OK--got Mandrake 7.2--first step?

[rick420]

Finally got done downloading mandrake 7.2, what is my first step.

Have a dual-booting win98-2000 mach.

have about 4 gigs left unpartitioned--wanna use that for the linux.

I'm just worried about messing up my windows drives--just dont want to have to reinstall EVERYTHING again.

Any help on my first steps to get this up and running? Total Linux newbie here :)

[ajwhite]

Hi Ric just installed - (Man 7.2), took me about 15 to 20 attempts to install. Partitioning was easy- but I was worried at first but overall it was the easy part. The rest of the installation kept freezing at various times, so I would start again. Each time I had to add '/' and 'home'to the new partitions created. Once I had fully installed and the machine froze- 2 hours wasted! But persevere. I posted a few questions here and they were answered really promptly with fantastic results. I kept trying to install the full package or the medium package until an answer on this site suggested to try the minimum package, so that is my suggestion if you have problems.
Good luck and don't give up.
Regards, ajwhite

[Q-Gdoxl]

Rick (too bad it's not 420)

Same here I have tried multiple attempts to install a nice stable linux. You want to know what to do first? MAKE or have ready a boot disk(s) (4 in the win 2k case) and learn from experience install till your hearts content.

If by chance you install Linux and then can't boot into any of the 3 os's don't worry! Use the boot disk and at the dos prompt type fidk /mbr or if you use the win2k it is fixmbr that gets you back to where you started from with no greif (other than some time spent *learning* how to install)

Hopefully you will not need to do this but if it does happen it is quite scary! it happened to me (I didn't know those tricks at the time) and installed win 98 then 2k then linux 3 times each before I learned!

Thats my first suggestion my next is READ anything you can. Start with the NHF's (newbie help files) tons of good stuff there and yes there is a NHF on triple booting win98/2k linux, then spend sometime reading the posts and pay attention to ppl installing similar setups.

If you run into problems the guys here at LNO are GREAT. I came here when I was stuck and don't think I ever had a problem that someone couldn't either tell me how to fix or send me a link to fix it!


Imagine, if you will, a world without hypothetical situations

Q

[rick420]

Hey guys thanks for the help. A few questions though about things I've been reading. I've read that LILO will write to my MBR, which if it somehow messes up will mean I cant boot into any OS, correct? I know u said to make boot disks--do u mean the emergency repair disk for win2k? Also, I keep reading stuff about Linux having to be in the first 8 gigs of my HD, I'm trying to install it in the last 4 gigs of a 20gig HD-is this going to be a problem? And lastly, u Linux people are great--this site is a TON of help--thanks again :)

[Dru Lee Parsec]

OK, here's how to take care of the MBR issue: When you set up your partitions write down what partition is mapped as / It will be something like hda3 or hdb6 or something like that (basically the letters "hd" then and a,b,c . . . depending on which physical hard drive it's on and the number is which partition it is).

So, let's say that you set a mount point of / (that really is just a forward slash) to partition hda4. Later on when you're in the LILO installtion and it ask if you want to install to the master boot record say NO. Instead put LILO on whatever partition is set to be / (in this example hda4)

Then go to http://www.littlewhitedog.com/reviews_other_00011.asp and follow the steps on how to dual boot Linux and windows 2000 (The same steps work exactly the same for Linux and Windows 98. I've done both).

I have no idea why some people say it takes 15 or 20 tries to install Linux, especially Mandrake. The only issue I've run into is that I always say "no network" during the installation and then set up my network card in Linux conf afterwards. But that was a trick to fix a bug in the Mandrake 7.2 beta release. The 7.2 final works great.

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Oh one more thing. When you set up your Linux partitions in the Mandrake Install you might want to do some cool tricks ther as well. There are a lot of thoughts on how to do this but here's an easy partition scheme:

1) Set up a swap partition that is twice as big as the amount of RAM you have.
2) Set up a partition with the mount point of /home Leave about 1 gig for that.
3) Set the rest of the space you have reserved for Linux with a mount point of /

This way if you ever have to totally reinstall Linux you can install into / and tell the installation to not format the /home partition. That way you'll keep all your personal data that't in your home directory.

Now, other people will tell you to also set up partitions for /usr/local and /usr/share for exactly the same reasons. But for a "I'm just testing out Linux" the simple plan is probably best. You can get more complex as you're more familier with what kinds of files go where.

[rick420]

Dru, thanks a lot--that article is great. But, I still have a few more questions :) (I'm the careful type :( )
1: In the article it is talking about only booting win2k/linux--I have win98/win2k already and want to triple boot linux. Plus, it assumes win2k is on my c: drive, when win 98 is on my c: drive-and while in win98---win2000 is my d:, and for some reason when in win2k it recognizes it as f:
2: How much actual Linux commands do I need to know to install Linux (since I know none yet)

Thanks again--cant wait to start installing--
PS--how long does an average mandrake 7.2 install take?

[PimpHolic]

mine took me around 30 mins, copying the file to hd

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Rick:

The Win 2K/Linux installation directions work just fine with Win 98. Basically if you already have a menu that pops up and says

1 Window 2000
2 Windows 98

Then which ever drive is showing that ( i.e. whichever boot.ini is producing that menu) is the one where you want to add your additional menu choice for Linux. Also, that's the drive where you want to put your linux.bin file.

