M8 + win98 dual booters, I feel your pain!
 

I too am having probs with the Linux install dual booting win 98 and no one appears to know what the problem is.., i too have had countless Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 21:05 bleh bleh bleh...

All i have learnt is that from (trying to)installing it on various machines and various configs is the following
bear in mind i am NO linux guru
*****Check your hardware...,
I believe Mandrake home page has a hardware checker but doesnt have links to drivers!!!!!!!! and it told me my cam wasnt supported and NEVER WOULD BE!!! wow what a way to make an OS popular heh.

my monitor isnt supported :( and i have to deal with packages dropping probably (not proven tho) due to cdrom speed been too fast for my HD to write it to , so even if i get it installed Xserver goes to (*^* on me cause it wont recognise my best monitor but it will recognise crappier ones i have on other machines! (btw its a IBM2122)

fdisk/MBR is a VERY HANDY command for recovering windows when lilo goes to &^%$£K without having to reformat.., i learnt that the hard way.

And yes check see if the CD's are clean!! .., my cd's install on someone elses box but not mine! an our systems are almost identicle apart from monitors

Is your Graphics good enough? or is it 1337 enough for linux to include?? lol
agp S3 8mb card wont do but if you have a crappier S3PCI 8mb card now that will do .., (go figure)

Only other thing i can think of in my machine is the processor an bus speed?? its 733,133hgz, is it too fast for linux ??? lol

Also i belive Linux got some UDMA issues?? sheesh mine is a UDMA33 4.3 gig smart capable an i have tried it as a master and slave both primary and secondary
dual boot on same drive and seperate ones too.., btw i belive that linux doesnt like CDROMS on a slave connection?? could be that answer to someones problem..., not mine tho :0[

Damn good job i copied my orignial distros as the originals are now s£$"d with so much use an i have no receipt damn!.
i have been at this 3 months now an no one appears to know the answer .., ho hum guess one more that wont be installin M 8..., guess i will jus have to junk win an go to mac.., i hear its free BSD!.. ho well.

unhappy frazzy

drivers don't exist in linux the same way thay do in winblows. maybe you can email linus or alan cox and see if thay will write support for your off- brand hardware into the kernal. just because your monitor isn't listed on mandrakes supported hardware list, doesn't mean it isn't supported,it just means that they didn't feel the need to list every possible model,submodel,and variation of every piece of hardware on planet earth.video card not supported?, get one that is, their cheap.
yea, it's my fault you can't get the easiest distro installed. i'll try to do better.

I've used Linux for 3 years and have installed countless times. I've used Mandrake since 5.x days as well. I've never experienced a problems getting them install once, on any machine even POS compaq boxes with tons of crap hardware in them at work with little to no configuration needed. I've always dual booted my machines, once I booted 5 OS's and no problems with Linux.

As for driver support it's better than it was, also did you ever think that maybe the hardware manufactures should hold some resonsiblity for drivers as well. They write drivers for Windows, Windows detects some hardware off the bat, but certainly not all of it. If the OS was suppose to detect every piece of hardware why would they ship drivers, or off them on their website?

If you have a problem, people here I have found are more than willing to help, people genuinely try to give the best answer they can with out actaully being there, and seeing the problem first hand. Unfortunately, disgnosing problems with Linux sometimes isn't as cut and dried as Windows OS. Besides you have posted once before in here, and never mentioned half the issues you know are talking about.

kernel panic usually is a partition problem, maybe 1024 cylinder barrier? or LILO is messed up. If you can install clean on someone elses box but not yours that might suggest a hardware problem on your box. X server issues can usually be resolved by playing with Xfree86 files or Xconfigurator. Find the specs of the monitor and try and set it up manually. Linux isn't as intutitve as what people enjoy with Windows.

Many conclusions you have drawn and make from your experience and made about Mandrake and Linux are false. Yes Linux can most certianly handle 733Mhz, 133 :)

I'm sure a post based on bashing Linux won'tl help you much to solve your problem in the forum. But please post back if you want more help or perhaps list things you have tried to resolve your issues. From the short time I have been here I have gathered that people here try their best to help others.


Good Luck :)

SensFan an rshaw
 

I was having a jest about linux i am not slaggin it as i see lots of features that i do like (when i can get into the Os), its just this install problem, dropping packages etc, thats really gettin me down. an i havent a clue what it is that may be causeing it, i have tried all sorts on a few different configs on machines as i have said, the only thing i can think of now is that is something to do with a fault of the CDROM, both i have are fairly old so i will try to borrow one an see.
An i do understand about the manufacturers not supportin the Os is next to nothing to do with the creators etc
But u gotta admit linux is 'quirky ' at best heh.
i will try to carry on regardless anyhow.., i may be getting a faster an newer HD soon so i will try it on there, but for now i cant do a thing about it., i will jus have to cope with windoze till i can get it sorted ,heh.
Please dont get me wrong i think an Opensource Os is the best thing since .., well whatever.., its just good to see an Os that DOESNT have a multinational company behind it waiting to rip to rip u off at every corner.
Jus the fact of 3 months at trying to install it says i wan it on my box.., maybe i will go dedicated oneday. untill then i will jus have to cope with learning commandline.., well didnt turn out bad after all heh:)
btw sorry if it looked like i was slaggin ppl off..., really i wasnt its my sense of humour.
cyaz an tx

after re-reading my post , it reads like i was more pissed than i actually was. sorry.

i was stuck at work and out of cig's (i'm nicotines' bitch) :D