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Author Topic:   Linux ,,i want to know everything,lol
Geek247
Newbie Larva

Posts: 4
From: Miamisburg,Ohio, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted May 18, 2002 17:23     Click Here to See the Profile for Geek247   Click Here to Email Geek247     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hi, I just got Mandrake Linux, because it was on sale. But I haven't installed it yet because I want to learn more about it first. I have learned alot about it ,but I was wondering if anybody has any link to some good sites, or has some good advice,,so i can learn more.


I also was wondering if somebody could give me step by step instructions on making my computer a dual-boot system. I have Windows XP Standard, on an HP laptop. It has 40 GB hard drive. And its 1.2 GHz..If anybody knows how i can dual boot Linux,and Windows XP..Please let me know,,Thanks

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Alien Investor
Assimilated

Posts: 363
From: New York City
Registered: Jan 2000

posted May 20, 2002 00:05     Click Here to See the Profile for Alien Investor   Click Here to Email Alien Investor     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
First, find the installation CD-ROM's for your hard drive. You are going to need them.

Next, back up everything that you care about on the hard drive. Make sure that you can read the backup.

It helps a lot if you have a completely different computer that you can use the browse the web. And, if you don't have a Linux book for newbies, go down to your local techie book store, browse a few books, and pick one up.

Read up on hard disk partitions. Basically, a PC hard disk can have 1-4 partitions, and each partition can contain one operating system. Laptops usually reserve one partition for the power-save area. Find documentation on this, on the web or in a book, and read it. (If it's web documentation, PRINT it).

Okay ... now you are ready to mess with your laptop. Remember: you are going to lose all the data on your laptop. MULTIPLE TIMES. Almost everybody screws up their first few installations, and the way to recover is to format the hard disk and start over.

Stick the Mandrake Linux CD-ROM in your laptop and reboot it. You should see some brand new Linux screen. Go as far as the part about disk paritioning. When you get to disk partitioning, WRITE DOWN the exact partitions that your disk currently has and the type of each partition.

Figure out which partition is the power-save area, and leave that one alone. Delete all the other partitions. Make one new partition for Windows, one new partition for Linux, and one small partition for the Linux swap area. That's the maximum of four normal partitions (I never use extended partitions; I don't trust all the BIOS's and OS's that I use to respect them).

Install the Linux partition and go to town.

Heh ... I haven't even talked about re-installing Windows yet! That's just enough instructions for you to kill your Windows and install Linux.

There's an alternative. If you want to get a lot of Unix goodness, but without setting up an actual Unix OS, try Cygwin: http://www.cygwin.com . It's free, it's GPL, it comes with a C compiler and a shell and a "vi" editor and a lot of Unix userland tools, and it runs on top of Windows rather than replacing it.

But Linux really is the bomb.

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omega996
Geek Apprentice

Posts: 45
From: brea, ca
Registered: Mar 2002

posted May 20, 2002 06:58     Click Here to See the Profile for omega996   Click Here to Email omega996     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
if you're using NTFS:
back up your data
repartition your drive, leaving a few GB of free space to install mandrake to.
install windows XP, and get that all squared away
boot from your mandrake CD, and follow the instructions. mandrake's pretty good at helping the first-timer do the installation. the installation will handle setting up dual boot and all that. make sure you install linux after windows, because windows will overwrite the boot loader and use its own (no warning, nothing).

if you're using FAT32:
defragment your hard disk
run fips to resize your windows partition, leaving a few GB free for your mandrake OS.
boot from your mandrake CD, and follow the installation instructions.

it's really not that hard to get it installed. configured, that's something else

quote:
Originally posted by Geek247:
Hi, I just got Mandrake Linux, because it was on sale. But I haven't installed it yet because I want to learn more about it first. I have learned alot about it ,but I was wondering if anybody has any link to some good sites, or has some good advice,,so i can learn more.


