Installing Linux for the first time (& dual boot)

True, some commands can do miracles when logged as root. I haven't yet succeeded typing rm -rf * by accident in wrong directory :) *knocks wood*. I'm not that worried about net security, that my computer would be vulnerable (I'm not going to tell why :D ).
But after all, I change my secondary OS so often (a couple of times a week) that doing something stupid doesn't cause much problems.
Originally posted by Phantasm66:
Incidently, I am pretty sure that you are not aware of this, but I thought that the tone of your post was mildly patronising. I am very sure that this was not what you intended, however I thought it was worth pointing out.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you mean.. I am aware of things root can do and what n00bs can do with root permissions, too. I'll try to be more polite in the future if that bothers you :)
 
Originally posted by Mictlantecuhtli
Btw, if you have problems like "package requires kernel version blah blah", you may need to download driver source files instead and compile them.
Click to expand...

This was what I found I had to do. The rpms didn't work on my system for some reason, and I had to download the source and compile the drivers myself.
 
Originally posted by Phantasm66
The rpms didn't work on my system for some reason
Click to expand...
The reason is your kernel isn't what the installer expects it to be. If the kernel has been modified, you'll need the source packages. And the driver has to be installed again if the kernel is compiled.
Checking can be bypassed with --nodeps switch, but it's likely to cause more errors.
 
That's good to know.

Actually, I am happy with compiling the source code. Generally speaking, I have had a lot more luck with compiling source code myself than working with rpms, which is strange because you would think that the rpms would be easier. One of the reasons that I like Red Carpet is it makes working with the rpms easier.

Mictlantecuhtli I have a question that perhaps you know the answer to.

The drivers install fine, but atter my first reboot I get an "unresolved symbols" error in the new nvidia driver during the module loading stage until I rebooted again, and now the error is gone.... Do you have any idea why??
 
Linux runs, maybe windows won't anymore.

I have RedHat 7.2 installed and running right now (where I"m posting this from right now actually). Installation had a few problems which are causing a potentially major one I'm facing now.
Problem #1:
Occured when manually partitioning with Disk Druid
"The partition table on /tmp/hdf is inconsistent. There are many reasons why this might be the case. Often, the reason is that Linux detected the BIOS geometry incorrectly. However this does not appear to be the case here. It is save to ignore, but ignoring may cause (fixable) problems with some bootloaders, and may cause problems with FAT file systems. Using LBA is recommended."

Problem #2:
Occured when creating / partition
"Warning: Boot partition / may not meet booting constraints for your archetecture creation of a boot disk is highly encouraged"

Problem #3 (the one that concerns me the most):
Occured when opening terminal and typing "/sbin/lilo" I get
"Warning: device 0x2103 exceeds the 1024 cylinder limit
Fatal: sector 83368098 too large for linear mode (try 'lba32' instead)"

During the installation I checked "force LBA" but when I clicked next it strongly recommended I not do this because it may not boot that way. So I unchecked it. (probably dumb).

Right now I'm in Linux but I booted from the floppy and haven't tried booting without the floppy. Don't know if I should try that now or not so I'm not going to. I'm just going to sit as is for now hoping for some advice :)
 
Okay, try this:

open /etc/lilo.conf in a text editor, as root, using your favourate text editor:

pico /etc/lilo.conf

your lilo.conf file reads like this:

prompt
timeout=20
default=linux
boot=/dev/hda6
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message


image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-10
label=linux
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.7-10.img
read-only
root=/dev/hda6



change it to read like this:

prompt
timeout=20
default=linux
boot=/dev/hda6
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message
lba32

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-10
label=linux
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.7-10.img
read-only
root=/dev/hda6

so that the lba32 bit is in. now reinstall lilo like this:

/sbin/lilo

and now remake your bootsect.lin file again with the dd command and recopy the new bootsect.lin file to c:\. There is no need to edit anything in boot.ini this time.

Good luck.
 
Originally posted by Phantasm66
Okay, try this:


/sbin/lilo

and now remake your bootsect.lin file again with the dd command and recopy the new bootsect.lin file to c:\. There is no need to edit anything in boot.ini this time.

Good luck.
Click to expand...
Did that fine, some things looked a bit different but I got it figured out. added the important part.
Added Linux *
Added DOS

I assume thats what was supposed to happen.

now what do you mean by remaking bootsect.lin with the dd comand? I'm sorry if this sounds dumb but everybody is dumb at first right? I'll be looking for what this dd command is on my own in the meantime.

Thanks
 
Originally posted by SNGX1275
I'm sorry if this sounds dumb but everybody is dumb at first right? I'll be looking for what this dd command is on my own in the meantime.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Don't worry I am ESPECIALLY dumb the first time round.

