Quote:
|
However i have heard that i must not install linux further than the 1024 cylinder or the BIOS will not recognize it. The first 1024 cylinder is about the first 8.5 GB or so and is not enough space for linux and the stuff ill install later.
|
This is old information. If you're using RHEL or Fedora Core, they both use GRUB as a bootloader, which allows you to put it anywhere on the drive, including on a totally different drive. Also, the BIOS was mainly the limiting factor. If you are using a system which is newer than 3 to 4 years, then the BIOS will not have this limitations. No biggy any longer.
Quote:
|
When i install linux will it be able to recognize and write on the data on the xp NTFS partition?
|
Yes and no. By default, Redhat (I'll just use RH from hereon in to mean RedHat Enterprise Linux as well as Fedora Core) does NOT support NTFS, but every other distro out there does; some think RH is afraid of stepping into a beehive of litigation. NTFS has proven to be a difficult format for Linux programmers to master, so for safety's sake you can read from it, but not write (this is using the standard "linux-ntfs" driver, which seems to be in a dormant state of development now). There IS, however, an experimental option to allow writing to NTFS called "Captive" (info available here:
http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive ) but it's not currently maintained, either! Hopefully someone else will pick up this project and run with it. So for now, the answer I'd have to give is "Read: yes. Write: no." You can download the RPMs for all different RH versions here:
http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/rpm/
Quote:
|
Can i install linux ANYWHERE on my hard drive and still be able to boot it? Do i need a boot manager or is there some default windows one that will activate itself when i have two OS?
|
Yes, you can put Linux anywhere (see first statement above). GRUB is your bootmanager; by default, RH sets itself up as the default install, and shows you a screen at boot which gives you 15 seconds to choose something other than RH to start with. I've got a notebook which has Fedora Core 3 and XP Pro installed on it, and I've changed GRUB to boot to XP by default in 5 seconds. This will change as I set up better apps/tools in RH for wireless (having issues with ndiswrapper and my Belkin 54g card right now).
Quote:
|
What do i do in order to install linux and have space to install stuff on it?
|
If you have something like Partition Magic or Acronis Partition Expert, you can shrink your NTFS partition so the Linux install will fit (I'd give it no less than 8GB of free space to give you a nice selection of apps to play with, but you can do it in 4-5GB). Leave the free space unpartitioned; RH installer will allow you to select the free space and divvy it up correctly.
Before embarking on this journey, I would highly suggest you get a drive imaging program such as Ghost or True Image and do a full HD backup image. This way, if ANYTHING hiccups (been known to happen), you can run screaming back to your image of the way things were and take a deep breath and try again.
Though Linux is very easy to install, doing so with a dual boot of XP is always a bit more difficult, so backups are your friend.
A word of caution: DO NOT INSTALL FEDORA CORE 2 if you're going to dual-boot your system! Download Fedora Core 3 instead; there's a bug in FC2 which will give you fits with a dual-boot install, and you don't need that hassle.
Also, think about trying other distributions (call it "flavors") of Linux, such as Ubuntu, Mandrake (now Mandriva), MEPIS, SuSE, et al. There are literally hundreds of different distros, which you can get an overview of at
http://www.distrowatch.com
Finally, here are some great sites to get info on Fedora Core from:
http://www.fedorafaq.org
http://www.fedoraforum.org
Good luck!
Dan
Linear Mode
