mandrake 9 or redhat 8?
 

ok
i am a SUPER NEWBIE at linux....in fact, im a super newbie to computers on a whole!

windows XP is installed on this box (it's a slightly older system)and my friend just gave me both madrake 9 and redhat 8, just for the sake of it.

can i put linux successfully on this PC?
it is formatted in ntfs format and is a 700mhz, 256sdram with some other jargon, i dont know.

i have a US robotics modem
56k v.92 performance pro
model #: USR5610B

i would like to know if everything i have will work with linux and also, which distro should i use?
it is for home/everyday use, although i would like it 2 be as secure as possible.

either is fine. I'd suggest Mandrake 9.0 because I use it and like it.

But you really should go ahead and search the site...this has been covered ad-nauseum many many MANY times.

so mandrake 9 will work with my hardware (especially my modem!)?
and also with a ntfs partition?

I don't see why not...

And if you scan the forums a bit, you'll see a lot of people have Mdk9 with WinXP so I'm assuming it DOES work (although one thing, once set up, you'll be able to read your NTFS partitions but not write to them).

The modem is the same my friend has and it works (so he says anyway)

Me I'm on cablemodem and dual booting win98 so... *shrug*

The fun part about linux is that its (relatively) easy to get ISOs for free or at very little cost...so go ahead and try one, if it doesn't work well enough, try the other.

ok thanks a lot for answering so quickly

but one other question to something u said.
u said i can read what is on my ntfs partition, but not write to it?

i am not sure of this, but what sense does that make?
does that mean i cannot make changes or save stuff to my hd?

sorry for asking what must be very simple questions, but i have no idea what is happening.

No no...you mis-understand.

Mandrake (or redhat for that matter) doesn't install on an NTFS partition, you have to make another partition for it. The install (I think...check the forums or the sites for the distros) resize the WinXP partition....

Once installed, they can link and view the other partition (winXP).

I would STRONGLY suggest actually going to either the home page of Mandrake or RedHat and reading the documentation before going further.

You will need Partition Magic most likely, or when it gets stable Mandrake 9.1, which can resize the NTFS partition.

NTFS is used only by Windows, so for Linux we have to resize it to make space. Linux can then read what is on the Windows area of your disk, but not write to it. Conversely, Windows cannot read or write to the Linux area.

What that means is that if you want to share files between them, you need to setup a FAT32 partition. FAT32 is an old and very simple format, so both Windows and Linux can read and write to this.

USR5610b
 

Hello dachinster,

I've got the same US Robotics modem and was wondering if you were able to get it to work under Mandrake? I've been having a hard time with mine. When I try and connect using kppp I get a msg saying "Modem Ready." and then a few seconds later another msg saying "The modem does not respond." Did you encounter anything like this? Looking any kind of help.

Thanks,

Hans Erick