Hello,

I am planning to install Fedora Core 1 on a Windows XP installed machine. I believe I have two partition, C and D. According to "Enterprise Red Hat Linux, and Fedora", I can install Fedora Core using "automatic" partition with preserving existing Windows XP. And I tried, looks like at this mode, it gives me error, and probably cannot do further. This book also mentioned about using "Partition Magic 8.0" to partition the HD. I just have ordered this software online, and waiting to get it. Mean time, I am reading the manual...And the manual does not specify any scenario that fits my situation..like having 2 partition, C, and D with Windows XP, how to proceed on creating partition.

My question is, what should I do with C, and D ? Shirnk/Create partition ? Anybody can help me how to deal with this scenario with the "Partition Magic 8.0" ? So that I can have both Windows XP (Home Edition), and Fedora ?

Would appreciate if you reply as clearly as possible, as I am a newbie to Linux.

First of all why install Fedora Core 1 when Fedora Cora 4 is available for free download:
http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors.html
Also if you bought the computer with XP installed then you probably only have one partition. Sometimes there is a small rescue partition on some systems. Have you tried booting off of a CD? If you can't you will have to go into the bios by hitting delete during the bootup and set the boot order to CD first. Also before using a partitioning tool to resize your windose partition you want to boot up hitting F8 and selecting Safe Mode and go into windose and do a defrag. After you get your Partition Magic CD you will want to install it to XP and then open it up and create a couple of floppies so you can boot up on the Partition Magic floppies and do your partitioning without being in XP. First you are going to resize your windows partition and afterwards l would create at least one linux partition, a swap partition and an FAT32 partition to be able to share files between windose and linux because both windose and linux can read and write to FAT32. After each operation using Partition Magic or any other partitioner l recommend rebooting before continuing on to the next step or operation. You probably will need more help but this will give you something to chew on for a bit. But being that you are a newbie l wouldn't be using something as out dated as Core 1 when Core 4 is out. The newer the version the better the hardware detection, usually!

There are also lots of good distros, my favorite and a very easy one to use is SimplyMepis 3.3.1 at mepis.org ... not to dissuade you if Fedora is the one you want to use. I have been using Linux for over a year and Mepis since last summer and finally turfed XP a couple of months ago ... couldn't be any happier! :-)

Wayne

If you have dial up which is slow you might want to go here and order the CDs at a nominal fee: http://distrowatch.com/

Wayne

Thannks for the suggestion using Fedora 4. Now the challenge is to download this. I have found following links from you (which are the files to download ?)
ftp://ftp.linux.ncsu.edu/pub/fedora/...sc1/2/3/4.iso?

Should I put all the files in a CD ? Any other files that I need to have in CD ?
If so, each file takes more than an hour to download ? Any better way to put these files directly to CD ?

Thanks for replying

Thank you, but I have high speed access. And I have 2 more files to download...progress is not as bad as I thought. Again, I am downloading following files :

FC4-ppc-disc1.iso
FC4-ppc-disc2.iso
FC4-ppc-disc3.iso
FC4-ppc-disc4.iso

I will burn these files to a CD. And my Computer is capable of booting off from CD-R, so I will just insert CD in the CD-Rom, and restart the machine ? And installation wizerd will take me to the install process...What are .iso exention mean ? Does this have to be altered before I burn these to CDs ?

I will need your help as I follow through the porcess of installation, starting from Disk Partitioning, creating dual boot system, and installation of Linux. I would appreciate if you could assist me in that. If you could give me this support, should I keep sending messege through this forum ? or you prefer emails ? Please let me know.

Thanks, and have a great day.

Rafiqul

An ISO is an image(picture) used primarily for download purposes to keep everything together. If you just copy them to a CD they won't work. When in windose right click on them and choose to burn with Nero or Roxio burning software and it should be burnt so that it ends up on the CD in usable files. Make sure you choose a burn speed of no great then 4x to avoid critical burn errors.

We should commute via this forum because it is through these forums that Newbies like yourself get help and if we do it in private then others lose the benefit of searching the forums for the help they need.

Wayne

Those ISOs you are downloading are for an IBM Power PC. If you have an intel processor you should be using i386.

