Ok, let me see if I got this right, (I almost spelt the word write) anyway you are saying to just scroll down and insert the / (forward slash symbol, right?) I am confused with the' before and after the /.

Do I need to type the symbol ' before and after the forward slash?

After I scroll down to the forward slash, I then go up and click on swap? If so, do I just do this once?

Thanks.

d-1

sorry. the ' sign are irrelevant. What's inside them is the name of the directory: / (forward slash). You specify for each partition a different mount point (if you want multiple partitions for linux).

You first break up the F: if you want multiple partitions. Then choose one for / and *another* for swap.

Will it not do it automatically when you first click on F: and then let it do it automatically? I remember that there was some button to that effect on the bottom of that screen. Since you have 20G, it shouldn't be a problem letting it do automatically.

Ok I have 2 computers and I will attempt to install, will the Mandrake boot off the C drive or is there anything else I need to do to help recognize the boot, also, how many swap files do I create? 1,2,3,does it matter?

Thanks d-1

Here's a how to that you can follow along with. Just follow the part for multiple drives. Link:

http://easylinuxguide.jsutnoni.com/v...hp?p=3515#3515

That's my latest version.

Note: You will want to select the tab for hdd when doing the partitioning. That will be the F: drive. I didn't see this so I'll post it.

hda = Primary Master
hdb = Primary Slave
hdc = Secondary Master
hdd = Secondary Slave

hda2 = Primary Master second primary partition

hda5 = Primary Master first logical partition

1 - 4 are primary, rest should be logical. Linux can be all logical if you want.

That might help you a bit too.

I would not use partition magic at all. I have seen where people have had problems when doing this.

Oh I forgot to mention, no it would not, it said it was too small, but that was after I tried particianing on it owns. I never created a swap file either.

Just so you'll know, I haven't tried yet, I am typing from the computer its going on. Will try in a few minutes.

d-1

just one swap. when you install mandrake, towards the end it will ask you if you want to install the bootloader and where. Tell it to install it to the MBR and it you will get a menu the next time you boot. If you have windows installed on it as well, windows will also appear as one of the options.

When you install, be sure you choose the right partitions for linux. The mandrake installer does not do a good job asking for confirmation - just once and it is not absolutely clear about what the implications are of a wrong choice (you will lose windows).

what you do is create a swap *partition*. The system runs faster (though if you have plenty of ram, you might never actually use it). You can live with just one partition for linux in which case it will create a swap *file*. Your choice and if you think you'll be reinstalling again in the near future, maybe you shouldn't bother with breaking up the partition.

I just noticed your post dalek before I went off line, and noticed I should defrag both drives and deactivate the virus software, is that really necessary? If so, I will attempt this tomorrow and give a follow up, I thought it would be a lot easier to install.

I will give a full report of my mission....

Thanks,

d-1

What is MBR stand for?

Thanks for your help quatsch, hey would you also defrag and deactivate your virus before installing on the C and D drives? does it make that big of a difference to do so?

d-1

why deactivate virus detection? it's not even running when you're installing it. I don't see why you would defrag either since you are not trying to take away space from an existing windows installation (if you need to shrink a windows partition, you must defrag and it might be safer to deactivate anti virus stuff while defragmenting; but you're not shrinking anything).

MBR is the master boot record. It's where the basic information the machine needs to boot is stored.

Thanks there is nothing stored in my "F": drive, it should be wide open, never used. It is NTSF.

Going to call it a night and start fresh tomorrow, before I attempt.

d-1

If you won't be messing with your windows drive, you do not have to defrag. Would speed up your windoze though.

I don't know about the virus stuff. I do know that sometimes a scrensaver will cause defrag to restart. I still remember when you have to boot from a floppy to defrag. Still think that is best too. Since I don't use windoze and Linux doesn't need to defrag, I dunno care about defrag much.

In actuallity, the way you are doing the install, a seperate drive, is the easiest. Choose custom partitioning and when the partition screen comes up click on the hdd tab. Cilck in the space, should be white. Then click the auto button. It will automagically do the partition for you. It usually does a /, a swap and then the /home partition. That will give you a idea of what you need. You can change it of you need to.

It's not really that hard once you get some facts. Your doing one thing right so far. You're asking questions before you start. That's better than after something bad happens and you start to .

Hang in there. I think Mandrake is the easiest. Where's 9.2 at?

I still have not gained any ground, I have done the following, when I get to the partioning section (it's the furthest I have gotten, just like before.) It shows my 4 evenly partioned drives, C,D,E & F. OK...

First I go to Custom particain.

It shows 4 the following drives /mnt/win_C, /mnt/win_D, /mnt/win_E, & /mnt/win_F. They are all blue. OK...

On the very top, it shows the following filesystem types in different colors.

Ext2 (in red) followed by Journalist FS (in dark marron), followed by Swap (in green), Windows in blue, the grey out are the words other and empty.

OK?

I have no idea why it says the above.

If I click on my /mnt/win_f drive, I get the tabs, that are stacked that open up to the left, which state: Mount point, Resize, & Delete.

I go to set the mount point tab,

and it asks Where do you want to mount device hda7? already in the window it shows /mnt/win_f already highlighted in the dialog box, if i scroll down and open up the dialog box it shows /, /boot, /home, /mnt/win_f (highlighted), and so on down the line.

If i chose just the / , I get his message.

You need a true file system, (ext2/ext3 reiserfs, xfs or jfs for this mount point.

I'm am stuck and confused at this point so I try auto allocating and I get the message that says not enough free space.

Don't know what to do?

Damn, it's never easiest as it sounds is it?

Help....d-1

I still have not gained any ground, I have done the following, when I get to the partioning section (it's the furthest I have gotten, just like before.) It shows my 4 evenly partioned drives, C,D,E & F. OK...

First I go to Custom particain.

It shows 4 the following drives /mnt/win_C, /mnt/win_D, /mnt/win_E, & /mnt/win_F. They are all blue. OK...

On the very top, it shows the following filesystem types in different colors.

Ext2 (in red) followed by Journalist FS (in dark marron), followed by Swap (in green), Windows in blue, the grey out are the words other and empty.

OK?

I have no idea why it says the above.

If I click on my /mnt/win_f drive, I get the tabs, that are stacked that open up to the left, which state: Mount point, Resize, & Delete.

I go to set the mount point tab,

and it asks Where do you want to mount device hda7? already in the window it shows /mnt/win_f already highlighted in the dialog box, if i scroll down and open up the dialog box it shows /, /boot, /home, /mnt/win_f (highlighted), and so on down the line.

If I choose just the / symbol, I get this message.

"You need a true file system, (ext2/ext3 reiserfs, xfs or jfs for this mount point."

I'm am stuck and confused at this point so I try auto allocating and I get the message that says not enough free space.

Don't know what to do?

Damn, it's never as easy as it sounds is it?

Help....d-1

highlight the f: and then choose to delete it. This will create 20gb of empty space. Then click on the empty space, and then create a partition - I don't quite remeber the exact procedure at that stage but you'd have to specify the size and file system type (go for ext3) and then the mount point.

the /mnt/win_c. etc. indicate where the partitions will be visible under mandrake. The contents of your C drive will be a directory. the same for d and e.