Random Linux Questions

Post Reply New Topic

Well, not completely random.

I've decided that I'm going to reformat both hard drives, put Windows98SE on one, and Linux (to try out) on another. I know dual booting is possible, but can someone explain how it works?

Another question. What is the best Linux(Redhat,Debian,etc.)?

Last one. I've had this idea for a program and wanted to know if it's been done before. I've noticed that the computer's clock is always wrong, is there a program that can run the computer's clock through a website rather than an internal piece of hardware?

I like Fedora. It's easy to install, versatile, and very popular (meaning there is plenty of support & prepackaged apps for it). With dual booting, you will see a menu that allows you to select between Windows and Linux.

And yes there is a protocol that lets you set your clock from a reference server, and many governments/universities allow public access to their atomic clocks. Windows XP has this feature built in--double click on your clock and go to the "Internet Time" tab. Under Linux/Unix, it's called "ntpdate".

Fedora might be a good pick for you, its easy to set up as a dual boot. The only problem you may encounter with most current distros is the low amount of memory you have on your system. I suggest trying out a live disk first, and whichever distro you pick you may find you need to use a text based installer as the graphical ones can require a lot of system RAM.

Dunc

I have been using Ubuntu from ubuntulinux.org for a few months and I am very satisfied(userfriendly/automatic updates/etc).

How dualbooting works
At startup the computer loads the program stored at the beginning of the harddrive. If you only have one operating system, like Windows, it will install it's startup code there. If you want to dualboot, you must install a bootloader there instead. It lets you choose between installed operating systems. They usually reside on different partitions. The bootloader then loads the startup code of the selected operating system from the beginning of the partitions(simplified)

So to dualboot you must install a bootloader. Distros like Fedora and Ubuntu makes this very easy and automatic. You can configure how it should work under the installation. It then appears at startup like rearden said.

Edit.
Tip: It's best to install Windows first, because Windows98 doesn't have a very sofisticated bootloader. Windows will destroy the Linux bootloader under installation, and it can be difficult to put it back in place if you have never used Linux before.

Ubuntu is also pretty user friendly, and ntp is already set up for you. I believe there is also a live CD version available to try out, and the text based installer is pretty much automated if not as flashy as the Fedora installer. It has one click updates (as Fedora does), and being Debian based it has an apt-based package manager, synaptic. I am currently using Ubuntu again although somewhat Debianised - if you need any pointers configuring plugins etc, give me a shout.

Dunc

Where do you get drives, and what all do you need a drive for? Printer,mouse,keyboard,etc.?

Mouse, keyboard, CD/DVD drives shouldn't pose a problem at all. Most printers are also supported under Linux. Any trouble finding a printer driver, the Turboprint package (which is damn good) is available online, first as a free trial so you can check it works, then the paid version without logo is 30 Euros. If you want further info etc on Turboprint, PM me.

Dunc

You need two hard drives really.

First, put the windows drive on alone as master and install windows.

Then make it slave and put the linux drive in as master.

This is assuming IDE, both drives on the same bus.

Install linux on it's drive, don't touch the windows drive, set up the GRUB boot loader for dual booting.

In the windows section of the GRUB configuration file get the bios to swap the hd0 and hd1 over so that when windows boots it thinks it is master instead of slave.

If you wish to read the windows drive from linux then you must also install ntfs drivers (assuming you use the ntfs file system for windows).

There are loads of examples of this on the net. get onto google and you can find step by step instructions.

I'm in windows at the moment so I cannot show you my GRUB config file but if I can help let me know.

Well, I decided to use Ububtu. Finished backing up files and plan on reformatiing today and then installing. I don't completely understand anyones instructions, but I'll figure it out. Here's hoping I'm using Linux next time I'm here.

There's an even better solution, although it takes some planning.
Whenever I install any operating system to a new computer I always leave an empty 5Mb partition at the beginning of the drive. That would eventually become the Linux /boot partition. I then install Windows in the second partition and let it do whatever it wants to the drive's Master Boot Record. When I install Linux, I tell the installer to put LILO or GRUB in the boot sector of the first partition and leave the MBR alone. I can then use fdisk to mark the first partition active and chain-load LILO/GRUB from the normal boot loader.

Using this method means that you can install the operating systems in the opposite order without having Windows trash the LILO/GRUB loader. Even if it rewrites the MBR and sets the Windows partition active, all you have to do to go back to using LILO/GRUB is use fdisk to change the active partition back to /boot.

In short -- if you never screw around with the drive's MBR then you can never get into trouble when something else trashes the MBR.

By the way, I use Debian on my file/web/mail server and my laptop, and Win2K on my desktop. I'll be installing the MythTV Linux in the XBox I'm getting this week.

I think thats what the new softmod my mate does is - my Xbox has Mini-Linux installed via a convenient backdoor left in a certain Tom Clancy game...

SuSe 9.3

SuSe picked all my hardware up instantly....

Fedora is a pile of dogshit in my opions.

oh and if you have an nvidia graphics card, suse will also pick that up and turn on 3D testures.

and suse is faster than fedora...