Hi All,

I am having trouble getting started. I have a new PC with Vista installed. It has a Intel E2140 processor. I want to know which architecture of Fedora I should download and I need to know how to make a dual boot system out of it.
If someone could just point me in the right direction I could get started on this project and hopefully do some QA work for some of the development.

Thank You,
Lloyd (Ketch) Heldenbrand

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

You could look at the ' Get Slackware' section under the MS Windows sub for 'BackTrack v2.0 and MS Vista, Create Dual Boot Guide'.

Good example which should get you started. As for Fedora, that's up to you. Since your PC is Intel based then you should start with a i86 based distribution. If you want to get into 64 bit now, I would suggest that you wait. The 32 bit will work for you.

You could try out some LiveCD distributions and see what fits for you; Get Your ISO & LiveCD.

Before you do anything to your computer, I suggest you try knoppix.
The disk has everything you need to try out linux.

If you are serious about linux then....

You will first need to repartition your hard drive.

Prep for repartitioning:
First defrag vista. That will make sure that will put most of the files together. I have xp/slackware so I am not sure about vista.
In xp>start>programs>accessories>system tools>defrag disk.

Next partition:
I found the best partitioning software is QTparted.
I like the gui. http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/
Download and burn on disk qtparted
You will need to make the vista (NTFS) partition smaller to make room for the Fedora (Reiser) partition.

Why do you want to use linux? That will depend on how much room you give for fedora. If you are planning on sticking with linux, I suggest to cut the vista partition in half.

You will need to setup a swap disk partition of about 1g.

The rest you can partition for reiser.

Once you get your partitions setup, reboot your computer in vista.
If it works and you have no problems you are doing great!
You might have to reinstall or repair vista. On my kids computer, I had to reinstall windows. Luckily it was a new computer without alot of programs.

Once you have the partitions setup and vista working, and a linux-swap disk. You are ready to install fedora.
Since I don't have fedora, I am not sure what is the process. Ive installed Debian and Slackware.
Just carefully read the install instructions.

Hope this helps.

Follow the suggestion above and defrag the hard drive. Also backup any files you do not want to lose as a precaution. Here is a youtube video
on how to use QTparted. The user is using a live mepis cd which includes QTparted.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CBdwrUK7Iz0

Hi,

For M$ Vista use the tools available to you within Vista. You can defrag the drive with the Vista disk tools. Then use the 'Computer Management' > 'Disk Management' to resize the desired partition.
You can now work on the disk of choice. Be very careful here. To do otherwise with Vista will create a lot of problems for you. I still suggest that you use the 'BackTrack v2.0 and MS Vista, Create Dual Boot Guide'. This will get you a general setup methodology for your Vista/Linux dual boot.

Once you have sized to allow your install then proceed.

Great advice!

One thing you should know, Backtrack is a hacking distro. Most all of the software on the Backtrack 2.0 disk is hacking software. It is also for experienced linux users. I suggest not to install backtrack on your harddrive. Install one of the more common distros. I have not used Fedora, but I think it is pretty well known.

Hi,
I did not state to install BackTrack but to use the link as a general guide (post #5);

I agree that BT is not for a newbie but the guide is good. The guide does state as such but the user should substitute as needed were refrenced. That's common sense!

I don't suggest distributions generally. I do suggest that newbies should try a LiveCD to see what would be useful or work for them.

I actually dual boot vista and fedora 8 in a notebook and vista and opensuse 10.3 in another notebook.

This is the way to do:

1)Defrag vista
2)Use diskmanagement to shrink hd and free some space for linux
3)Normally install fedora following the anaconda instructions,make a swap,then make root and-optionally-make a home
4)install grub in mbr
5)select vista as the first os
6)That's all !

Then you can install any sniff software you want by yum and the others by source

Good luck !

Well, after you have shrunk Vista, how to tell Fedora where is the free space? It looks like it doesn't see anything on the HDD and wants to use the entire disk?

Uhm...The free space will be found automatically by anaconda during installation...you have to select to correct Hd.then select to partition manually instead of following recommended layout,then make a /,make a swap and then a /home.

That' all here !

Good luck..My Fedora 9 rocks and rolls !