I also was wondering if somebody could give me step by step instructions on making my computer a dual-boot system. I have Windows XP Standard, on an HP laptop. It has 40 GB hard drive. And its 1.2 GHz..If anybody knows how i can dual boot Linux,and Windows XP..Please let me know,,Thanks


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Geek247
Newbie Larva

Posts: 4
From: Miamisburg,Ohio, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted May 20, 2002 09:08     Click Here to See the Profile for Geek247   Click Here to Email Geek247     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for your answers,, I will try to install everything sometime today or tomorrow.

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GameMaster
Alpha Geek

Posts: 284
From: State of insanity
Registered: Mar 2002

posted May 21, 2002 00:05     Click Here to See the Profile for GameMaster   Click Here to Email GameMaster     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
2 types of instalations:
Total take over and dual boot.

DUAL BOOT
If you want to dual boot, you need to use FIPS or another NON-DESTRUCTIVE partioning program (Partition Magic) and move your DOS partion to the FRONT of the drive. DOS doesn't like being after anything except the boot record. You'll then need to make sure LILO (Linux Loader) is installed in the first block of the Linux partion, and NOT at the Master Boot Record... You may also opt to boot Linux from disk, in whic case don't install LILO.

TOTAL TAKE OVER
Use FDISK or DISK DRUID to set up your swap and your other partitions (you'll need at least one native Linux partition to mount / at, you may want to have /home /bin and /usr mounted on seperate partions also).

You will need to create at least Native Linux Partion and one Linux Swap. The Linux Installer (LIZARD, MONALISA, LIZA, or whathave you) will install the packages. You'll have to set the ROOT password, and may be asked to create at least user account. Use ROOT sparingly, as anything you do will affect all users. Gnome and KDE are the comon window managers, and will make Xwindows a livable enviroment if your comming from Win 95/98SE/2K/XP or even MAC OS. Any instalations after Linux is installed should be done as ROOT. If you have an Nvidia graphics card, New sound card, or a Win modem make sure you download the linux drivers for the device first.

While using Linux, you can access the "man pages" or help files by typing "man" a space and then the command. There are man pages for a lot of classes and libraries as well, if you plan on doing any programing. Common commands:

cd - change directory
USE: cd ..
change directory to the one bellow

ls - list files (like DOS's dir)
USE: ls *l*
lists all files containg a 'l'

cat - No Dos equivalent, it is kind of like "type," but much better
USE cat file1 > file2
writes the contents of file1 into file2
USE
{
cat dogfile
this does into the dogfile.
this is a test of cat
^C
}
writes:
"this does into the dogfile.
this is a test of cat"
To the file dogfile, with the return, and without the quotes.

mv - DOS copy, followed by a DOS delete called on the original
USE: mv this that
copies this to that and deletes this

cp - DOS equivelent copy
USE: cp this that
copies this to that

ln - Creates a link, much like a windows "shortcut" or a DOS setpath
USE: ln -s a.out /bin/thiscommand
creates a symbolic link to a.out into the /bin directory

unsym - removes a link, and creates a real copy of the file in the location of the link
USE: unsym /bin/thiscommand
makes a writable copy of a.out in the /bin directory with name thiscommand

rm - DOS's delete removes a file and unsyms a link, and removes the file
USE: rm /bin/thiscommand
removes the thiscommand from the /bin directory

mkdir - same as DOS's md, makes a directory
USE: mkdir this
makes a directory this at (./) the location called

rmdir - DOS's deltree, it deletes the direcroy
USE: rmdir this
removes the newly creaded this directory

grep - No DOS equivalent. Grep searches for a string in a specified location, file or file(s)
USE: grep 'it's a small world' *.cpp
will look for and return all the instances of "it's a small world," without quotes, found in any file ending in .cpp

lpr - print
USE: lpr -Pe270 file1
prints file1 on printer e270.

| - pipe, allows you to pipe the output of a command to a certian file, a page at a time or to the printer
USE: man string | more
will print the man page for the stringclass on the screen one screen length at a time
USE: ls s* | lpr -w2 -Pe270
will print all the files in the current directory that start with s, in two colums on printer e270.

This should be enough to get you moving around. pico, vi, vi and emacs are editors that you can use to write files, while emacs is the most sophistcated, pico is my personal favorite. Good luck and enjoy the Free Tank.

