[ltp] which distro 4 a linux newbie T20?

[Meidinger,Christopher]

>Simply because I would like it to share 11GB HDD with W2K Prof. or XP and
wouldn't want it to take much space. This brings me to another question. I
am about to reinstall W2k (or use XP
>instead). I've been wondering what would be the best solution for a dual
boot:
>- let lilo handle it,
>- let XP handle it (is there such an option?)
>- use some extra boot manager (seems pointless).

I sent a mail about this to the list yesterday, but it had been a very long
day, and i was very tired, and it may well have been impossible to
understand. I am attaching a copy of that to this mail, if you don't
understand how to do something, or the explanations are too meagre, just
ask.
Basically, LILO/Grub works just fine, or you can edit the Linux boot in to
the XP boot.ini. Both are quite easy.

>Also:
>1. Is it better to install linux first and then W2k or XP? 

The only problem you are likely to have is that XP will write to the MBR
without asking, so if your Linux boot manager is there, then you're stuck.
If you install Windows after linux, my recommendation would be to install
Lilo/Grub at the beginning of the /boot partition, and data-drop the file
before you install XP. (this is described in my other mail) Then after XP is
there, you can edit the boot.ini to boot Linux as well.

Essentially, if you are careful, it should not matter which you do first.
You just have to make sure you don't lose the ability to boot linux (it
won't happen the other way around, linux will not kill the boot sectors from
windows unless you tell it to) after installing Windows.

>2. Are there any precautions as to lilo starting from W2k NTFS partition?
Is it possible in any way? (I've read it somewhere that a better solution
would be setting up a small FAT partition for >hibernation and booting
>purposes)

I don't know why everyone wants to hibernate so badly. It takes about 20
seconds to start XP, and mayve 25 to start linux. Just start the computer!

What do you mean start linux from a win2k NTFS partition?? Do you want to
have your linux files on the partition mounting /boot on an NTFS partition,
or do you mean that it should just be the boot partition? 

Here the mail from yesterday; I described exactly how to set up the dual
boot (assuming the description is understandable) -

If you want to use the XP Preload rather than installing XP yourself, then
you will need a tool to change the partition size. My favorite way to do
this is to burn an image of the hard drive (I use ghost for imaging, but
drive image, hdcopy, whatever you like to use will work) and then change the
size of the partition when you copy the image back from CD to HDD. This way,
if lightnig strikes, and every program burns a drive once in a while, you're
safe.

So now you have a smaller XP Partition, and the IBM service partition. I see
no reason to delete the IBM service partition, because it is useful, and
only takes up a little over a gig. SO then you can use your favorite tool to
create all your linux partitions, and install linux.

Now, during the linux installation you have to choose a boot method. If you
want to use LILO or Gump in the MBR, save a copy of the original MBR from
IBM. The original MBR gives you the option to hit F11 at boot time, and
recover the machine. To save the MBR, hit F11 when the computer starts, and
navigate through the menus until you find the one that creates a boot disk
to restore the original MBR. If anyone needs this disk, mail me, i'd be
happy to send you a .img of it.

If you would prefer to keep the original MBR, either use GRUB/LILO, or use
the XP boot manager. Grub or Lilo will let you add the XP partition to the
boot list very easily. If you want to use the XP boot list, you need to copy
the first 512 bytes of your /boot partition (where GRUB is installed) to a
file, and boot from that in the XP file system. Don't forget to make a
bootdisk when you install linux, or you will not be able to boot it until
the following process is finished.

I stole this plan from http://www.coelacanth.com/~nick/t23/#ntbldr, so he
gets the credit for getting linux into the XP boot loader. Anyway, install
your Linux to boot from the first sectors of the boot partition, and do NOT
overwrite the MBR. Then do this: (Stolen material!)

       dd if=/dev/hda5 of=bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1
       mcopy bootsect.lnx a:

Use that command to make your boot file, and put it in C:\. Then add this
line to your boot.ini:

      C:\BOOTSECT.LNX="Linux GRUB Boot"

Presto, you can boot Linux from the XP Boot manager.

If you install XP by hand when linux is already on the drive, you can decide
how you want to partition the disk at install time, and (assuming you have a
linux boot disk) set up your XP to boot linux as described above, so you
should experience almost no hassles. 


mfG Chris Meidinger
DV-Support bei der Peguform GmbH
Tel. 07663 61 2600
EMail. c.meidinger@peguform.de
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Thanks for all your responses to my distro query.

--
magura
*********** here it ends  ***********


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