I have XP on my C drive and RH9 on my D drive, so it shouldn't be hard but I can't find anything in the help files about creating a boot disk, etc.

At a minimum, can I simply change the default OS from Linux at startup to XP? I like Linux but it's not my primary OS - when I do a restart I want to have the boot manager pick XP by default rather than RH 9.

Linux has a bunch of great things about it, but I'm not that willing to mess with it. In truth, it was an interesting experimant for me to install and mess with RH9 but it's just not there for me yet. I'm a home user and it wasn't built for me.

- DAT

boot into windows format the linux partitions and then using your windows cd or a windows boot floppy boot into rescue mode and then run 'fixmbr' and you will be back with windows only

Maybe I bit off more that I can chew by installing 2 different operating systems on my machine but my Windows installation cannot "see" the D drive and the Linux OS cannot "see" the C drive.

Were I to simply remove the D drive, would that do it for me?

Thanks.

- DAT

just to get the terminology down, Windows is on C: and Linux is on /dev/hdx where x is a or b. If you want to format the drive and make it seeable by XP (get rid of linux all together and use the inferrior OS) then i suggest using ranish partioner.

www.ranish.com it fits on a floppy but you need to boot to a DOS prompt (which XP doesnt provide) . The way i do this is find a machine with win 98 and do a format of a floppy and select the option that says "Copy system files". that option makes the floppy bootable and will put you out a a dos prompt. Then you can insert the ranish floppy and type "part" at the command prompt... it will take you into a screen that kinda looks like bios (the colors and what not). BE CAREFUL, ranish asks you if you are sure about certain things, but make sure you are deleting the right drive (i think F5 is the key to switch between disks). You can then format the drive and choose the format type (FAT16, FAT32, linux swap..and others). I dont think NTFS is an option, so you might wanna go with FAT32. If you choose to take this route..make sure you read up on exactly how to use ranish.....it's very simple and straight forward (like using the delete key to delete partitions) but i have done it SEVERAL times and if i recall...it wasnt terribly easy the 1s time i used it.

http://www.mirrors.org/archived_soft...m/original.htm
because finding a Win98 machine is typically difficult these days.

You also should get a hold of Knoppix from http://www.knoppix.net which will give you a Linux experience without you suffering the problems of an HD install. Fantastic distro.

I just blew away my remaining windows machine and upgraded to RH9 today. Its great, but maybe not for everyone, admittedly.

Good luck whatever you choose.

Flibble

As far as the partitions go, I would get an "easy" tool like Partition Commander by v-com. You can just delete the ext3 partitions with that tool with a graphical interface. After that is done, you can boot off of the WinXP disk as the earlier response said, and fix the MBR.

However, I wouldn't give up that easy. If you have the space and you aren't going to use it for anything else, leave Linux on there and "play" with it. Just today, as a newbie, I compiled my first software from source code and had good installs. It's fun...what's a few GB of hard drive space.

Now, if you want to change the default OS on the GRUB boot loader, this is easy. You will have to edit the GRUB configurations file. Don't be afraid...it's not bad. First, I would make a copy of the file and put it somewhere safe. Go to /boot/grub/grub.conf as root and open the file with an editor (you can just double-click it). After the comments (which are all after # signs, the actual configuration stuff is there. The first line says timeout=10...that's the time in seconds that it will boot to the default. The second line is WHAT system to boot into. It's a number. Look at the list...see what Windows is (might be called DOS in GRUB unless you editied the title, and change the number to the number that Windows is. Save the file and exit. Now, boot up again, and your GRUB should have Windows as the default OS on boot-up.

So, keep learning Linux...stick with it, if you would like....it has lots of atttibutes that you might like after getting used to it. I still have a dual booted machine too. I still need windows for some work stuff, but am spending the majority of time in Linux (Red Hat 9)

Got MP3 working today, updated XCdRoast (a GREAT CD burning software)...etc. It's fun

OOOPs...I must correct myself. The FIRST line in grub.conf is the default system and there are no numbers on the left. But the top OS listed is number 0. Count down from there and Windows will either be the next one or the one at the bottom of the list. Just count starting at the top with "0" (all computer geeks start counting with 0) and the number that Windows is is the number you want in

DEFAULT=(the number) without the parenthesis.

OK...I hope that I convinced you to stay with Linux...it's breaking out and will continue to improve RAPIDLY...and in many respects, it's already better than "the other guys"

Honestly, I do see a lot to like about Linux - it's pretty damned impressive in many ways. I was hoping that it would be easier to use though. Having experimented with Bluecurve and with KDE, I feel that there is a lot of room to improve the interface before Linux can gain wider acceptance. Many parts of the GUI are very inconsistent with others. I use XP and OS X on my Mac, and while I wasn't expecting their level of refinement and understand Linux is a work-in-progress, I did have high hopes for the ninth major release of this Linux version.

I have watched and waited to try Linux for about 2 years now, finally deciding to try it a month or so ago. In many ways I've seen in RH9 a fairly refined OS with a lot going for it. That said, the speed of improvement mentioned above will hopefully deliver an OS that a consumer like me can enjoy.

I'd also like to see documentation that is not so geared towards development. I spent hours reviewing the online manuals and found little for the Linux newbie. I understand that Linux is not currently geared towards the consumer but there are some tinkerers out there like me and perhaps the documentation should keep this in mind.