Re: Commands. You can really learn as much or as little as you need. Generally, you'll fine that it's way faster to use some of the quick and powerfull command line tools.

There are a lot of good books that could help you along on this one. I like "Running Linux" and "A Practical Guide to the Unix System" by Sobell. But any of the standard text (Linux unleashed etc) will get you where you need to be.

Also, don't overlook the value of the HOW-TOs that will be installed on your system and are also available at www.linuxdocs.org (http://www.linuxdocs.org)

As far as having to know Linux commands for the install. Pretty much none. Mandrake 7.2 is a graphical installation.

Have fun. :)

[ 08 March 2001: Message edited by: Dru Lee Parsec ]

[rick420]

Thats good news to me--win98's boot.ini on the c: drive has the info on booting so I'll have no problem (I think).

Gonna try and do this maybe tonite--probably tomorrow--is there any software I should d/l now and have ready?

And for me to surf net on Linux I'm gonna have to configure it to my little home LAN. Right now my computer is sharing a cable modem w/ my Pops' computer thru a Linsys router. I had no problem setting that up in Win2k or win98--how tough is that gonna be for me to do w/Linux?

One more thing--what is the extended CD (cd2) of Mandrake--do I need it?

Thanks again for all the great help--one day I hope to be able to answer some questions for people like me:0

[Robster]

I have a problem...

I've followed the LWD instructions. Installed LILO to the / partition, copied the boot sector to floppy, copied the Linux.bin file to C: where Win98 sits (I run a 98/2000 dual-boot). Boot menu pops up but if I select the Linux option the screen clears and I just get 'LI' appear. Nothing else. Mandrake boots from the Boot floppy just fine.

I've checked that the lilo.conf file is pointing to the right partition and have even gone through the whole process again just to be sure. But, all I get is 'LI'.

This is how the disks are arranged. Both drives run through the CMD ATA/66 controller ports on my Asus CUBX mobo.

Drive 1
Windows98
Windows2000
Files
Software

Drive 2
Linux /
Linux Swap
Linux /home

The Linux / partition is hdg1

Please note that Linux boots perfectly OK via floppy and runs just fine.

Any ideas?
Rob

[ 09 March 2001: Message edited by: Robster ]

[ 09 March 2001: Message edited by: Robster ]

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Robster, post that as a separate question. I know there are guys who have fixed that and know what the solution to your problem is but they probably aren't checking out this particular thread.

Rick420 The 2nd CD has a lot of usefull additional programs on it. If you can download it then it would sure be nice to have. I get all my distros from www.cheapbytes.com (http://www.cheapbytes.com) and they send me both CD's for $3.99 so I've never tried to install without CD #2.

Re: Home LAN. I do almost the same thing I have a Linux firewall computer with an external IP on one ethernet board and an internal IP address of 192.168.0.1

On all my other boxes I have the default gateway set to 192.168.0.1 and I do IP Masquerading through the firewall. Now, do get scared just yet, all this means for you is that if the router has an IP address then you just set that IP as your gateway. However, I *think* that with a router (as opposed to a hub) you can just assign all your computers the same IP and the router knows how to route the traffic. You may want to post this over on the networking forum, those guys will know for sure.

[bdg1983]

Robster, I seem to remember that adding 'linear' to the Linux section of lilo.conf may let lilo boot from the 2nd drive.

It (linear) has been mentioned here in the past so a search may help. 'man lilo' should tell you exactly where to insert linear.

[demetrius]

If you have the Linksys router set to assign ips by DHCP (which I believe is the default setting with those routers) you shouldn't need to do anything. Assuming Mandrake recognizes your network card all you should have to do is tell the installer that you will be obtaining an ip via DHCP and pick a DHCP client to use and it will do the rest. :D

And BTW there's quite a bit of stuff on the second CD for Mandrake7.2 ... some of which really should have been on the first cd actually so I would reccomend grabbing it before you install.

[ 09 March 2001: Message edited by: demetrius ]

[rick420]

Ran into a little problem---my comp wont read the damn cd!! I guess it was a bad iso, b/c the extended disk can be read just fine. Off to d/l again--off mandrake.org this time---gonna have to delay my install until sunday now :( (gotta go to friends 21st b-day at strip club and get a little drunk tomorrow :) ) Damn--was looking forward to this--btw--what are the md5 sums for?

[Tyr-7BE]

Damn that sucks...did you burn what's inside the ISO's to CD, or did you just put the ISO files on CD like my weiner roommate did when I asked him if he could put the files on the cd (he's such a moron). I find it's handy to have some form of boot disk, made with rawwrite under the dosutils directory. I installed from my hard drive and it worked like a dream first time around. Another thing....don't give up. Almost NOBODY has a clean linux install first time around...there's always a few bumps along the way, but once you get to your destination, your *** is sore but tougher and wiser. Plus, it's well worth every bump.

[rick420]

OK got installed--few questions now. I chose GNOME and it looks good to me. I just have no idea how to get Mandrake to detect my NIC. Its a LINKSYS LNE100TX--it didnt recognize it during install I guess. I think Ill be able to set my Internet conection once I get the NIC detected, and being a complete newbie--how do I get it detected?

And thanks alot to everyone in here thats been guiding me thru this--I really do appreciate it and am looking forward to getting deeper into Linux--it seems to be a really good alternative to the Bill Gates products I've always had to use :)