Im about to install Mandrake 9.1 (at least) for now to boot with Windows 2000. But heres the problem, My Windows partition is NTFS.

Is it still possible to install this with an NTFS Windows partition?

Second question,

On the parititioning part as shown in DrakX, in order to install Mandrake with Windows, do I need to select resize, create, Erase entire drive. or use existing partition?

Here is my current Windows drive setup:

Local Disc (C) 34.9GB (but it shows about 20GB hidden????) what ever that means, NTFS File system. I hope Mandrake is small enough so I could fit this into this current Windows partition.

And what would be the BOOT Loader to choose LILO or GRUB?

I downloaded the PDF Installation manual and im a bit confused regarding the Partitioning part of the guide.

This NTFS kinda bothers me a bit, since most Linux distros can't read NTFS.

the mandrake installer has a windows partition resizing tool...

you can use it to create some free space on your drive, so you can then proceed to make the linux partitions in the free space...

remember to scandisk and defrag your windows partition before doing the resize...

=)

once i do the resizing what type of partitions do i have to create?

also, do i need to have partition magic handy or the DrakX will do everything for me automatically?

Is it a good idea to just delete the whole Windows and just install Mandrake clean?

I think it will be alot easier. What do you think?

the mandrake partition tool in the installer will let you "do everything"... this includes creating the new linux partitions and selecting the filesystem you want to format them with (yes, you have several choices), as well as the ability to delete all the partitions and start with none...

it has "wizard" options, in case you freak-out, so don't worry... but i can tell you that basically, all you need for linux is two partitions... one huge one for "/" and a small one for swap... you get to choose the fileystem to use for "/"... i really recommend "ResierFS"... "ext3" is okay also...

let me give you a practical example of partitioning with mandrake's installer:

a guy has a 40gb disk running windows 2000... 12gb of space is used... in the partition tool of the mandake installer, he resizes his ntfs partition to 25gb... this gives him 15gb of free disk space for putting linux, while maintaing 13gb free on his windows partition for his windows stuff... so back to the free space: he creates a new 14.2gb partition for "/" and an 800mb partition for swap... then he proceeds with the install... later-on during the install, he'll be able to install a bootloader (lilo or grub) so that when the computer boots, he can choose to use either windows or linux... when windows boots, it'll now show the "C:" drive as being a 25gb one...

both lilo and grub are good, but personally i'm happy with lilo...

i really recommend you don't erase the entire disk just for this installation unless you absolutely need to for some reason... it won't make anything easier, it might make things worse, especially when it comes time to re-install windows...

I guess I will have plenty of reading to do.

I think its much easier (correct me if Im wrong) is to just do it. Get down and dirty is to what I mean. Meaning to this, is that I think its better if someone like me actually does the process instead of reading dozens of manuals (which BTW some are infact written differently than others).

So its best to just do it and at least I could just visualize what Im actually doing than reading some text.

Another quick question in regards to setting the time. Right after installing Linux, is the time set to GMT as default?

definitely!!!

=)

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Right after installing Linux, is the time set to GMT as default?

the installer will let you set whatever time zone you want...

That example that you gave me was really really really helpful. That gave me more confidence.

Thanks

awesome! you're very welcome!

=)

My MAJOR MAJOR concern is, that I have NTFS and that could cause problems for Mandrake. Will it be really necessary to format my Windows drive to FAT? I hope not. Then whenever I want to use Windows again, I wont be able to have those security features without the NTFS file system.


Couple of other question that comes to mind such as setting up the Internet Connection using dial-up? Setting up my ISP with access numbers and such?

Security, how reliable is the firewall setup in the DrakX Wizard??? Do I need AntiVirus/Firewall software. I know that alot of Linux users claim that Linux IS NOT vulnerable to spyware, viruses,trojans, hackers, but do I still need 3rd party AV or Firewall setup?

Or should I go along with the Security part in DrakX Wizard as set to Standard or High?

