First of all hello & apologies for asking such a simple question.

I'm looking to install redhat (7.1) for the first time.

I've got 2 HD's and want to make sure linux is installed on the second. I'm assuming I'll have to manually format & partition the HD to do this.

Can I do this just booting from a floppy without touching LILO?

and more importantly

Do I need a specific order of partitions & what sizes will they need to be?

Thanks for your help.

You can probably find or make a boot floppy with fdisk or another partitioning utility on it, along with formatting utilities like mke2fs; if not, you could download one of the LiveCD bootable Linux CDs like Knoppix or the Live Gentoo CD, which should have all that stuff.

As far as I know, it does not matter what order your partitions are in. The Partition HOWTO will probably answer your questions. If you don't want to mess with it too much, you can just make one big partition for everything, and possibly a second partition for swap space (though you can also just use a swap file on your main partition).

Most any Linux install should have the option of partitioning a disk, though you may have to choose "advanced" or "expert".
You should understand the Linux hard drive designations, /dev/hda* ,/dev/hdb*...
Formatting can definately be done from the install program.
Your primary master drive is going to be /dev/hda. That is the one you do not want to do anything with.
Good Luck.

Thanks for the reply's.

I'm familiar with the drive designations & how to partition (now). I just didn't realize you could install linux all on one partition.

I've had a go at partitioning the HD with a swap file and main partition which i mounted as '/' is this correct?

I only get a text login/interface when linux boots up. Although this could also be down to my gfrx card drivers!? Which brings me onto my next question.

How/can I install drivers from the text interface (assuming that is the problem).

Thanks for your help again

Linux can be installed all to a single root partition or split over a number of partitions. There are good reasons for doing this but it is probably not too important if you do not know what they are. Having too much or too little space on multiple partitions is about as bad as not having them.

Did you choose to start Xwindows during the install. If you did, it probably is either a driver or configuration problem.
You can try just typing "startx" and see if it fails or not.
If it fails you want to try manually configuring Xwindows. I am not sure what the best command for this is on Red Hat. Inputting correct monitor information and graphics card information often is all thats needed to get something going.

Cheer's. Yeah X windows should have been starting. Will give 'Startx' a go and report back carry on playing around with the configuration.

Just wanted to make sure i was mounting in the right location & wasn't heading down a dead end with the grfx card business.

Just to update. I get errors with grfx card drivers. Have tried a test screen (lo res) with the basic drivers and the PC just hangs.

Is there anyway of installing/updating the grfx drivers?

Do you know, or do the errors mention what video card/chipset your PC has?
If startx did not work any further answers will depend on that.
I am only familar with my i810 and Nvidia/Vanta card/chipsets.
Video problems have got to be one of the more frustrating things a new user can encounter.
Hang in there.
Here
is some info about using the "redhat-config-xfree86" command from the command line to configure your video.
Depending on your card/chipset you may need to download drivers.

Sorry I've relocated to university so I can't get the exact error code. The video card is a Sapphire radeon 9000, not sure about the chipset etc though. The card had dual monitor function, which from the reading I've done could be the cause of my problems!
I've found a similar problem here but can't locate either of the Xfree86config files. Will have another go tonight and update you.
I couldn't agree more Still, I'm sure it'll make me a better person or something
If I did download drivers how would i go about installing them from the text interface?

Thanks for your time again.

I am attempting to avoid giving you a tutorial on the Linux command line. Call me chicken.
It would appear the Radeon 9000 is supported. (Bottom of the page).
http://www.xfree86.org/current/DRI3.html
Here is info about the driver
http://www.xfree86.org/4.3.0/radeon.4.html
Depending on your version of Xwindows, this may already be on your system.
First thing to try is to log in as root.
Then enter the "redhat-config-xfree86" (no quotes) and enter the details for your setup.
Choose the radeon driver when asked.
If you are unable to run the "redhat-config-xfree86" command or need to edit your XF86config file as the info page mentions we will take that up.

For getting around from the command line, check out the Midnight Commander file manager by typing "mc" after logging in.

Chicken
(Only joking I'm quite as happy learning for myself & grateful for the pointers in the right direction)
Th Midnight commander makes things a hell of a lot easier Cheers

I've been investigating again & got a little more detailed information for you.

Firstly I'm not sure if it makes a difference but the command to run the config program was xf86config. It states that i am currently configured to run a generic vga card. (even though in the config file it states a Radeon is set up - would that be to do with me running the command interface)

Anyway X will still not run. I've managed to find the error log & there are a lot of references to Xfree86 4.0.3. it also states that my card should be built before march '01, which AFAIK, it isn't.

The actual error message is
"Radeon: No matching device for instance BusID PCI 1:0:1 found
No devices detected

Fatal server error:
no screens found."

I'm assuming the next step is updating Xf86 or the grfx drivers!?
But.....have absolutely no idea on how to do this. DOH

Hope you can point me in the right direction

Thanks

Just to add to the last post.

I've managed to find that my grfx card isn't supported with that version of xfree86.

Seeing as I'm only on 56k, i think I'm going to 'purchase' a new set of linux CD's. Would there be any advantage in swapping from Redhat to another distribution?

Hey, first off I must say you are doing some good detective work yourself.
I think getting a more current distro that supports your card is going to be the easiest thing to do.
More important than switching to another distro is going to their homepage and reading the hardware compatibility list for their current version. Make sure your card is listed. Then choose any distro you want.
I had video problems when I first started using Linux and Red Hat seem to be one of the last to include support. YMMV