Hey all.. I'm new here and new to Linux so bare with me. I recently downloaded Fedora Core 3 and tried to install it using Windows Virtual PC, but everytime I went through it would lockup at some random point.. I never got to the point where it began installation.

After doing some searching through forums I found it is best to create a seperate partition for Linux. So I got Partition Magic to do this. I just want to get some help on how to go about this. I'm running XP Pro right now, with an 80 GB HD. I was gonna partition 5 GB for Fedora, is this enough? Too much? I would like it to boot normally into XP, I guess with the option to boot into Linux.

I have the Fedora installation on 4 seperate ISO files, can I use these to install or should I burn to CD first? After I create the partition how do I go about running the installation files?

Thanks for any help, and if theres too many questions here and someone knows of a good guide to follow please post link. Thanks, Luke

You burn the Fedora ISOs to CDs.. if you have Roxio it will do this automatically.. with Fedora.. I would recommend about 10 GB at least.. if you choose and 'everything' install.. you'll end up with about 3GBof software... Dual booting is easy.. so long as you install Fedora after Windows.. and I assume you are just shrinking your partition with PartitionMagic so your not re-installing Windows.. Towards the end of the Fedora install is where you will install the boot loader.. it will tell you it's going to list them.. and I believe it will be something like "DOS" and "Fedora Core 3" for the entries... you ca change the title from DOS to "Windows XP" or whatever you'd like.. just highlight it, and click edit...

SuSE is also another fantastic distro.. it was bought last year by Novell (the makers of NetWare, eDirectory, etc..) and is one of the oldest Commercial distros.. 9.2 Professional is great.. with fantastic multimedia support. You can't download the ISOs directly.. but you can install via FTP using a small downloadable iso called boot.iso in the boot folder on any of the mirrors... then you just need the server IP address and folder structure before you start the install... it's actually very easy.. and if you decided to go that way... You can tell me where you're from and I'll tell you what server to use and what folder info you'd need..

good luck with the install though!!

You've got me interested in SUSE now. I've never used Linux before, which do you think is better with more features etc? I'm from Maryland, let me know where to download or install from and I'll give it a shot.

check out the distribution poll here at LQ and i too agree with that poll

slackware is one of the best linux distro i have tried

regards

Slackware is, indeed, a fantastic distro.. however, all the configuration is done via text editors under command line... not a problem for myself.. and I don't necessarily consider it difficult either.. but if you're into multimedia and stuff.. SuSE s a great distro..

Get the boot.iso from here (this server is in chicago, but i've always found it to be extremely reliable and fast. there is one in NY but at the moment.. i can't get a response from it...)

when you run the install, use this IP Address:
IP: "140.221.9.138"

folder directory: "/pub/suse/i386/9.2"

now.. when you boot up the installer.. it's going to have a selection Screen with multiple options...

choose "Manual installation" then choose your options.. i.e. - new installation..

You will see a screen with start installation, load kernel modules, and more...you are going to need to load a driver module for you NIC.. if you'd like.. tell me the exact model of your nic.. and i can see if i can find what module it will use...

and when it asks you where you are installing from select "network".. then select "FTP" and enter the information...

P.S. - Youcan also purchase SuSE at BestBuy and CompUSA.. i think the latest they have out there is still 9.1 though.. and I think the Professional box is just under $100 but it comes with tech support, and a 300+ page administration manual and a 400+ page User guide... plus you get a set of 5 installation CDs and 1, dual-sided installation DVD...

I bought version 9.0 Professional and really liked it. I might buy 9.2 when it hits the shelves.. thought it may already be there.. good luck!

Thanks for all your help with this install.. I'm going to print this off and use it as a guide along with a few others I have here. For the partition, should I use FAT32 or one of the Linux EXT2/3 or SWAP?

[EDIT] Oh and my NIC is a Netgear FA311/312

You need at least two partitions, / and swap.

Create a swap partition as big as your RAM size and create your / with ext3.

choose reiserfs instead of ext3
its fast and better

for that ,when u insert ur 1st Cd type

linux reiserfs

at the boot prompt

then it will start as normal and when u select ur root partiton u will get an option of formatting the root partition as reiserfs

regards

you don't need to use 'linux reiserfs' though.. when you set up your partitions.. just go in and where it says format as: you can choose between ext2, ext3, reiserfs, jfs, xfs


I believe that that NIC uses a National Semiconductor chipset.. so try using the 'natsemi' driver module.. if that doesn't work, go ahead and load all of them in the list, you won't hurt anything...If you don't want to do that, you can always download a small LiveCD distro (DamnSmallLinux and FeatherLinux come to mind) and watch what module they load while autoconfiguring hardware...

good luck! we're here if you need us!

yes u can choose ur filesystem for all distros but fedora

i do not know about fedora core 3 but fedora core 2 does not give u an option to format as reiserfs or xfs or jfs

so u need those boot parameters

regards

really!? wow.. that's a bunch of crap.. lol.. i never knew that.. thanks for the info!

yes i that really is crap

i think they do not want people to try out these better filesystems

regards

yeah.. i mean.. i haven't used jfs or xfs... I've heard xfs is pretty awesome.. but I definitely like reiser.. i can't wait till the new reiser makes it into distros...

Hi,
I did pretty much the same thing as far as Fedora Core 3 and Win XP.

I found Fedora to be pretty heavy-weight with it's package - up to about 4.5Gb when you get it fully running. 9Gb was a fairly comfy sort of partition size (of course, the wife now likes Linux so I just ran roughshod over an old WinXP partition and blew it out to 18 gB! LMAO...)

Mandrake 10.1 Official (free version) is what I use now, and it is quite slimline in comparison at about 2.7Gb so I use that now. I find it's a bit better behaved as well, but that's just me...

as far as i know
xfs is for large filesystens and for servers and where you do not have unclean shutdown

regards