Here is a How-to on the dual boot. Its not really too hard. My laptop runs XP on ntfs in a 5 gig partition. Then I have a 30 Gig fat32 partition and finally a 5 gig partition for my linux. The reason for the fat32 is that Linux cannot write to an ntfs volume. Therefore I put all my data in the fat 32 partition. I can read/write from either os. It's been running that way for several years and never has any problems. I also have some install How-tos on the same site for both 9.2 and 10.0. Check them out, they may be of some help

http://www.linuxloader.com/modules.p...showpage&pid=7

what kinda "problems" are you talking about??

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Will it be really necessary to format my Windows drive to FAT?

ummm... no... you can leave windows with whatever filesystem you want...

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Couple of other question that comes to mind such as setting up the Internet Connection using dial-up? Setting up my ISP with access numbers and such?

what kinda modem do you have?? check to see if it's supported by mandrake here:

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/hardware.php3

mandrake will have some neat graphical tools to configure your dial-up connection... i'm sure...

i'm crossing my fingers here for you, hoping you don't have a "winmodem", as those usually won't work with linux:

http://www.linmodems.org

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how reliable is the firewall setup in the DrakX Wizard???

it's okay, nothing special... fine for your average joe's desktop i guess...

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Do I need AntiVirus/Firewall software. I know that alot of Linux users claim that Linux IS NOT vulnerable to spyware, viruses,trojans, hackers, but do I still need 3rd party AV or Firewall setup?

as long as you never install or run unchecked binaries as root, you should never have to worry about viruses on linux...

you don't need a "third-party" firewall, as linux comes with iptables (netfiter)... the graphical firewall tools mandrake has are nothing but front-ends to iptables...

http://www.linuxguruz.com/iptables

http://www.netfilter.org/

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Or should I go along with the Security part in DrakX Wizard as set to Standard or High?

i think that would be fine... it's up to you really...

if you want something more "complete" check-out firestarter...

http://firestarter.sourceforge.net

Its not, look here

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/hard...modem&F_ID=466

I have a 56K Fax PCI Modem. Oh well.

What do you mean by what you wrote (as long as you never install unchecked binaries as root, you should never have to worry about viruses on linux...) ???????

Please give me an example for the meaning of this.


(as long as you never install unchecked binaries as root, you should never have to worry about viruses on linux...)

Is it possible to do this for Windows machines?

The reason I want to switch to Linux is that its Virus proof and hacker proof 100%%%%!!!!!! Thats the only reason for switching, to be honest. Im fed up with this bulls**t about all these spyware virus nonsense for Windows.

Hello - Well.................... I installed Mandrake with no problems. Thanks alot for your support. Of course, I still kept my Windows.

But, as usual for a newbie like me a few questions here (again).

How come when booting into Mandrake it does not ask me for my User and Root Password? Which I had created for both during install.

How could I change the screen resolution. Its soooooo small. everything is so small.

Next question,

If I decide to configure the Internet connection in Mandrake does that mean my Internet connection will not work on Windows or vice versa???

meaning, if my I set my internet configs in Mandrake does that mean I will loose the current Internet connection settings in Windows????? Thats my concern.

Next question.

When I decide to boot into Linux, does it always take for ever to boot into Linux??? It took for ever checking files and stuff like that. I wonder it will be faster upon booting nextime.

The rest could wait for now.

Im tired and I need a few drinks. Im soaking wet from all the sweat and nevousness

Thanks again for the help.

Oh............... A message to other newbies out there, its much much better ACTUALLY doing it than readin the manuals. DrakX ROCKS!!!!!

How could I extend the time limit counter for the selection of Windows or Linux prompt window?

Because everytime I boot my PC it ask me what to boot (Windows or Linux) but the counter is too short. Its like 10 seconds that I need to decide. How could I extend the time counter?

I really wish I could have a response.

The important being that everything is being so small.