Welp!!!!

[fallenang3l]

Yesterday, I've bought Linux-Mandrake 7.2 at CompUSA because I didn't want to download a few hundred megs with my 56k modem. Now, to the point. Like the manual said, I disabled PNP OS in BIOS and created a boot disk. I've rebooted, went into setup, got through a few steps like setting up keyboard and I thought, "Man, this is even easier than Win 98 install." I didn't know how wrong I was until step 6 or 7. It detected that I have Windows installed and gave me three options:
Erase Windows - Hell no, I want to play all my games
Use existing space on partition - Manual said I could dual-boot with this
Use diskdrake - Me being a complete Linux newbie, and manual saying "for absolute experts only" completely eliminated this as a possible option
So I clicked on the 2nd option and boom, here's the error which I got:

Partitioning Failed: The FAT resizer is unable to handle your partition, the following error occured: Can't locate object method "new" via package "resize_fat::main" at /usr/bin/perl-install/install_interactive.pm line 108, <> line 5

So here I am back in Windows, with (thank god) everything working perfectly fine just as it did before.
I've followed the manual to the letter yet this happened. I was convinced that Mandrake has the easiest install - something that had a major impact on my selection of this distribution. For all your pros, here are the specs of my system:
P3 733 MHz
GeForce256 SDR (Creative OEM)
Aureal SQ2500
NEC DVD x8
Plextor 12/10/32A (EIDE)
Tyan Trinity 400 (s1854) mobo
IBM 20GB HD (6.62 GB used, 12.4 GB free)
Epson Stylus Color 400
128 MB of PC133 RAM

P.S. I was installing in Customized mode.

Please oh please help this newbie. :eek:

[Tyr-7BE]

Have you partitioned your system yet? Linux runs on its own disk partition. Here's the gist of it: With Mandrake 7.2, if you plan to do a typical workstation install, you'll need approx 2 gigs space minimum (I know that this seems huge, but keep in mind that Drake gives you every dinky little program you could ever imagine, so it's fully-featured). Diskdrake is probably your best option (it's not that hard). There's plenty of documentation available on the subject, and there's even a partitioning NHF in the NHF section of this site. Here's partition scheme when I used to run Drake 7.2, complete with mount points:
/boot: 16 megs
<swap partition> equal to the amount of ram you have
/: approx 2 gigs minimum (I recommend more)

Remember that when you install LILO, you'll PROBABLY want it on the MBR (Master boot record). Aside from the partitioning, the installation of lilo, and the setting up of your network card (if you have one), the install is almost identical to windows. MUCH better system though :)
One more thing: make sure you defragment your windows system before you resize the partition...otherwise some things might be lost. There's the remote chance that you'll have to use "fips" to resize the partition, but it's unlikely (Diskdrake is pretty fully-featured and user-friendly). Keep in mind that the first install is usually one of the toughest things that a linux user will have to go through. My first install of Red Hat 6.1 resulted in my machine being unusable for 2 days, and a complete loss of data on the windows partition. Mandrake walks you through it a lot better though. Look up some documentation on partitioning, and good luck :)

[fallenang3l]

Well, in the manual it said that option #2 (the one I picked) would partition the disk automatically in a proper way and would allow for dual booting (I think it would put GRUB in MBR).
Yes, I've run ScanDisk 3 times before installation, did a defrag, and ran ScanDisk again (am I paranoid =]?). Windows still works fortunately. What could be the cause for this error? I know Perl well and it looks like a bug in install_interactive.pm module because a method that doesn't exist is being called, as the error message shows. I'm puzzled.

[bobtcowboy]

Originally posted by fallenang3l:
Use diskdrake - Me being a complete Linux newbie, and manual saying "for absolute experts only" completely eliminated this as a possible option


Use diskdrake, its easy as hell. Easier than fdisk anyways...

Bill

[fallenang3l]

OK, I guess I will just bite the bullet and configure the partitions myself... Yikes!! Anyone have a simple guide on how to go about this? What sizes should I set the partitions to? I will install in workstation mode and right now I have 12.4 GB of HD free, and I realize that I will have to allocate another 2.5 gigs for Windows 98, so that will leave me with around 9-10 GB for Linux. Anyone has some recommendations? If I ever need more space for Windows, for example, could I resize the partitions? If yes then how and with what tool? Tons of questions, but a newbie has to start somewhere, right? Anyway, thanks for the help in advance!

[Tyr-7BE]

Check the NHF section...it's got a partitioning NHF somewhere. 10 gigs? Boy would I like to have 10 gigs for linux!
Here's a common scheme that works beautifully: (Mount Point : Allocation amount):

/boot : 16 megs
SWAP : <your amount of RAM in Megabytes>
/ : the rest of it (9 or 10 gigs in your case).

Nice, simple, easy. Diskdrake really holds your hand for this type of thing and it's easy to see how it works once you get it started. Back up critical data in the unlikely event that something goes wrong. Diskdrake is nice and graphical, so you shouldn't have too much trouble. Dig up some documentation on linux partitioning on this site under the NHF's (Red Hat might provide some documentation as well). I know the feeling of doing something that you THINK is over your head, and you'll probably be as scared as hell to do it (installing Debian for me). Just take the plunge. I did it and I couldn't recommend it more...gives you a good feel for what partitions should be and how to make them. Good luck :)

Also, if you're totally new to *nix systems, I wouldn't go with customized mode personally. If you just do a typical install, you can select which packages you want and which ones you don't want (although for your first install I recommend going with everything to see what's good, then reducing the bloat with another distro :D). Standard install works wonderfully, and it's geared towards user-friendliness.

