alright, i just downloaded Mandrake, and installed it. well, im not too sure the boot manager is workin right. cuz when it boots, there is nothing that indicates i can boot into windows. i only see linux, linux(then some letters), then failsafe. is it supposed to say somethin about booting into windows? PLEASE tell me i didnt screw up my windows!

also, i was having some trouble with the graphics. does anyone know if the Radeon X800 is supported? and if so, what do i do so i can get the graphical interface to work?

With mandrake, if you have snags with the bootloader (and afew other things), you can put the first disc back in, then at the prompt hit F1 for more options, and you should have a ''dos like"input prompt, if you then type "rescue" and return, you get the options of re-installing the windows bootloader.

When you do the installation, in the post install summary dialogue, you can click on "configure", then you can just check through what will show up. Normally you'd have to check that if you don't want to have the linux distro as the default OS.

But no, you won't have damaged the windows (very unlikely), but something's gone "pear shaped" wiht the boot loader install.

I dont recall if you get the option to re-install the linux bootloader (either lilo or grub) when you can do the windows one, or if you have to re-install the windows one then follow the process again to re re-install the lilo/grub

Erm, never dealt with raedon cards, but they are supported normally (as far as I'm aware), though if it's mega new/up to date, then maybe not.

To start graphically, if you have a text login, you can normally just type in though I don't recall if you can do that as user or whether you'd have to do that as root?

regards

John

thanks for you help, but im really new to Linux, and i wouldnt really know how to do any of that. besides, i figured out that rewriting my mbr would fix it, so i did that and abonded Linux for now.

But, if anyone could help, does anyone know any easy to use distros that are compatible with AMD 64s and Radeon X800s?

actually, i found some Linux drivers for the Radeon X800, but you need to download them separatly. How would i go about doin that, lets say, in Mandrake...without any graphics or anything? if someone could tell me the commands to use, that would be great (would i just burn it to a disc, then try opening it? cuz idk the commands to use)

There is a way of cheating and choosing which os ot load, if you have windows and linux on separate drives. That is to select the Linux drive as your boot= drive, then when booting, press the key which lets you change the boot source.

I've never had a problem with a laptop and lilo, however on desktops with XP for some reason it sometimes doesn't work. You could google for 'Lilo NTldr howto' for instructions on how to use the XP's loader to select linux. You could also search this web-site. It is a common question which has been answered many times.