Installing Redhat 8.0 and dual booting with XP ???

[Iceborg]

I decided that I slowly want to be come a complete Linux user. After reading a lot of the threads, I realized that I should either start with Mandrake, SuSe, or RH. I chose RH8 and am currently downloading it.

First question: Any idea why the download is so slow? The transfer rate dramatically decreased from when it first started. I realize it could be the server. My connection is cable. I'm only at 6% of completion.

Second question: After I have RH8 burned on to the CDs, where do I go from ther? I need to keep XP for now so I'm assuming partitioning is necessary, but I have no clue how or what, and the consequences if any.

Third Question: MultiBooting after RH8 is installed. How? I read an article posted on here by someone but it was for NTFS file systems.

My System:

933mhz
40GB (fat32)
256ram
CD Burner
And currently XP as the os

[JayMan8081]

I had RH at one point and I noticed that he d/l speed did seem a little slow. In order to maximize the speed I would recommend a donwload accelerator of some sort. Personally I use the free version of Download Accelerator Plus, which is available at their website http://www.downloadaccelerator.com . This program makes multiple connections to the server depending on your connection speed. I have DSL and it usually keeps most of my downloads at at least 50 kB/s.

In answer to the second question, you can use the same hard drive to dual boot. You will need to partition. I used Partition Magic Pro 7.0 to create my partitions. It is very easy to use and staright forward to set everything up. I didn't have any problems with it and I was able to use both RH and Win XP without any problems. I think that you might also be able to use the formatting and partitioning tool that comes on the RH install CDs, but I'm not real sure about that.

To answer the third question, you can set up either LILO or GRUB to be your bootloader to do multiboot. RH should give you an option to do this during the install. It can automatically detect your partitions and set up the boot menu. Once RH is installed you can change the names of each menu choice and even change which is the default choice. So you could still make Win XP the default with the option to go into RH.

Hope this helps a little. :)

[rayor]

I use Mandrake and after you dl the cd's and burn them you just restart your pc and have the cd boot. The installer program is pretty straight-forward.

Second: If your WINXP partition is NTFS you will NOT be able to write to it while in Linux. Other than that you can just resize your WINXP partition with the installer if you choose to do an expert install. Then setup a main "linux native" partition with a mount point of "/" and also a swap partition, doesnt really need ot be that big.

Third: I like to use Lilo for my bootloader. You can setup your boot setup easily with the mandrake control panel.

I recommend using Mandrake if your a beginner because of the ease of setup, but Redhat is also a good choice.

[Iceborg]

Thanks this info helps a lot, I'm going to go check out that dl accelerator right now.

Few more questions based on what you said.

Does partitioning the hd require erasing what is already on it?

Is the multiboot programs included with RH simple enough to use? Not for myself, I'd be able to figure it out, but I share the computer and others would need to get to WinXP very easily.

Thanks!

[hlrguy]

I haven't used it, but fips is supposed to be on the first CD for Redhat (Windows utility) that will resize and ONLY resize a windows partition. Defrag your XP side, then use fips to change it's size and leave room for the linux install a(and leave room for XP to grow. :) ). For redhat, the included disk partition tools are VERY unintuititve. After installing, all three distor's listed will install a boot manager. Follow the defaults, and then, when you restart your computer, it will give you a choice betweem Windows or Linux.

Mandrake and Suse however, have very good partition tools, easy to use and therefore, if installing one of them, simply slide disk one in and you are off to the races.

hlrguy
This is for 7.1, but nothing has changed for 8.0 and fips.
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.1-Manual/custom-guide/dualboot-fips.html

[Iceborg]

Since I'm only at 101mb of the RH8 download, is RH the best way to go for a beginner? I know a lot of it is personal preference but being a beginner it doesn't really matter. I want the one I will learn the most with, but have a decent time doing or at least getting it going (the installation).

Thanks

[Iceborg]

Any suggestions for increasing download speed of RH8? I tried downloadaccelerator but it said that the server refused connections. The transfer rate is so small even with a cable connection.

[Penrich]

I'd start a new connection. try to d/l from www.linuxiso.org. If I find a connection too slow, I just cancel it and start one from a different mirror. Some will come down at > 250 kbps... :D Actually - I would start to d/l RH and Mandrake, and then try your first install with whichever finishes first :). Having two or more d/l open at once doesn't seem to slow anything down. SuSE you have to go out and buy, or do an ftp install (not hard, but you don't get a disk with the iso for when you need to re-install...

[Iceborg]

What are the fourth and fifth discs of RH8 for?

[hlrguy]

Originally posted by Iceborg
What are the fourth and fifth discs of RH8 for?

They are the source code for all the rpms on the first three. Not required unless you want to change/recompile and optimize any of the standard packages. The ONLY use I have had for it was to optimize the tuxracer program. Went from ~4 frames/second to no noticable delay. Found out I still suck at it too. :)

hlrguy