I haven't had the chance to impliment some of the tips in all of your posts but appreciate the help. Hope that all is well with everyone.

- DAT

Hello again....well I have to agree with some of your points. I too, am really enjoying the Linux set-up and learning a lot, but also finding a little geekness to it all. I have been working on a little problem getting Acrobat Reader to behave properly in Red Hat 9 and just NOW got it solved, with the help of the fine people who cruise this forum.

I actually had to edit a program file (for the first time!!!). The solution worked. However, my question is....why did I have to do that in the first place?

OK...it's fun but some people don't want to mess with all of that. But my other points above stand, it is so stable and reliable ONCE YOU GET the configuration you want, that it beats the pants off of ANY verison of Windows (in that respect).

About documentation, well, it IS out there...even for the newbie. The Linux Documentation Project is still hard at work not only getting the info out, but also geared directly for new users with tutorials and guides. Also, there are a lot of third-party books available that start right at the beginning with Linus and move through the entire system.

Sure, it's different, but I'm finding out that it isn't really that hard. I am doing stuff today that completely miffed me just a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm editing program files? And compiling from source code (well, with GCC's help, of course...I'm not doing a thing, the software is doing it and I have fun watching all the code fly across my screen!).

But anyway, I hope that I convinced you to keeping a little of your hard drive carved out for Linux.

Also, doing the GRUB edit will solve your default OS problem...I edited mine yesterday and it works fine. Now I don't have to worry about my son starting my computer in Linux when he wants to do his stuff.

Good luck

Well, I finally got around to changing the grub file to make it boot by default into Windows XP. Worked perfectly. While I may have figured it out on my own (how to change the file, not what file to change. grub.conf? How the hell was I supposed to know that?) having read Bobmeister's messages I knew exactly what to look for.

Yeah, I know, when I use my Intel box I'm defaulting back to XP - and with it some fairly serious security and even privacy concerns, but have descided to leave Linux on my box for now. Further, I plan to spend more time experimenting with it, perhaps even making peace with the interface nuances and peccadillos. Much of my time is on my OS X powered iMac flat panel but I tend to use one machine more than the other every month or so. This month is just the iMac's turn.

I truly hate it when my computer is annoying me and I can't change it - and feeling like I couldn't change which OS it would boot into was driving me nuts. Yeah, I know that a fairly insignificant issue but it was just SOOO ANNOYING TO ME. Maybe I need some professional help with that .

Thanks again everyone. I appreciate your help

- DAT

Glad to hear that you will keep Linux "on the box" for a while. Also glad to be of help. You are also right that these little things are hard to find sometimes. But that's why forums are good. Most everyone has seen a problem in one form or another. I have been doing Linux for only a little more than a month and the only reason I knew about the grub.conf file was because I have been reading like crazy and I messed with it to see what would happen. So I'm glad that worked. Being such a newbie, I'm not one to GIVE advice so much as to GET it from these forums, so it's a good feeling when you can help.

Spending time tinkering with computers to make them work is not everyone's cup of tea. Most people would just like the computer to work with ease. I'm kind of in the middle...I use it a lot for stuff that I do but don't mind messing with it a little. There are the other types that just love to tinker with it all the time. It takes all kinds. Linux is still a system that needs a little tweaking. One of the neat things about it is, though, that you can REALLY customize it completely if you are bold enough. NO other systems gives you that much control. However, MOST people don't have that much patience. That's why the Distro's have done, and continue to do, a great job of setting it up for you right out of the "box."

One GOOD thing about Linux is that it does bring you a little closer to the system, where Bill Gates tries to bring you as far away from it as possible. After solving a few problems in Linux, not only will you become more educated and "better" at your computer, you will also be a little more educated to work the Windows side a little more intelligently too. Things won't be so mystifying anymore.

So keep with it and have fun. If it becomes a labor that you don't want and don't enjoy, then it's not something to do. As for me...I'm just doing this for fun. However, I have come to appreciate that there are alternatives available and the Open Source movement is doing a "good thing" by really coming up with great, inovative stuff.

Have fun.

how do I completly remove linux from my machine an install windows 98?

im using redhat 7.3

no sweat, just use fdisk to wipe out our partitions, save the fstable, then restart, and NO MORE LINUX...

First of all, Linux is not Windows in any aspect. You can't actually compare them directly. And furthermore, Red Hat is not the only distro of Linux available... there are tons of them out there!

Some are dumbed down to almost Windows-like levels such as Lycoris and Lindows, for the sake of ease-of-use Sure the guts of these OSs are still Linux, but they certainly don't feel like Linux to me.

Some are more in accordance to standards, but at the same time, still user-friendly to an extent, Mandrake and Red Hat will most likely be in this category.

Some are harder to setup and get running, and you are recommended to customize many parts of the system. Such distros are recommended for power users and those who really want to learn about Linux as opposed to just wanting an OS so you can browse the net, use IM, send emails, and write documents. These distros are also more Unix-like, as compared to their brethrens. Distros like Slackware, Debian and Gentoo fit into this category.

In the end, it's all up to your expectations of an OS. People from Windows background will say that Linux is hard... People from Unix/BSD background will say that Linux is too cluttered. No single OS can please everyone... What matters actually is how you want to use your PC, and what do you expect your OS to do in order to help you achieve this.