouble with it try Puppy.

It is quit simple to edit xorg, which controls the desktop, but you can always learn it later.

In addition, there are Knoppix, SimplyMEPIS, & Kubuntu that all default to the KDE desktop & all derive from Debian. KDE because it is a full desktop environment; & Debian because it is truly free & a multi-person effort. As an added bonus you get the APT/.deb package mgr. too.

When you decide what to install, consider vmserver as an alternative to multi-booting. It is:

• free (as in beer, but not speech)
• does not require re-partitioning or partition mgt.
• bypasses any Linux-laptop hardware issues. Thus, just as Winders(tm) 3 found its highest & best use as a Solitaire platform; XP may turn out to be the "perfect", albeit bloated, laptop hardware driver.

Your specs indicate that you have the horsepower to run vmserver.

well i still cant get slax to run....im determined to get it working so can anyone help me......it boots and when it says its starting the screen goes blank....do i need to get different drivers..or what im new to operating systems in general.....so idk please help ASAP

THANKS

creativenate88,

Slax always boots you to the text mode, right?

So you have a full Linux in terminal mode. In fact if you check the directory /mnt by command "ls /mnt" you can see the windows directories and files inside.

Now you want a graphic desktop and to start it is the command I believe you lost the screen and the communication broke down with Slax. Is that correct? Post #9 tells you that you can get back to terminal mode by pressing the 3 keys together.

Post #9 also tells you that in terminal mode you can configure the screen by command
Have you tried it out? The choice "vesa" works for may video cards. If you select the driver and the correct scanning frequencies appropriate to your monitior then there is a good chance Slax can get through.

Linux uses generic drivers and that should get you into the GUI but if you have a high end card then you may need to get the driver for it to get the best out of the card. I usually use "nv" for Nvidia cards, "radeon" for ati cards and "vesa" works in most cases but then I don't own an expensive video card.

yes i did try the 3key combo and it resulted in....nothing happening

ok so i installed ubuntu onto my laptop.....when i try to put up it doesnt go any farther than say...35 percent.....ne ideas as to why....i really need help.....

I know supports for many chipsets running Intel Dual core CPU are not yet available in Linux. Couldn't offer any help except try a few more distros.