Wayne

I have windowsxp and fedora core 4 running under dual boot.
Be carefull with thunderbird e-mail as you cannot set the parameter to leave copies on the server.
When using the auto install and the free space I found no problems.
Be carefull with Partition Magic 8.0 I have used it but it can really mess up your hard drive and you will end up installing everything. Best to stay away from it.
I had fedora 3 and windowsxp and also Mandrake 10.1 official all on the same hard drive.
then I tried to update fedora and the MBR got hosed.
So I am now just doing core 4 and XP.
Want to ask more questions you can
just use my e-mail address.

There is ALWAYS a risk using ANY paritioning tool but l have had good luck with Partition Magic except once on a very old IBM . Other then that one incident it worked fine. Myself l use Partition Magic to resize the windose NTFS partition and then use QTParted off of a live CD to structure my free space. Works well for me. But it is always wise to backup any data that you don't want to lose just to be safe.

Wayne

Hi Rafiqul (r u from Dhaka?),

Sure you're not running Windows XP on a IBM power processor !!! So you should download these files:

FC4-i386-disc1.iso
FC4-i386-disc2.iso
FC4-i386-disc3.iso
FC4-i386-disc4.iso

from any mirror you like like. Then you have burn them as an ISO image. I don't want to give you any url for burning instructions, my previous thread was closed for that reason (thanks to the moderator, he took it as an advertisement of my website).

Look in to this thread, you will find links provided both the moderator and me!
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...25#post1714125

Okay, now come to the point. What is the size of your hard disk? Is your drive C big enough to hold the data of drive D? If it can, then you don't have to modify your current partition. Just copy all files and folder from drive D: to C:, and go to the "Control Panel" -> "Administrative Tools" -> open "Computer Management" -> Click on "Disk Management" from the left menu -> right click on the drive D -> from the popup menu, select "Delete Logical Drive" -> on the alert message box, click on "Yes". Your drive is now deleted. You can install Fedora Core 4 now on that free space.

Insert your Fedora Core 4 Disc 1 into your CD Rom drive and reboot your PC. Fedora Core 4 installation screen will automatically appear. Press "Enter" for a graphical installation. It will now want to check your media (most of the time it fails and gives error messages). Click "Ok" to check your media, it will eject your media tray. Insert your media again and click on the "Continue" button. After waiting a few minutes, the graphical installation wizard will appear. Read the instructions carefully and click on the "Next" button until you reach to the partition area.

Now select the "Automatically Partition" and click on the "Next" button. In the next screen, select "Keep all partitions and use existing free space". Well disk Druid will automatically make all necessary partions for Fedora Core 4. A boot drive (102 MB), and a LVM, which consists of two drives, A SWAP drive (size depends on your current RAM) and a / root drive. You can also delete the default mapping, and create your own from there. As a new bie, it won't be a wise decision.

The next few screens will be easier. In the final screen, just click on the "Next" button. The installation will start. Don't afraid with dual booting. Fedora Core 4 will recognize your Windows XP partion and add a choice in it's boot up menu.

You don't have to use any third party softwares, like partition majic, I guess. There's also a nice tool in the Windows XP CD, called "diskpart". It is the easiest partion making tool I ever used, but it is some what limited.

Well if you have further questions about dual booting with any Windows OS with Fedora Core, you ask me. And if you want your own Windows like boot loader instead of GRUB, I can also help.

Hope the above instructions help you a bit.

Yes, I am from Dhaka. Are You ? Thank you for your detail instruction, I believe that would be helpful. I am currently downloading i386 compatible iso files. As I follow through your instruction - I will keep you updated as I may need help on way to my installation proceedings.

Where I can download Nero 6 from ? Appreciate your reply..

http://ww2.nero.com/enu/index.html offers 30 day free trial, I am probably giving a try after I finish download.

Rafiqul,

I asked you because I'm also from and living in from my childhood. But I'm afraid you not currently here. However, it'll be nice if you were. We could meet then in person. Well please let me know if you do need further help. Thanks.

I left Dhaka in 1998, and currently live in Chicago area. I was born, raised, and brought up in Dhaka.
What do you do in Dhaka ? Where you live ? Thanks for supporting me from the other part of the world from where I am...
I will send you more questions as I go through installation process...I hope I will get your help , and I am sure you enjoy doing this.

Until next...