[ 01 March 2001: Message edited by: Tyr-7BE ]

[fallenang3l]

I gave it some though (and looked closely inside the Mandrake installation manual =]) and here's what I came up with:
~7 GB for Linux
128 MB for SWAP
400 MB for / (root)
4 GB for /usr (Static Data - meaning program executables, kind of like Program Files folder on Windows, right?)
2.4 GB for /home (In terms of computer games =], this is where I would keep my savegames, right?)
The rest of 11 GB will go to Windows 98 (hey, this thing still has many a many uses and will not die anytime soon). Is this a good setup? I'm still pretty hazy on this whole Linux thing, but hopefully things will be better when I get the hang of things.

[fallenang3l]

God, one last thing. When I allocate 7 GB to Linux and Windows currently occupies 6.62 GB (comes up to roughly 13.6 GB, but I'm sure you can do math :)) what happens with the remaining 5.5 GB's that remain free (I have a 20 GB drive)? Does windows automatically get it (preferred) or is it like a no-man's land and I have to explicitely allocate it to Windows? What an exhausting day!

[Tyr-7BE]

You have space to burn so I might give a little more to / (not /root...that's different)...can never be too careful.
If there's space on a drive that's not allocated to any partitions (be it linux or windows or otherwise), it's in limbo, and to be used, it must be made into a partition on either win or linux. Might as well use it for one or the other.
To resize a partition (your win98 may be taking up the entire drive), use "fips" in windows/dos. Not sure if DiskDrake will do this for you, but in case it doesn't, use fips.

[fallenang3l]

Crash and burn baby! At least my backups didn't fail me. The first error occured at the installation of StarOffice 5.2. Near the end, it simply quit spitting out some kind of error message and saying that it's now safe to reboot. I knew it was screwed so I put my Linux boot install disk and do it all over. I felt daring so I told it to wipe out the entire hard drive and start with Linux anew. This time I got up to selecting and setting up my monitor/graphics card. When I chose all the apropriate settings I click test and boom... it failed with a strange error message of not being able to init fonts or something like that. After the installation, I wasn't able to boot into Linux GUI at all. I was so pissed so I went to fdisk and created 1 dos partition, formatted and installed Windows on it. Now I'm in the process of importing all my backups and I will get Norton Ghost from a friend tomorrow so that should simplify system restore after my next attempt at installing Linux. Anyone got some ideas? Could my GeForce card be the source of this obsure problem?

[Tyr-7BE]

The message with the fonts is common in Drake when it's not rebooted properly...there are a few posts to do with the problem kicking around.
Hrmmm...installing StarOffice? I don't think that's included with Drake, is it? Give it another go with a cleanly wiped disk, and don't install the office tools...SO is readily downloadable via sun's site (latest version too). Everyone has some glitches first time around...you should have seen my first red hat install! If you can get to the login screen, you're sitting pretty.

[fallenang3l]

Originally posted by Tyr-7BE:
The message with the fonts is common in Drake when it's not rebooted properly...there are a few posts to do with the problem kicking around.
Hrmmm...installing StarOffice? I don't think that's included with Drake, is it? Give it another go with a cleanly wiped disk, and don't install the office tools...SO is readily downloadable via sun's site (latest version too). Everyone has some glitches first time around...you should have seen my first red hat install! If you can get to the login screen, you're sitting pretty.

Well, I bought Drake from CompUSA because none of my computer illiterate friends have it (nor they have any clue what Linux is), so I'm completely on my own. I also am on 56k and a download of 100s of megs with my puny 56k modem doesn't sound to appealing. The thing is that when you get to graphics card/monitor selection and test your settings, the screen goes blank for about 2 seconds and it returns with that error message. In normal circumstances, if the mode is incorrect the screen will go bad/blank for 10 seconds (if everything is OK you press the OK button and you are set). I will perform the installation one more time, tomorrow. Wish me luck!

[Tyr-7BE]

Try a lower resolution or a different monitor setting. A lower resolution with a less complex colour depth may be the answer, and Mandrake may not be unlocking the secrets of your video card. It may yet be the video card too. did you check for compatibility at mandrake's site?

[jrbush82]

I have a GeForce card, and it worked like a charm every time I've installed any distro, so I doubt that your v-card has anything to do with it... even though after you install mandrake, you have to install the NVIDIA drivers for linux :_) to get OpenGL to work...
http://www.evil3d.net/articles/linux/howto/nvidia/mandrake7x/

great tutorial on how to do that... when u install it, click expert, and then expert again, go through everything, most of the stuff is the same, just uncheck the select individual packaging for now, and after it is all done, make sure you select xf86 server 4.01... that one works with your v-card when u install the nvidia drivers

also, if you have problems with your partitions, I suggest getting a copy of Partition Magic 5.0 some how... it is a great great great partition program, and easy as can be...

I'm a 2 week old newbie, and I feel like I know a ton... but really, I'm still a newb, heh... good luck