Please help...

[Svetty]

Okay, I have a few problems installing linux:

1: I have windows 2k, and I'm not even sure if this is a reak problem... There's no dos prompt, so the book I have (linux for dummies) is no help, it says dos prompt this and dos prompt that.... Yadda yadda.

2: I have an empty G drive, which is where I want to install linux. How am I gonna do this? How do I figure out how to partition only this drive... And how am I sure it's not a partition already.

3: I put the cd in (redhat 7), and when I tried to run the nice pretty graphical install from the book, it wont let me, saying something about no screen showing up or something or other...

Please help, blah blah...

You wouldn't want me to give up on linux, would you?

[manual_overide]

OK. First, yes. Linux for Dummies kind of sucks. I have Idiot's Guide to Linux. First mistake of many. Don't let them get you down.

We'll also need some more info first. Like what kind of video card you have, and please post the entire error message you got when you tried to install.

Here's a good way for you to partition your drive:

G:\ is a separate partition right now. Windows gives each partition a letter. The first partition of the first drive is given C: then D: and so on. If you have CD drives or Zip drives in the middle, ie C:, D:, E: is a Zip drive, F: is a CD drive, G:; forget about the other drives and only worry about the hard drives. Give them a number in the order they come. C=1, D=2, G=3

When it is time to partition the drive for linux, you will know which partition you are dealing with. Linux calls the first hard drive hda. The second one is hdb, then hdc and so on. I will assume you only have one hard disk.

The first partition of the drive will be hda1. This is your C: drive in Windows. Use the numbers you made before to label the other partitions. Since you want to install to G:, and we said that G: = 3, we'll mess with hda3. Don't touch the other ones, and your Windows install won't be harmed.

When you are asked to partition the drive, delete partition 3. Now make at least two more partitions in that new space. Make one partition about 128MB, unless you have a lot of RAM, or G: is less than about a Gig or so. This will be the Swap partition. Exactly the same as the Windows page file. Make the other as big as what's left and give it the mount point "/" but without the quote marks.

Your drive is now partitioned and ready for Linux. :)

If you have any other questions, just ask us. We should be able to figure them out for you.

[Svetty]

Hmm... Alright...

It appears I have 2 drives, and G is the first partition on my second drive... So logically, I should be messing around with hdb1, right?

The problem is, there is no hdb for me to see. I don't know what to do.

Using my supreme intellect, I tried disconnecting my windoze drive altogether, but then the installer couldn't find ANY drives...

So I'm gonna try to give as much info as I can find on this second mystery drive:

QUANTUM FIREBALL CX1 SCSI Disk Device

---

It has two partitions that I can see in windows... G, and H, both currently empty...
And it's using the FAT32 filesystem... diddly... (This is all a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to me... That I reckon I should learn quickly)


Thanks for the help, I'm starting understand a tiny bit of this stuff, I can't wait to get started...

* * *

We'll worry about the graphics card later, unless you think it's extremely important...

It is a NVIDIA Geforce2 mx
on the AGP slot...

[manual_overide]

Ahh. Logically, you would be right in assuming hdb1, but since this is a SCSI drive, we have a totally different animal. I've never installed w/ SCSI drives before, so I'm not really qualified to try and give advice, but I can make something up. :D

The hdxx labeling system is for IDE drives. I'm not sure what SCSI devices are labeled as. sc1, maybe. But you'll probably have to get some kind of driver or do something different with the install to get your SCSI controller to be detected. I can't help you here. Maybe somebody else here can. Try searching for info on your controller, and see if it has any problems w/ Linux.

It's a good thing that you are starting to understand this stuff. It took me forever. Also, RH has some problems w/ GeForce2. You CAN still get Linux up and running though. Install through text mode. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done, and it's faster. Then, install a different X Server after you get everything installed. I had to do that for a while w/ my GeForce DDR. We'll save that for a different thread. :)

Good Luck w/ that Controller!

[ 18 February 2001: Message edited by: manual_overide ]

[Svetty]

Thanks, man.

I needed some encouragement.