We bought one of these recently. One of the reasons I chose it was that we wanted a cheap laptop with the option of coming with XP installed.

I am now toying with installing Linux and of course I would want that to be slackware.

There are a couple of issues to start with.

1. The laptop is a dual core Athlon 64. The slackware installation CD will not boot wuth hugesmp.s. The boot stops at the linesIt does boot with huge.s but I am puzzled that hugesmp will not boot.

2. The major issue is partitioning. I want to keep XP on especially as, this being a laptop I am not 100% sure that I wil get Linux working to my satisfaction.

fdisk /dev/sda1 reveals that I haveI was not surprised to see the utility partition but what is sda3 for? Should I shrink sda2 and put sda4 with Linux partitions between sda2 and sda3?

A bit more googling reveals that the 3rd partition is for restoring the laptop to its original state. So I could probably do without it but I would rather keep all these partitions for now.

Be careful, that 3rd partition is usually mandatory. The laptop may stop booting (into Window$ at least) if you remove it !

You might wanna try compiling your own kernel after you install with the huge.s kernel.

that partition is similar to norton ghost, not mandatory for the OS.


However, dd is your friend. connect a usb drive boot with the CD and dd /dev/sda to the usb drive as a backup in case you need to put the laptop back the way it was when shipped to you.

good to do before you click the "agreement" at initial boot or right after running a restore from the rescue partition.

short story, back it up then blow it away.

db

You must at least back it up. Make sure you read this too:
http://www.hollymolly.net/ca/2006/11...ubuntu_dis.php

It's possible that your dell uses a special boot loader, so you may not want to install lilo or grub to the MBR, as this will prevent you from being able to boot properly. Not sure if this is the case with all dells, maybe just with ones that have a third partition.

I was considering purchasing the same laptop. So, let me know if you have success getting it working properly. After reading the article posted about Dells hidden partitions I'm rethinking my decision to buy.

just about all laptops are the same, all made in china etc.

consider the process you want to "wipe" it to install slack. Back it up first, and then delete all the pre-stuff and have at it.

Well I am not the primary user of the laptop in question and at present the other users are happy with XP and there is no compelling reason to install Linux so I will probably leave it alone for now.

Hi,

Not so! More are made in Malaysia. Some are still made or reassembled in the U.S. As for 'etc', I can't support that reference.

NPR just did a story on this, although they were referring to Taiwan as China. You are adamant enough I would say Kudos to Malaysia.

Hi,

China would like that too! You should check the date/mfg stamp for most chips and systems, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia... About the only thing that we still hold on to is the the silicon here in the U.S.

I would use a grain of salt with that 'NPR'!

Most chips are still made in Taiwan, I believe. They are AFAIK, still the biggest silicon chip manufacturer.

Hi,

Open any system or electronic device and you will see multiple mfg with any of the three mentioned countries. Taiwan is the leading chip maker with Malaysia and Indonesia closely following. Even India is trying to get on that bandwagon.

We(USA) off shore most of the assembly/manufacture of the devices not just the chips. We ship the die or core silicon since the purest is still made available here.

Or would that be a grain of sand?

Hi,

Not really since the sand will cause a grind and NPR would not like that.