Mobile harddrive
 

OK thought about it for awhile is there a way that I can set up linux on a harddrive on one partition and be able to attach it to other computers for file transfers without any problems? I want to be able to read and write to all windows file systems (ntfs /fat /fat32). In other words is linux gonna be like windows and struggle with trying to detect all the hardware in the systems I hook it up to?

Two problems I can think of:
1. depends how you hook up this linux HD. If its a secondary, you'll need a boot disk to be able to boot into linux.

2. Linux won't have hardware problems, per se. But you need to have a kernel built that actually supports the hardware on all the systems you intend to use this on - sounds like a job for modules (especially if the systems are heterogenous), as well as support for ntfs and whatever you need. The kernel may be kinda big, but you could always write an itelligent script to only load particular modules for particular systems.
; )

Damn I don't think i am going to wind up using linux.
I set redhat up on my xp system and it worked fine but as soon as I changed the harddrive back to the other system it starts to boot but the restarts the system right away. I had win98 on it before so I know its not a hardware problem. It reboot real quick only 4 lines show up (text) then reboots not enough time to read them.
Any ideas?

you need to give more info...does the linux kernel start to boot, and restarts?

or does the bios at some point restart the computer?
Does bios recognize the HD?
Did you set it up to run as master or primary? Do the jumpers reflect this design? Does the bios detect it as such? etc.
And if you can...those flashing lines could really help determine the problem.

you may even try to boot from a linux rescue disk and see how well that goes.

OK everything is recognized . Redhat starts to boot but then restarts the system right away. Its something with redhat does it do a hardware scan like windows does? Thats what it seems to me but I know nothing of linux (yet).At this point it is set up on the only drive in the system.

If kudzu is enabled in Red Hat it will try to detect the new hardware. Nice feature except when your switching CPUs.

However you can turn off this service by going to the menu then clicking on server settings and just take the check mark away from kudzu.

For me however kudzu was a life saver it detected my new Logitech Marble mouse using USB and set everything up so when I went into X my new mouse was working.

Well JayCnrs claims there's some 'kudzu' thingy...I guess you could check that out. The problem is that if this is linux related, you'll need to boot linux to fix it. :) So have you tried to boot with a linux bootdisk? Get a minimum linux boot disk and boot into single user mode. This way, many of the stuff will probably not be started. if that doesn't work, get a linux boot disk with a kernel installed (such as tomsrtbt floppy) and see if you can boot a minimum linux (you can mount the HD afterward). if even this does not work, look for a hardware problem/conflict.

BTW, JayCnrs : color and HUGE fonts are bad. They hurt your eyes and make you squeal. I've always tried to persuade by content instead of flashy looks. But then, I'm just cr@zy.
; )