Operating Systems > Linux and UNIX
Effing newbie here...
ErwinJ:
Hello everyone,
After lurking here for about two years now, reading up on MS, Linux and related matters and since I finally decided to (try to) install Linux, I thought it's about time to come out of the closet, so to speak.
And have annoying newbie questions right of the bat...
I tried to install Mandrake Linux tonight. I decided on Mandrake since after reading everything said on the subject on these fora led me to believe that might be the best way to get to know Linux.
Anyways, tried to install Mandrake. Two partitions: one 5Gig for 'root' and one 1Gig as the swap (I thought since Linux is able to read windows partitions I would try to keep things as much on the C-drive as possible). Everything seemed to go okay. But on reboot I don't get the bootloader. The comp boots up straight away in Windows.
Now, probably I've overlooked something very simple. So if any of you could enlighten this quivering newbie, I'd be grateful
[ July 16, 2003: Message edited by: ErwinJ ]
askani:
Time to be helpful and poke some holes.
Honestly, if you're new you shouldn't be playing around much with partitions and directories. If you want to use Linux to its fullest make a 3 gig partition for it, using the ext3 filesystem (its veeeeery fast). Mount that partition as the / and put everything on there.
Mandrake will make it so you can mess around in your Windows partition (if it's not NTFS, NTFS support is only read only as far as i know) right off the bat.
And pure linux distributions to my knowledge cannot operate off a windows partition period.
Your problem with things as you've installed is this: To boot linux from your windows partition you probably need to boot into windows, and try to boot it from there using loadlin (it's a bad idea, trust me, and it just plain will not work if you have Win98 Second Edition or newer....it needs MS-Dos protected mode to work).
The boot loader is supposed to load OSes from a primary or non-primary partition using that partition's MBR. Since you only have your /root directory on a proprietary partition, the bootloader cannot load the OS off of that. It's a fact that no boot loader in the world can load 2 or more OSes off the same Windows partition without boot sectors and a whole lot of work.
The last problem which is really small is that you should never under any circumstance have your swap partition be less that 100 megabytes. Ideally it should be twice the size of your current RAM. (unlessyou have 512k of ram in which case i apologize ).
Usually, when setting up you will have a boot loader configuration prompt near the end of your install and it will tell you if your boot loader installed successfully. You get to configure all the labels for the different boot options and it should have a nice graphical interface.
My advice again, don't try to do complex things the first time you install Linux. Load it all on one big ext3 partiton, and start learning from there. These forums are a good(albeit slow) source for answers. And if you really need to be able to look at your linux partition from windows, there's a nice freeware prog out there called ext2 explorer (works perfectly with ext3 as well). Just google ext2 explorer and you should find it. Let us know if ya have any more questions.
EDIT:My typing still takes a few tries to get everything right.
[ July 16, 2003: Message edited by: askani ]
ErwinJ:
Askani, thanks for the speedy reply... :cool:
quote:Let us know if ya have any more questions.
--- End quote ---
Ooh, you're going to regret you said that
quote:If you want to use Linux to its fullest make a 3 gig partition for it, using the ext3 filesystem (its veeeeery fast). Mount that partition as the / and put everything on there.
--- End quote ---
Well, AFAIK that's exactly what I did, 'cept the partition is 5Gig instead of 3 (little extra room can't hurt, right?). The extra swap partition wasn't my idea, the install asked for one.
Now since I have 368Megs of Ram and common advise is have the swap about 1.5 - 2 times the RAM I set the swap to 1Gig (again, a little extra room... BTW, the Megs in the first post were typos. I meant Gigs, of course :rolleyes: )
quote:To boot linux from your windows partition you probably need to boot into windows, and try to boot it from there using loadlin
--- End quote ---
But it *has* it's own (5Gig) partition.
quote:Mount that partition as the / and put everything on there.
--- End quote ---
Check... (I mean: did that)
quote:there's a nice freeware prog out there called ext2 explorer (works perfectly with ext3 as well).
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the tip! I'll go scavenging now...
Stryker:
you dont have a /boot partition? it's best to make a /boot that's around 300mb or so. Do that before the other drives because sometimes it has to be towards the begining of the disk. I'd recommend just letting mandrake handle it. either by erasing the entire disk or by using unpartitioned space. Don't go jumping in the deep end before you can swim.
askani:
OK let's talk turkey.
When you installed did you get a boot loader install prompt? If you did and it installed then you should be able to access it easily.
Try holding down the ALT key when you boot up your computer. I have my Lilo set for 0 second delay so it boots into WinXP almost seamlessly, but i can "see" it by holding fown the ALT key when I boot.
If you can't remember installing the boot loader, or doing any of that post config stuff it is possible your install might have crashed or something of the sort (what version of Mandrake are you installing anyway?)
You'll probably need to re-install it either way and make sure the install goes all the way thru, and configures your video AND boot loader before it's done. Keep firing away, I have all day here .
Just so you know, I'm running an upgraded Mandrake 9.0 and it runs like a bloody dream. Ext3 on a 8 gig partition, and i have XP on the other one (read only access is a bit of a nuisance though).
I'm Mandrake for life now :D
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