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GameMaster
Alpha Geek

Posts: 284
From: State of insanity
Registered: Mar 2002

posted May 21, 2002 00:10     Click Here to See the Profile for GameMaster   Click Here to Email GameMaster     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hate to post again after that long thing. I'm sorry if you already know how to use Linux, but I can remeber the first time I installed it and went "now what?"

Anyone know a version of linux that fits on floppies? I have an old laptop w/o OS, and want to run RedHat on it, but it only has a diskdrive. I was ging to network install, but the linux drivers for my network card need to be installed after Linux is installed.

Sorry todouble post, and sorry if you already know the basic linux commands.

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spungo
Assimilated

Posts: 390
From: Hell's toilet
Registered: Jan 2002

posted May 21, 2002 02:10     Click Here to See the Profile for spungo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by GameMaster:
Hate to post again after that long thing. I'm sorry if you already know how to use Linux, but I can remeber the first time I installed it and went "now what?"

Anyone know a version of linux that fits on floppies? I have an old laptop w/o OS, and want to run RedHat on it, but it only has a diskdrive. I was ging to network install, but the linux drivers for my network card need to be installed after Linux is installed.

Sorry todouble post, and sorry if you already know the basic linux commands.


Slackware used to be the distribution that one could install completely from floppies - but perhaps not with the most recent versions (probably pre-version 7). You'll need a lot of floppies, though.

There are distributions that are deliberately single-floppy based - but you don't get very much - not a 'full' installation, anyway.

EDIT: okay - just had a quick look at Slackware v4 - looks like you need 15 floppies for the base system - plus more for anything else you want (bear in mind 'base system' is quite minimal in this context). Check out, e.g.,

ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-4.0/slakware/

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"People are coming from Gdansk to see the film!"

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rednecklinux
Geek Larva

Posts: 20
From: the darkside of the south
Registered: Feb 2002

posted May 21, 2002 03:16     Click Here to See the Profile for rednecklinux     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just to help you out on the "how to find further information" thing: If you really want to know the ins and outs of Linux then look to the UNIX section of the bookstore. You can get alot of great books that cover the command line and other usefull information. You might want to check out a used bookstore as well. The best website for newbies is linuxnewbies.com. Another good site in general is linuxtoday.com for the lastest in linux gossip and news. Have fun and welcome to the club!

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GameMaster
Alpha Geek

Posts: 284
From: State of insanity
Registered: Mar 2002

posted May 21, 2002 07:19     Click Here to See the Profile for GameMaster   Click Here to Email GameMaster     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What I'm looking for is KDE, g++, pico, and the all the basic commands. I could get by with twm or icewm, but I NEED to compile. Know any single disk solutions that'll get me to that?

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spungo
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Posts: 390
From: Hell's toilet
Registered: Jan 2002

posted May 21, 2002 09:41     Click Here to See the Profile for spungo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by GameMaster:
What I'm looking for is KDE, g++, pico, and the all the basic commands. I could get by with twm or icewm, but I NEED to compile. Know any single disk solutions that'll get me to that?


Forget it! The X-Windows system on a floppy? It's way too big. The compiler on its own is also way too big. Trust me - your only option is to install some minimal single-floppy console-mode dist - like Hal91 or such-like (if you really want that single-floppy thing) or try Slackware - you will eventually get the full system of which you speak - however, not without some effort.

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"People are coming from Gdansk to see the film!"

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GameMaster
Alpha Geek

Posts: 284
From: State of insanity
Registered: Mar 2002

posted May 21, 2002 19:38     Click Here to See the Profile for GameMaster   Click Here to Email GameMaster     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Anyone know how to do a network install... I have linux drivers for my laptop's netork card and boot floppy, and it does offer me the option of a network install, but I've never done it. (I do have a Linux box, with servers installed (actually custom install, and added all the pakages (workstation and Server)), so I should be able to do it. I'm however not versed on linux networking, but have a WinDOZE network.

Assistance requested, or as the lamemen (as I am in this case) "HEEEEEELLLLLPPPP!!!!" It's not really a big deal, would just like to see it happen (and be able to use this old laptop).

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