Input requested on installing redhat.

[filthy_mcnasty]

ok here's my situation.....

i have 2 40 gb hard drives. one is internal and one is an external USB. while the external drive supports usb 2.0 my computer itself only has standard (1.0) ports. obviously this means it would be slower.

i'm looking to install redhat linux 9.0 here somewhere to go with winxp ( i have to be familiar w/ redhat for some computer science classes ) so i was would like some input on where i should go about doing this. currently the USB hd is empty.

obviously i'm weary about installing linux on the usb drive because i dont know how slow that might run. does this sound like a potential problem? i'm considering this solution to avoid having to partition up my main drive.

or, the other thing i'm considering.... i read somewhere that redhat can read the ntfs file system. if this is really true i might go ahead and split up my main drive into 20gb partitions for winxp and redhat each then use the usb drive as a storage drive of sorts (mp3s, videos, etc). this of course hinges that redhat can read that drive. then each os kinda has 60 gb of space to work with (obviously 40 overlaps) but this would work well in that all my music and stuff is accessable from either os. the drawback i see to this approach is the potential headache with partitioning and i'm not sure that linux can read the ntfs. i dont want to get carried away with partitions.

so, i know this forum is full of savy linux people and thought i'd ask for your opinions. which of these 2 would YOU do if you were in my shoes or would you do something completely different?

 

[Nodsu]

Running a modern OS off an USB drive in the old port is not a good idea really and I suspect you would have trouble booting Linux from that drive anyway.

The default RedHat kernel does not support NTFS unless you recompile it. I know that SuSE ships NTFS capable kernel, don't know about any others.

If I were you, I'd split up the internal drive giving Linux about 10 gigabytes - unless you are going to spend a lot of time in Linux, you don't really need more.

 

[MattG]

Mandrake 9.1 (what im using now) comes with NTFS support built in..kinda nice, i can access my windows partition through the /mnt directory area.

I wouldnt install linux on a USB drive...its not gaurenteed to support it, nor boot to it properly..might be more trouble than anything else.

But for your class..when it comes down to it..linux is linux. They are all BASICALLY the same, some come with different options..like Redhat has RPM...but so does mandrake and others...and redhat is more user friendly.

Mandrake is pretty user friendly as well, but has its own different options too, like urpmi.

Then there is gentoo, from what ive expereienced the most difficult Linux OS to install (its all command line typing) but is very powerful once built, it has the portage system and that is just a whole different bucket of balls.

 

[filthy_mcnasty]

ok based on input from you guys here's what i've done.

i deleted the entire partioning of my hard drive and reformatted 30gb for winxp pro. then installed it and all is good.
left the other 10gb for linux which i then installed mandrake 9.1 ( i really want the ability to read my usb drive which is formatted using ntfs so i went with mandrake instead of redhat). all is good. i've just encountered a few things i would like some help on.


a. how can i make mandrake see my usb drive? i saw something flash by during install about a usb drive but cannot seem to find it from inside mandrake.

b. mandrake doesn't recognize that my mouse has a scroll wheel, not a huge issue until you no longer can use it then you realize how serious it is.

c. i am using the LILO boot loader, which is fine, but it automatically boots mandrake if i make no selection. i really want it to boot into windows unless i tell it otherwise. i'm trying to 'learn' this other OS but honestly have no plans on keeping it as my main one (for now at least, i wont say never)


i know there is a ton of documentation and whatnot out there on this but to be completely honest, i have no idea where to look and searching this forum didn't help much.

so, once again i ask the linux gurus for their help.

 

[filthy_mcnasty]

also, the usb drive is now running off of a 2.0 adapter, i dont know what mandrake's equivalent of the "device manager" is so i dont know how to make sure it's working properly (or anything for that matter)

much appreciated.

 

[StormBringer]

Under Configuration, you will find something called Mandrake Control Center, you should also see something called USB View, if you installed it during setup.
Control Center is kind of similar to the Control Panel and through it you can make changes to hardware settings.

As for the mouse wheel, I'd also like to get mine working. I have a Logitec Optical.

As for Lilo changes, the easy way is to use the Control Center, look in the "Boot" section. It will allow you to configure Lilo the way you want it. You can change the default OS to load, change the timeout, or get rid of the timeout.

 

[filthy_mcnasty]

thanks stormbringer. i now have the boot stuff setup and found out how to "mount" my usb drive (although i still dont really know what that means, but i can read my usb drive from both linux and windows now so i'm happy)

for the mouse i went to the mouse settings and choose the generic wheel mouse and (for this page at least) it seems to work.

i'm having a problem getting any sound to work though. i see my soundcard in the hardware list so i would imagine it's good but no sound is played.
is there anywhere else the system would have a "sounds" option?


-edit, nevermind i got it, all seems to work now. now i just gotta figure out HOW and stuff.

thanks again.