In the next few days i will receive my new box. I will intent to install Mandrake 10.1 (No windows OS at all). I am unfortunately a newbie (with a big N), and I have a few questions to ask.

I will connect this box with my other box that runs XP Home, to use only 1 keyboard, 1 mouse, and 1 one monitor using one of those switch cable.

Would I be able to do that install using the above setup, or would the Linux box be not sharing the Keyboard , mouse, Monitor when I do the install.
The thing is i would prefer to have connected in order to have access to the Net just in case i need some help as i go along.

Secondly, if I manage to install Linux, would I be able to share my modem witht the XP box also. The modem is a Scientific Atlanta (Broadband)

That's all for now but be sure that I will be back with a lot of questions

I used to have a "switch" box at work - if the box is switched to the linux machine then yes the linux install should go along just as it would if the keyboard and mouse were plugged into it directly. just make sure that while it's recognizing hardware you're switched to the linux machine.

If your bradband modem has two ports in the back then you can plug each machine into one port. if it only has one port then the best option is to get a cheap router (like a linksys 4 port router i've seen them on ebay for $20). Then the router plugs into your modem and your computers plug into the router. the router assigns local IP addresses (like 192.168.100.1, 192.168.100.2, etc) to the individual machines and everything should go along smoothly (if it doesn't post to the networking forum).

good luck with your install.

Thanks pfunk for the reply. I have received my case and HD today and the rest should come later this week. My broadband modem has one port for the Cable and 1 free USB, I wonder if I would be able to use the USB port for connecting my Linux box. If not I will go down the router route.

I will post once I am running.

JC

OK I have fired up my new PC and he started without problem (yippee!!).

So the setup I have is 2 PCs using a "Switch box" to share the mouse, keyboard and monitor. On one box I run XP Home and the new one I have installed Mandrake 10.1 from CD. I have changed the BIOS to boot from CD in order to install Mandrake. It started ok but then I switched to my XP box (Scroll Lock key press twice + the arrow key) to do a search on one of the install options that was presented to me on the LInux box. When I reverted to the Linux box, the cursor of the mouse had gone completely crazy, I could not control is at all. This made the rest of the install pretty difficult, althought I could use the keyboard to navigate.

I have then rebooted the PC with Linux and ended up with the "grub" prompt. I have search a few of the previous questions on this forum and found a few similar problem. My question is as I did not rechange the BIOS setting back to boot from Floppy Disk could this be the problem.

When it came to the partition setup I think that I have used the one that let the setup doing it automatically.

Please bear in mind that it is my first attempt at running Linux, hope that my post makes sense.

I am sitting at work right now and won't have access to my PC until tomorrow.

Thanks!!
JC

OK guys I am up and running, I have reinstalled completely and my KDE interface is up and running. Time to learn some more.

JC