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Topic: Linux - need help (win XP user)  (Read 990 times)

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Offline Monty

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Linux - need help (win XP user)
« on: October 12, 2004, 08:01:40 am »
Here's the deal.

I have been told that my life for my final year project (C development) will be made a hell of alot easier if i download and install SUSE Linux.

At the moment I'm downloading the liveeval-cd ISO image so i can see if it will run on my machine - basically run it without having to install it.

This is because I don't know how to install it.... and preserve Windows XP. This is where I hope some of you can help. These are the options that I see at the moment:

1)Defrag, scandisk my HDD and partition. Install Linux on the no WinXP partition. Choose OS on start up.
2)Add in a HDD and use it for Linux only.

I want to preserve my WinXP installation.

Anyone else done this? Which option do you think is best or are there other options?

Oh and I don't really understand the FTP installation - anyone know anything about it?

Thanks for any help.
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Offline Strafer

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Re: Linux - need help (win XP user)
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2004, 08:46:17 am »
Well, you can free up some unpartitionned space in advance or of SuSE has a partition resizer you can do it at installation time. That's where the defrag comes into play, it'll move the data to the front of the disk to speed up the process. One catch is if your XP partition is NTFS I'm not certain SuSE has a tool that will allow NTFS resize. The co. I work for, Xandros, does have a 3rd party NTFS resizer available with the installer.

The suggestion of having a 2nd drive (even an old one only a few GB in size would do) is probably less of a headache if you're unfamiliar with partitioning. Nothing really complicated in screwing in place a drive and having the BIOS autodetect it.

The boot menu (LILO, GRUB or other) would present a choice based on either what gets detected or what you specify, giving you a selection and optionally a timeout.

Hope this helps...
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Offline Monty

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Re: Linux - need help (win XP user)
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2004, 10:52:03 am »
My singular hdd is fat32.

the live eval worked. The only thing that didn't work was the adsl.

I'm not familiar with paritioning so I was thinking of using an old hdd 2-4 gb, if i can find the bloody thing!

So far I'm intruiged and want to get more into it.
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Offline Strafer

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Re: Linux - need help (win XP user)
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2004, 12:51:51 pm »
That disk would get you going, and if ever you need a little extra room you could temporarily dump some files (archived or not) to the FAT drive as Linux has R/W access to FAT.
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Offline Sethan

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Re: Linux - need help (win XP user)
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2004, 01:44:03 pm »
Not being a Linux guru, the one piece of advice I have to offer is that if you ever decide to reload XP, disconnect the Linux drive first, or be prepared to reload Linux after XP.

Microsoft does not like Linux.
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Offline Monty

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Re: Linux - need help (win XP user)
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2004, 04:55:17 pm »
The source of my adsl woes with the live eval appears to be my usb modem.

apparently they are pain for SuSE - especially the BT Voyager.

Looking at the installation instructions it would appear that you need an interent connect to download the OS during installation.... so there could be problems.

So far all I've seen is suggestions to people in a similar situation to get an ethernet modem. any info on that?

And to top it off I've got AOL (UK for me) - I've heard its been a problem in the past, not so sure about current versions and open compatibility.
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Offline Strafer

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Re: Linux - need help (win XP user)
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2004, 05:10:01 pm »
Lindows (Linspire, whatever) managed to get a Linux AOL client going.
USB  DSL modems are a pain as they tend to require a firmware if they work to begin with, and those can't be distributed because of legal restrictions. Ethernet ones work as is, no drivers no nothing.
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Offline Monty

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Re: Linux - need help (win XP user)
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2004, 05:00:43 am »
Later today I'm going to get a adsl/modem router ordered (which is known to work with AOL)

get an ethernet card and a cheap hdd.

then i should be ready to go.

fingers crossed...
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