Re: [TCLUG:3598] Novice Q1: Dual boot details.

[Chris Schumann <whizkid@dwave.net>]

On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, Fred H. Olson wrote:
> This is my first post to the list after just subscribing tho I've tried to
> read the archives (the date ordered index is still problematic).

Hi Fred! As somewhat of a newbie myself, I'm happy to try to help. I'm
also happy to know what others have to say about what I'm going to write,
for future use.

> I decided to buy a used system to put Linux on that my ISP was selling: 
> ( AMD K6 233MHZ, 32M Ram, 4x CD ROM, 1.6 HD, 15" Monitor $450 )  It has
> Win95 and a bunch of software on it.  I decided to try a dual boot
> system and keep the Win95 software.  To facilitate this I bought a
> second 4.3 Gig HD figuring I'd use it for Linux and leave the original
> drive in tact. My ISP is going to install the second HD but says that
> both Linux and Win95 should reside on the boot disk.  He proposed
> deviding the 43. Meg in half and moving the Win95 stuff to one half and
> put Linux in the other half. 

If you do not have Win95 installation media, I strongly suggest you either
buy it or get rid of Windows. I typically re-install every four months or
so.

Regardless, linux does not need to be on the boot disk. *IF* you want to
use LILO, you'll need at least that on the first disk, and below cylinder
1024 (which probably means below the 2.1GB point).

> Any recommendations?

I cannot speak to the K6 issues, but I would suggest that you leave the
first drive as DOS and/or Win95 and use LOADLIN to run linux. You can use
DOS's multi-part config.sys and autoexec.bat to bring up a menu or to
default to either OS. Once DOS is running, LOADLIN can start linux from
any partition on any drive.

> BTW what are the advantages of buying the RedHat CD package for $40
> vs using a borrowed CD or waiting for a LUG install fest?

Best Buy sells it for $33, BTW. Advantages:
- You get it *right now*
- You get your own CD's
- You get free support for 30?90? days
- You get the cool Red Hat sticker
- You get the "Installation Manual"
- Voting with dollars

Disadvantages:
- You spend more money

You can get the CD for $1.99 from CheapBytes, or lots of people can make
you a copy of the CD (and these are legal via the GPL). The Installation
Manual is around $15 at Borders. The two main plusses to buying are
support if needed and getting it quickly.

> Or other package for that matter? 

Things I like about Red Hat: The manual, the sticker and the installation
program. Once I had the partitions made (I've already written to this list
about that saga), I had linux running with network and X support and was
using Netscape to view web pages within 20 minutes.

I have SuSE linux 5.2. I would not recommend it for users because of the
horrible manual. The software collection is very good though. It also will
install a "demo" or trial version on a DOS partition, or you can use their
live filesystem CD, where you run linux from the CD, so you don't need to
install anything. I can't speak about other distributions.

Enjoy!

Chris Schumann <whizkid@dwave.net>