Do I switch to Linux forever??(Or carry on dual booting)
 

Hey Guys

I'm wondering weather to take Windows off my computer completly or not.

If someone can explain these problems to me in a way i can understand I will boot windows off my PC before you can say "FORMAT C:" :D:D

Don't get me wrong I prefer Linux to Windows anyday.
But Linux has given me a fair share of problems to....
(Have to boot from a floppy - From my 1st distro (Redhat 7.3) to my latest ones in use (RedHat 9 and Mandrake 91)
(Can't get anyone to explain how to install and configure Wine in plain english)
(Cannot find a file sharing program like kazaa or morpheus in an PRM)

Now I have always installed Linux on my second Hard Drive, and I've always had to boot from a floppy disk which really takes the p**s!

It doesnt matter which boot loader I install, eithier both OS's won't start or only windows will. :'(

If I install Linux on my first hard drive - would that make any difference to it or not.All I want is to be able to boot from the HD not a floppy.


As for Wine there are a few programs I cannot live without
(Diablo, Diablo II, DreamWeaver MX, etc)

Can anyone explain how to do this in a way I can understand.

Also I live for Music - if i can't find a program to use to download music, windows will have to stay put :'(

Oh and of course a typical newbie question,
HELP ME WITH GETTING XINE TO PLAY DVD'S!

Thanks so much in advance for anyone who can help me out

Forget runing thoes programs under WINE, it's just not going to happen.

I say stick with dualbooting.

All bootloaders should be able to handle your OS setup.

Dual booting: You're not physically swapping the drives are you? Do you install windows first or second? Just try installing Lilo in the windows MBR, with the linux drive as the secondary one.

Try Frankscorner.org for Wine/WineX help. Getting things (WineX) for free from cvs isnt that hard.

Hey Guys

Proud

I have Windows installed on my 1st Hard Drive and Linux installed on my second hard drive.

(Win HDA1 or C for win users and Mandrake Linux is on HDB1 or D for win users)

I have installed Lilo in the MBR and it still won't boot.

Thanks guys

Windows can see the second drive? Version of Windows? Filesystem of drives?

You've installed lilo into the MBR when the drives were connected this way? So lilo appears and then you pick/it defaults to Windows?

Hey Proud

Windows cannot see the second hard drive due to the file system

Windows XP Poessional Final Build with SP1a

FS for windows is NTFS

FS for Linux is EXT3 (I think - I was half asleep half drunk during the instalation :S)

Everytime I have installed Grub or Lilo there is NO MENU to choose which OS to boot from

Just the same message L followed by the screen being filled with 07 07 07 07...

I couldnt give a flying monkey what it means as several people tried telling me what it means, I want to know how to fix the problem lol :D

Just wondering why you called the second drive D if nothing actually calls it that.

Even though the primary drive is NTFS, which Microsoft has prevented linux from writing to for now, you should be able to install lilo into the MBR.

Was it 07 or 01, coz that hints at how deep the problem is and how far it manages to get to loading an OS before failing.

So you used the windows cd and the fixmbr command to overwrite lilo?

Limewire works in linux, is free, and is simaler to kaaza

Roach,

It will be a bit difficult at first, but IF I were you, I would move away from the dual booting. I am in the same boat that you are as far as needing specific programs in windows; the only difference is that I had to add Counter-Strike to that list.

You have several options. First is WineX, which was mentioned in a previous reply. Personally, I use VMware to run windows 98 and 2000. After that, you can literally run any windows programs because you are actually running windows; the big difference is that you are only running it when you need to and without having to reboot (personally I hate having to reboot a system that really doesn't need rebooting).

As for file sharing, I use mldonkey. It is a bit of an annoyance to get RPM's for it. However, they are out there.

In the case that lilo is being installed to the mbr of your second drive, try this: Simply move your secondary drive to the primary position and then the primary to the secondary. I've had an issue similiar to that, previously, that seemed to fix the problem for me.

DeadMeat

Hey Guys

DEADMEAT
Due to the way my PC has been put together by the idiots at HP , its nealy impossible to get the hard drive out.

But thanks for the info on Windows applications under windows!
Also for Middonkey - I'm looking for a copy now.

JOEY,DALE.
Limewire I have tried before - But when i try and run the install program, it asks what to open it with.

PROUD

The message was definatly L 07 not L 01.

Unfortunatly I did not use the fixmbr command from the Windows CD.
I had to re-install Windows at that point andway to due getting hold of a copy of Windows 2003 server.

Thanks Guys

DeadMeat - I think that I had a look at WineX but it wasn't free, isn't it for gaming only?


Can you tell me more about VMWare (Where to get it, is it free, how easy is it to install for a Linux newbie etc)

My computer is ancient - about 3 years old lol
1.3Ghz Intel Celeron Processor
256Mb Ram
Inter 815Eg Chipset.

Would my Pc be able to take the strain of Running XP Pro on top of Mandrake Linux - or would I need upgrades??


Thanks Guys

WineX is Wine (a Windows ->Linux compatability layer, Wine Is Not an Emulator) with better DirectX support. You can either pay for a subscription and precompiled packages, or just download the source free from cvs and compile it.

There's also CodeWeaver's plugins for using MS Office in linux. See Frank's links. :)

Proud Thanks for the informatoin on Wine and WineX
It helped clear it up for me.

Although I will have to use Wine because I sure as hell aint paying for something I haven't even used before (And theres no Trial :'()

I'm very confused

Compile to me means to Complile a program I have written myself into an executable file.

In the packages I have downloaded it says some need to be compiled but there are already .exe files there!

Does it have someother meaning in Linux?

I have vmware and it's very good.

VMWare website.

Chances are you won't get your existing XP installation to work with it (it doesn't suport rining an existing installation of XP) but you can create a new installation in a single file.

Although this program is magic you can forget any multimedia/games to run well on your virtual machine. VMWare makes some emulated hardware available to your Virtual Machine and obviously because of the limitation of not actually having any real hardware, let alone hardware aceleration, simple tasks such as playing MP3's will be jerky.

For office apps and anything that doesn't rely on a specific piece of hardware too much it should do fine. Your PC should handle it fine however you *REALLY* could do with a memory upgrade.

It's very easy to install (just a double click on the RPM file) and there are wizzards to walk you through setting up a VM, there are only 3 or 4 very simple steps anyway.

There's a trial for VMWare BTW.

Hope this helps.

I've been dual booting for well over 2 years and have a firm grasp on Linux, and plan on continuing to dual boot for a time to come. For me, if I have to use an application that was meant to run in windoze, I'll run it in windoze. VMware would be the only option I'd consider, and then, I still wouldn't because I can just as easily reboot into windoze, so I'll save myself the cost of the fine product.

Cool