HEllo ! Im a total newbie both with Linux and this forum.

I have just downloaded ManDrake 9.1 to my computer.
My computer is made up of this:
P4 1,4 GHZ WIn XP PRo
Geforce 3 64 MB ram
160 GB HD

The harddrive is partitioned into 6 partitions and i got about 20 GB of unused space.

My first question is if there are any COMPLETE guides how to install ManDrake ??

I would like to have a dual boot if thats possible.....

Is it enough to use the free 20 Gb for Linux/MAndrake ??

How exactly should i start??

Thanx

http://doc.mandrakelinux.com/Mandrak..._Startup.html/

20 gig is fine, dual boot is easy enough, and you should start by reading the installation manual all the way through, then asking questions at this site if there's anything that really confuses or worries you.

I've installed mandrake now 3 times (2 * 9.0 and 9.1). I'll be checking back here if you run into any troubles. It's really straight foreward and simple (mandrake is known for that). I'm duel booting w/ XP now w/ no problems. I'm on a 4 gig partition and i have plenty of room, so 20 is... fine. Anyway, g'luck. Oh, and i suggest starting with Gnome... but that's largely personal preference.

anyway, enough blabber, get to installing!

I'll get on it as soon as i finish work! Buy the way, whats this GRUB thing i've been reading about??

Grub is one of the main boot loader software programmes

Mandrake default is "lilo", that's what I use with no problems at all. I don't know if grub has a pleasing graphic interface like lilo and you could search till hell freezes over about which is best lilo or grub (just so you know there's also quite a few others as well). Personally I'd say stick with the mandrakes defaults - there is probably a reason that they are the defaults.

For desktop, as scius said, the KDE/gnome is personal choice - mandrake's default is KDE (if you install both, then it's just a case of swapping at login) as above (just so you know there's also quite a few others as well). Personally I'd say stick with the mandrakes defaults - there is probably a reason that they are the defaults.

Go for it.

regards

John

Where can i go then to get programs for Linux?
Like Word and Excel?

open office has almost everything that MS office has - there's a minor exception - a database like access (if my memory serves me correctly) or, if you feel you need "support" then Star Office.

regards

John

p.s. if you don't want to download, I think that you'll find that open office is available on cd - star office definitely is.

Make a boot disk for Windows. Also backup your partitions, because you have to resize your partitions to be used with LINUX. If Mandrake screws up, you will still have your data.

BTW, do a checksum on your CD-ROM images. Do it about three to ten times.

First of all how do i do a checksum ??

What do u mean by backup?? Should I burn everything on CD or what?

Back to Linux

In my computer i got 2 physical harddrivers. The first one is divided in 4 partitions and on one of them are Win XP

The second one is now (Finally after some hard work yesterday night ) in three partitions. Its on this, the second physical drive, where i want to install Linux. I have made a partition for it at the begining of the drive.

Now to the questions:

I used PowerQuest Partition Magic 8 to create this partition for Linux. I just did it the same way as with any other partition so its now a logical FAT32 partition. Is this correct?? Can i just insert Mandrake 9.1 CD now and install it to this partition???

I also found in PowerQuest Partition Magic 8 that they had something called "Install another OS". But i should use that function should I ???

I must tell you all that I'm a bit scared I dont wnat to mess up my XP installation!

I just keep reading on this forum and all i see is people having big troubles....*sigh*

I need as much info as i can get before i try this out i think...

Sorry for the untimely reply. You needn't worry about partitioning, mandrake 9.1 takes care of it very well. Linux doesn't use Fat32 (blech!) but you needn't worry about that either, it'll take care of it. I think you can boot it from windows, but the way i've installed my mandrake is just to go to your system BIOS and tell your computer to check your CD-ROM before your hard drive for something to start up with.

(Mini-Bios Guide: Enter the Bios by hitting "Delete" or sometimes "F2"... it should say, during the first few seconds of booting up. Timing depends on the speed of your computer, but you should have ample time. Once in your BIOS just navigate around until you find something like "Startup" or "Boot" order, then either change priorities or rearrange these until the cd-rom is before the hard drive. It might sound confusing, but BIOS's in general are very self-explanitory once you open them up. )

Now insert your mandrake 9.1 disk 1 into your cd-rom and start up. The Install is fairly easy with mandrake. Give it a try and if you have any trouble at all, just boot back into windows and we'll help.
(if you modified the bios and try to restart into windows it will just enter the setup again. You have two options. Either eject the disk and boot back into windows automatically or go and change the BIOS back)

The only concievable problem i see you having is with duel booting, if you're installing onto the slave, but give it a try, i may very well be wrong.

To answer your questions specifically:
I think that's a bit excessive. I mean, it's very safe, but IMO largely unnecessary(ie. i did none of those safety precations and everything turned out fine... but i guess that's the point, it's in case they dont turn out fine.. but anyway) Especially checking 3-10 times...


It's a program that ensures that you've downloaded the full and complete .iso . I have never downloaded a file that wasn't full/complete, but if you're worried about it alot then you should run it. (there should be a readme you downloaded w/ the iso that will have info on downloading/usage) Otherwise just be a rebel and install. Worst case is it ends up being corrupt and you have to go and download/burn another one.

In all 3 installs of mandrake i've done, i haven't lost a thing, and that's partitioning with windows on the same hard drive. If there is stuff on your soon-to-be linux hard drive that you cant stand to lose, then burn it to a CD for safe-keeping. (or just copy it onto the other hard drive) but you've already partitioned your drive, so the chance of it messing up is very minimal. The chance of it messing up at all is slim to none, and in your situation, unless you keep like super-important medical records on it or something, i wouldn't worry.

No, not really, but it doesn't matter, Mandrake will format it itself.

Yes! (Well, technically you should probably have 3 partitions. You should have a "/" partition to keep programs/OS on, a "swap" partition for virtual memory (i think, something like that) and then i suggest having an optional "/home" partition to store all your own files on. This way if something crazy happens and you have to resinstall Linux, all your personal files will be intact. Mandrake will do this automatically with "Auto-partition" during the install.

I haven't used it myself, but the answer is no, Mandrake recognizes the partitions and will handle itself. (windows on the otherhand is terrible w/ working with other operating systems and partitioned drives, so that's probably what the "install another OS is made for.... why you would wan't 2 different versions of wind0ze is beyond me, i'd say one is one too many)


anyway, hope this helps. I was worried myself until i tried it... after it auto-recognized my mouse/keyboard/monitor/graphics card/sound card/ethernet... and then auto configured them all.. and installed in no time flat... i realized it wasn't such a big deal after all.