Newbee to linux

Just got a copy of mandrake 8.0 today at a auction was wondering if it will install ok with XP home I have a 5 gig partion made an was wondering if it has some kind of boot loader that will modify XP boot.ini or will I have to modify it manually.

EDIT: I was told that mandrake 8.0 is upgradeable to 9.x is this true


Thanks

 

Actually it will install it's own boot loader into the MBR by default, leaving your boot.ini intact. It will also give you the choice of which OS to load. Windows NT/XP's boot loader via boot.ini isn't all that great for non windows stuff (suprise, suprise)

Haven't tried it myself, but as a general rule of thumb I always clean format and install refresh for any new OS. It's a long winded approach as Linux releases are generally more frequent than Windows, but you always end up with a nice clean environment for customising. I like this as I generally swap out some RedHat packages with different ones I prefer - when I install a newer RedHat I have a look at their defaults and then if I still don't like em then I swap em out again.

This means that I'm constantly finding new software which I previously would have overlooked as I was happy with my existing stuff.

But then, some peeps (like my Dad) just like to use the same old software from circa 1995 in Windows XP (ie he still uses Office 95 !!!)

 

Thanks!! When I get home from work today I will install and let you know how everything went.

Thanks Again!!

 

Good luck and welcome to the Wonderful World Of Linux

 

Wait, Lunix costs money now?

 

No, you can freely download it.

However, some companies do sell versions of Linux with various levels of support - which costs money.
Also, there's the burn-to-cd costs, P&P costs, etc.

I assume ed is getting a boxed linux

 

Oh, I get it now. I have seen those distributions of lunix in stores, for some reason I thought they were also free. :lol:

 

Don't confuse Linux with Lunix

Don't confuse Linux with Lunix they are two different opreating systems

This is Lunix:

http://lng.sourceforge.net/

An operating system for Commodore computers

 

Opps, I didn't notice I was spelling it that way.

 

The version I got a the auction has 2 disks they have Linux central on them the first disks say install disk and second is extension It is version 8.0 X86. I just got home from work so I going to give it a try I will post soon as I get it up and running.

Wish me luck!!

 

Well It looks like Im going to have to put another drive in to get it ti install My boot drive is NTFS and I dont think it can mount it. I treid but it said something about type 2 EXT. I have some other drives around here somewhereI will use one of them.

 

Mandrake 8 supports NTFS out of the box - well, read only that is.

Whats the problem exactly?

 

Well I tried, I did get it installed on the new drive but when the interface comes up asking for username and password it says invalid everytime. I know exactly what I told it my username and password was, I use the same for everything. But it just tells me Invalid. That enough for tonight have some work to do. I will work on it this weekend.

Thanks for your concerns UberLord !!

 

Did you have caps lock on by any chance?

 

Actually I tried it both ways thinking maybe it was case sensitive.

 

Both username and password ARE case sensitive - unlike windows where only the password is case sensitive

 

Wanna install Linux as a second OS (WinXP) Can somebody explain me "Version(?) is the best for me Newbie and where can i load it.

 

use the numbers/letter and not the number pad to type in user name and pass

 

I would try RedHat 9 as it's very simple to install and imo the best all round distro imo
You can download it from http://www.redhat.com

 

mandrake 8.0 is upgradeable to 9.x

yea linux is free .. it was developed under a gnu its "freeware" ... you can downlaad it / share it with out paying 1 cent lol

lol what you pay for at the store box models is for support and for etra programs


look on your installion cd ... there sould be something for booting into linux from windows...ther is also bootmagic 8.0 it works to