Hello, LinuxQuestions:

I am a newbie to Linux (haven't even installed it yet!) but I intend to install Mandriva Linux 2009 : Free : 64-Bit.

I want to dual boot with Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit on an Acer Aspire ASE700-EQ661A (Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz, 4 GB RAM, etc.).

I intend to backup my MBR (Master Boot Record) using "HD Hacker 1.4" from Dimio to preserve my Alt+F10 access to my Acer rescue (hidden, EISA) partition. I am backing up my MBR should I decide I don't want Linux someday and I want my machine "the way it was from the factory". My MBR backup will be stored on a USB flash drive for safety reasons.

Do you foresee Linux Mandriva attempting to "overwrite" the EISA partition in any way, shape or form? I am aware the MBR will be overwritten, hence my MBR backup with HD Hacker. I know the size of the EISA (it's much smaller than my logical drives on the on the "extended" partition). Do you think it's necessary to mirror the EISA partition to external media?

Windows Vista is on C: and is the only bootable logical drive.

For what it's worth I have created the Acer Restore DVD set from the Acer utilities, but my #1 concern is losing that EISA partition.

What do you guys think? And thank you for having me on LinuxQuestions.

Linux is well behaved. There is no reason linux will write to a partition you do not set it up to write to.

I would suggest you look for install information on how to best set up linux with vista. There are tutorials around. I would guess your HD has all the space allocated to vista, and the EISA partition.

The basic recommended approach is to use a partitioning program to shrink the vista partition, leaving enough space for linux. Vista will be happy to stay at the beginning of the HD. Once you have the free space you need, then boot up the Mandriva DVD. You will find partitioning tools, and formatting tools in the installer. Make the partitions you want for linux, format them with linux file systems, and install. There are default setups that will work on just about any hardware, so for your first install, that is not a bad place to start. Ask if you have questions on partitions, file systems etc.

I have been a long time Mandy user. It is a good distro, although you may see some people that don't like it for one reason or another. Its hardware detection is good today, and it has lots of software available from the online repos.

Your plan for protecting the original MBR looks good.

If I don't want to change any partitions / logical drives on HDD-0, and if I installed another physical HDD (known as HDD-1), then installed Linux to that HDD-1 drive, the MBR on HDD-0 would still be modified because it is the "bootable" drive, yes? I had been thinking of adding another SATA2 HDD anyway, so I thought easiest to partition that one, instead of moving my existing data files around.

Also, on some sites I see them advocating that after Linux is installed, one should boot back into Vista (via GRUB bootloader), install EasyBCD, set the Windows Vista Bootloader as default, then install "NeoGrub" (using EasyBCD) as a second entry into the system bootloader. What would this accomplish that leaving the GRUB as bootloader would not?

I agree with what camorri said. In addition, please make sure you have a backup of everything important on your Vista partitions just in case. Some people have managed to destroy existing partitions when trying to set things up for Linux. Take your time during this step and read all the instructions, and it should not happen to you. But backups are always a good idea anyway.

I am curious on why you chose the Mandriva Free version. If you are simply looking for a version you can use without cost, then Mandriva One might also suit your needs and be a little easier to get certain things running. The "Free" in Mandriva Free simply means that it does not contain any packages that have licenses incompatible with Open Source Software. Mandriva One includes some packages that are not "Free" in that sense, but are still available to use for no cost.

If you wish to adhere to the Free Only ideology as advocated by Richard Stallman, then the "Free" version is right for you.

dickgregory: I wanted something *new* and I assumed that Mandriva 2009 Free was newer than the Mandrake 10.1 Official, both ISO from this site. Is "Mandriva One" ISO linked from the distros ISO as well?

Mandrake 10.1 is old. Do not install that. Mandirva One 2009 is the way to go. The free versions and one, are the same code. Free does not have any proprietary code in it. Things like lame, this is the code that handles .mp3 files will not be in freem but is in One.

I like the idea of a second disk. It is safer than re-partitioning the first HD. Sorry I can not comment on EasyBCD or NeoGrub. I have two dual boot systems, and use grub installed by linux. I have not had any problems with it. There are many HowTos around on solving any grub problems. I find it very reliable.

Does Mandriva One come in 64-bit architecture? I want to run linux to use Folding@Home SMP A2, and the Linus F@H only runs in a 64-Bit Linux distro. I haven't installed Linux as of yet, I want to wait until I finish my current semester of courses as exams are coming soon and I want to minimize distractions (tweaking Linux would be a distraction for me. )

Yes, here is the link.

http://iso.linuxquestions.org/mandri...9/#dvd__x86_64

camorri: So Mandriva One and Mandriva Free are the same thing? That page doesn't link to anything labelled "One". I previously downloaded the Mandriva Free 2009 64-Bit DVD from that page.

The free version is missing some 'not free to use'. You can get all of that stuff by adding the online repos after you install.

I don't run the 64 bit version, even though I have a dual core 64 bit machine. There are some programs that are not ported to a 64 bit version yet. More are available all the time.

No. Free implies there is no proprietary code in free. You have to add it later, if you want it.

Here is a link that you can read through to understand more about the differences between 32 bit and 64 bit versions. Some of the material may be a little dated. This thread was started before 2009 versions were released. So I'm sure many of the early short comings are fixed up.