I have been scouting the mandriva website, but I have to say it is diffult to figure out

1. What the current version is?
2. Where the documentation site is?
3. If there is a wiki?
4. And forums: I guess this is the best place for it.

I am planning to download the DVD version and installing on my HP compaq nw 8240, I belive it is the 2006 version, right?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to install ATI fgl graphic driver in madriva (it is a ATI FIREGL V5000 with 1920x1200 widescreen). I am currently using Ubuntu, an dhave managed to get most of the help from their wiki pages. Was wonderin gof such exists for Mandriva?

Lastly, I prefer GNOME desktop, but KDe is also fine; any advice on which one to go for in mandriva?

Many many thanks, for the suggestions,
best wishes,
SL

EDIT: I am also asking if the download DVD version is the same as the one that comes in the boxed edition (powerpack+) that states thus "DVD set (or a Mandriva Club membership) provides and auto-installs many additional software components such as NVIDIA/ATI graphics card drivers, Flash Player, Real Player, Java Runtime Environment, Acrobat Reader and others which aren't included in the download edition."

Also, sorry on emore thing: I have a dual boot with /hda1 (winXP) /hda7 (Ubuntu) I have another hda6 where I want to put Mandriva, it is FAT32 format (blank). I want to know if the current GRUB will be overwritten with the Mandriva install and whether I will be able to triple boot?

The latest version is 2006. I am not sure which part of the site you went to, but http://wwwnew.mandriva.com/community/ has most of the info you said you could't find. You can choose not to install GRUB and configure Ubuntus GRUB to boot Mandriva. As for which DE you should use, just pick whichever you prefer. The Mandriva Free DVD is not the same as the Club or PowerPack version. The Club and Powerpack versions contain more software and proprietary packages such as Nvidia driver, Adobe Reader, RealPlayer etc.

Thanks reddazz,

I am not sure what you mean by "choose not to install GRUB and configure Ubuntu GRUB to boot Mandriva". if I choose to install the mandriva grub, will the Mandriva GRUB, installed on MBR, not be able to configure the 3 OS's and give me options to choose which to boot to? I am not familiar with this, so need some pointers.

Will I be able to install these prop software from the repositories (Adobe, ATI drivers, RealPlayer, etc)?

Yes, I managed to navigate thru the site and also registered with the Mandrica community forums, thanks for the pointer.

best wishes,
SL

Mandrivas bootloader will probably boot windows okay, but sometimes some Linux distros are not detected so you will have to configure grub manually. What I suggest you do is copy your Ubuntu /boot/grub/menu.lst to a usb stick and when you install Mandriva copy the Ubuntu settings to Mandrivas /boot/grub/menu.lst. During the installation make sure you explicitly choose grub as the bootloader because Mandriva defaults to LILO. If you are using Mandriva Free, you don't have access to commercial apps unless you are in the Club. To be honest with you, its not so difficult to install those packages on your own. If you need help, just post back.

Reddazz, this most helpful. I looked at my /boot/grub/menu.lst and this is what it looks like:
===
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.12-10-386
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-10-386 root=/dev/hda8 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-10-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.12-10-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-10-386 root=/dev/hda8 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-10-386
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.12-9-386
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-9-386 root=/dev/hda8 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-9-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.12-9-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-9-386 root=/dev/hda8 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-9-386
boot

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
boot

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/hda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
====

I was wondering if I add another item in the Ubuntu grub menu, like so:
===
title Mandriva, kernel 2.6.12-10-386
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-10-386 root=/dev/hda7 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12-10-386
savedefault
boot
===
[Note: I am assuming, the kernel versions remain the same, and title change to mandriva (your suggestions will be helpful here; may have to change root (hd0,7) to root(hd0,6)???????)
would I be okay? Will the grub in Ubuntu then see Mandriva on hda7 (where the filesystems will be installed). In this case I will not install Mandriva GRUB at all (i.e. choose to not load a boot loader), and rely on Ubuntu boot loader to "sense" this (as I have added this to the Ubuntu grub menu) durin gboot process.

EDIT: Just a thought occured to me: perhaps I should load the Mandriva boot loader on mandriva /root pertition, then edit the Ubuntu GRUB menu by adding under the "other operating systems" a command like "chainloader" or something. Can u help me here? Just having these electrical flashes...scared it will short circuit...<smile>

Thanks

Yeah, chainloading is also a good idea, I use it to boot Solaris and NetBSD. I didn't realise that the Ubuntu /boot/grub.menu.lst would have so many entries otherwise I would have suggested chainloading right from the start.

Can u walk me through this, if you do not mind:

1. I will have to format the hda6 (currently FAT32) to ext3 or reisfs (spelling??) using Live MEPIS CD (I have used the partitioner and formater QTPARTED before..It should work right???)
2. Then boot with Mandriva 2006 free DVD, and install on hda6 this time.
3. Choose to load mandriva GRUB on / (root of hda6)
4. Reboot (Mandriva installation will not be seen now in the GRUB bootlaoder, right??)
5. Loginto Ubuntu and edit the GRUB menu: this is where I need your help; what exactly do you put here i.e. the correct syntax?
5. Reboot
7. Hopefully this time GRUB should see Mandriva 2006 listed together with Windows XP under "other operating systems", right???
8. Choose Madriva and login
9. Get into Mandriva GUI (hopefully it has recognized my ATI FIREGL gfx v5000 card..I may need to come back here for this)

I appreciate your help, thanks,
SL

Your steps seem to be alright, but its not necessary to partition with Mepis because Mandriva has a good graphical partitioning tool. Your entry for Mandriva would be something like this

Quick Qs:
1. The other 2 distro's I tried (MEPIS, Ubuntu) did not seem to recognize the FAT32 hda6 (i.e. they did not suggest if I wanted to install on these drives); I have hda7 formatted as linux drive, and so all these distro's default to that drive. Do you think Mandriva will be able to offer me the option to use this FAT32 for linux installation?
2. I am making an assumption about how the partitions are allocated, i.e. root (hd0,5) for hda6; do you know how I could check what the labels are for these drives, i.e. what the root(hd0,x) is?

Again, thanks a million for your time.
SL

If using grub, /dev/hda is called hd0 and /dev/hdb is hd1 so /dev/hda1 would be hd0,0 and /dev/hda2 would be hd0,1 etc. As long as you know what your partitions are using the normal /dev/hxy format then its quite easy to translate this into grub terms. To see what partitions you have on a drive, you can do "fdisk -l /dev/hda" as root. I am sure the Mandriva installer will play along nicely with your FAT32 partition. Back in the day when I had Windows and Mandrake on one machine all FAT32 partitions were always recognised by the Mandrake installer.

Thanks, I am taking the plung...but..have to earn a living..at work now..will try later when I get back home. Will keep you posted on how it went? Do you mind being PM'ed?

Many thanks,
best,
Smiley

I don't mind if you PM me. I'm off work and not doing much so I'll be around later.

I not sure why there is no hda3 or hd4. In my case the hda6 is where I want the Mdv to go. So the Ubuntu GRUB menu edit will say

I not sure why there is no hda3 or hd4. In my case the hda6 is where I want the Mdv to go. So the Ubuntu GRUB menu edit will say:
===
title Mandriva 2006
root (hd0,5)
chainloader +1
===

Just checking.

Yes, thats right.