The dd bit comes from if you followed the bit of the instructions I made that refers to adding Linux to windows xp's bootloader. If you are happy using a boot disk (why?) or if you are just booting linux on its own, then you don't need to do this.

Are you dual booting with xp??
 
So did you follow this bit of the instructions:

Originally posted by Phantasm66


As a final step, we want to add linux to Window XP's boot menu.

If you chose to mount your XP partition as /mnt/winxp and you installed linux to hda6 then

this is what you do:

/sbin/lilo

-----should say that it has added linux sucessfully...., then:

dd if=/dev/hda6 of=/mnt/winxp/bootsect.lin bs=512 count=1


adapt the dd command for any changes to mount point or device name if applicable.

Then reboot, go into XP, and add this

c:\bootsect.lin="Red Hat Linux"

to the bottom of boot.ini which is located in c:\ (hidden and read only by default.)

If you now reboot again, you will be able to boot linux without the boot disk.

Start X and muck around with your new system....
Click to expand...
 
do I need to do somethign along the lines of:

dd if=/dev/hde3 of=/tmp/bootsect.lin bs=512 count=1

I'm not sure how to do the dd command, apparently there is a similar type thing in DOS but I never had to use DOS (was using Macintosh back in the day)

Edit: Just saw your last post. Going to try that. I'll post back with results.
 
Originally posted by SNGX1275
do I need to do somethign along the lines of:

dd if=/dev/hde3 of=/tmp/bootsect.lin bs=512 count=1

I'm not sure how to do the dd command, apparently there is a similar type thing in DOS but I never had to use DOS (was using Macintosh back in the day)

Edit: Just saw your last post. Going to try that. I'll post back with results.
Click to expand...

where hde3 was your / partition, and then you copied the bootsect.lin file from /tmp to your xp partition's root dir...
 
You must copy the bootsect.lin file to c:\

and the last line of c:\boot.ini must read:

C:\bootsect.lin="Red Hat Linux 7.2"

you wrote lilo to the bootsector of / and then took an image of that sector's binary as a file.

Then XP's bootloader executes the contents of this file.
 
Originally posted by Phantasm66
You must copy the bootsect.lin file to c:\

and the last line of c:\boot.ini must read:

C:\bootsect.lin="Red Hat Linux 7.2"

you wrote lilo to the bootsector of / and then took an image of that sector's binary as a file.

Then XP's bootloader executes the contents of this file.
Click to expand...

Done... Rebooting now.
 
Currently in Windows XP.

Thanks a lot Phantasm, goign to reboot back to linux now just to make sure I can go that way.
 
Works

Back in Linux again, so I guess I got things right.
Thanks again.

Now I go to bed because its 4:46AM and I have class in a few hours.
 
SCORE!

Now, I want to bump my question for Mictlantecuhtli incase it gets missed:

Originally posted by Phantasm66
That's good to know.

Actually, I am happy with compiling the source code. Generally speaking, I have had a lot more luck with compiling source code myself than working with rpms, which is strange because you would think that the rpms would be easier. One of the reasons that I like Red Carpet is it makes working with the rpms easier.

Mictlantecuhtli I have a question that perhaps you know the answer to.

The drivers install fine, but atter my first reboot I get an "unresolved symbols" error in the new nvidia driver during the module loading stage until I rebooted again, and now the error is gone.... Do you have any idea why??
Click to expand...
 
Sounds like kernel doesn't match the headers describing it in /usr/include/linux/config.h. Strange, though, now that you mention that, I tested it - tried to compile & install the driver again, I got a bunch of unresolved references and Error 255. Fixed it by compiling & installing a new Linux kernel and deleting /lib/modules/*old-kernel*.
 
Alright, this text thing is really killing me. My internet is very ugly. I downloaded Opera, I used Mozilla and I have used Netscape and all of them look the same. Everything else looks perfect. This is just a a sore spot with me and I really want to get it fixed.
 
Very good info..Thanks for the link. I'll try some of it out tonight and post back to let you know how they look.
 
dual boot

I found that using a partition manager to preset my FAT32, NTFS, and Linux Ext2 partitions really helped. I had Partition Magic 4SE.
Then I finished partitioning all the separate partitions for family members in FAT32 (I did this so this partitions would be available to them in either Win98 or XP).

I set for c:\ drive as active and then installed Win98. Then I set the NTfs as active and installed XP. Then I set the Linux partition active and installed Mandrake 8.1.

When this was installed I went to Linuxconf and set the boot to Windows by default for the family. When the computers is booted, it goes to LILO screen and waits for 3 seconds and then defaults to Windows. The XP dual boot then kicks in and gives a choice of XP or Win98 with a 15 second default to Win98.

The most help was the partition manager.
 
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