seeking wisdom regarding an os

[bha]

okay, here is what i found on root partitions and mandrake:

Mandrake 8.2 (Very easy)

The Mandrake installer has us beginners in mind. After we selected our language we were prompted for the type of install, we chose a

[voidmain]

I'm confused, is the Windows partition not at the size you want? If not, can't you just boot up the Mandrake install again and use the same paritioning tool to resize the Windows partition to where you want (i.e. move the slider)?  Otherwise you'll need to use PartitionMagic or some other 3rd party partition manipulation program to resize it.

Also, before trying to boot up the Mandrake install again you might want to delete the new paritions that it created (if it created any).  They will show up in the Windows FDISK program as "unknown" partitions.  Even though they are unknown types to Windows it should allow you to delete them. You should then have the 4.5GB Windows parition and the rest of the drive should be "free space".  If this is what you originally wanted then when you boot the Mandrake CD again it should detect this as free space and give you the option to install Mandrake there...

[bha]

okay, yes, the windows partition is the size that i want it to be, but i must have screwed something up because i can not use the slider again, nor can i continue the install. when i choose "use free space," i get an error that partition failed. now, i think that i need to get rid of the partitions that were created like you said, but i do not know where to find them. they do not show up under my computer. where is the windows fdisc you are talking about?
thanks

[rtgwbmsr]

fdisk is a DOS utility commonly found on Windows boot disks (You know, those little floppies that came with 9X?) You can make one if you have 95/98/ME. In the case of XP, I'm not sure if you can.

Goto Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs
One of the tabs should be "Startup Disk" or something
Follow the instructions. fdisk will be on the disk it makes
Double check that the disk was made properly by browsing the disk in my computer.
More later...if I can find something.

[voidmain]

Well, if you do not select the "easy" install, or whatever it's called in Mandrake you should also be presented with a paritioning program that will allow you to delete the existing Mandrake partitions (if they exist). So you don't need to use the Microsoft FDISK, Linux has it's own (and it works better).

[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

[bha]

well, it's not in the windows fdisk anyway. i'm going to go back to try and see if i can install linux. i'll try not to use the default instaa, which is even more intimidating.

[bha]

well, it appears that even in the expert install, i am still unable to accomplish this thing. unfortunately, i am receiving errors

not enough free space to auto allocate

partition failed


hmmmm, the hell if i know at this point what to do.

[voidmain]

After running scandisk in Windows on your C: drive you might try to create another FAT partition in the free space using Windows. Then format it to become a D: drive.  If that works then I would suggest deleting that newly created D: partition, then download and install RedHat 7.3.

Unless some of the Mandrake users here have the answer (you might want to search Mandrake's web site). I don't use Mandrake so I can't really give you any Mandrake specific help or insight, other than I don't pariticularly care for Mandrake. But I'll keep my opinions to myself, or is that too late?  

[bha]

ahhhhh, but wait my many feathered friends and battalion leaders, i may have figured it out. damn, been awhile since i used dos...

[bha]

installation successful. both operating systems work beautifully, and i must say that i love the way linux looks and i am very excited to "play." so, if you'll excuse me, there's a lot to learn and enjoy.

thank you all for your help with this endeavor.

   

[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: big-hired assassin ]

[Calum]

i am very happy to hear you got it to work. those easy install steps are one of the reasons that i said mandrake 8.2 was a good choice.

 

quote:a cap'n crunch

now while i don't in any way condone illegally cracking a program, i really liked this particular little turn of phrase! very colourful! tells a whole little story on its own (for those who know about the Cap'n Crunch story already anyway...)

One last thing, big hired assasin, i am writing a newbie style FAQ/help document about LiLo, do you mind if i use some of the content of this thread in the piece? to get an idea of what sort of things people ask about lilo, and i might end up quoting too. is that okay?

[bha]

feel free, no problem here. anyway that i can help the cause.        

the only problem i feel i have besides needing to get used to linux is that i can't use my dreamweaver software. that is what i use for my site. currently, i'm a little confused with gnome and kde. are these just themes, or do they have separate purposes? either way, i'm sure that i will enjoy the new os and once again, i say thank you to everybody for their help.

i came across this site some time ago, but felt intimidated to truly interact, as i did not feel very educated in the matter. i did not want my ignorance regarding other operating systems to make me feel exiguous. it is nice to know that people are willing to work with others. i know that quite a few people here are writers and i invite anyone who would like to display some of their talent over at otp to feel free. we have a forum which is pretty new and a lot of our visitors are writers and artists. could be a good place to discuss "the microsoft war" or to at least enjoy discussing the written language. we have a private workshop as well, and are always interesting in getting people to interact. i definitely plan on frequenting this forum, as well as this site. thanks...

[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: big-hired assassin ]

[ September 18, 2002: Message edited by: big-hired assassin ]

[Calum]

i don't even know what exigious means! shows how ignorant i am!  

righto, GNOME is a clone of KDE, made by the free software foundation because KDE was not originally "free software".

Here's a brief rundown of how it is all organised on a graphical *nix system, this is different to windows, where it all happens mysteriously behind the scenes:

1. Linux - this is the operating system kernel. you need one of these to run anything. You won't usually communicate with it directly.

2. The apps and utilities - these are the stuff you actually use on the system. they let you copy files, edit files, move files, and do all the stuff you do with a computer.

3. XWindows - This is software that is available free with nearly no restrictions, and as sucj is used for all (that i have heard of) *nix graphical environments. If you have more than just text on your screen, you are running X.

4. Window Manager - This runs in X to let you have windows and so on happening in your graphical environment. many window managers are specific to a particular desktop, we'll get to that in a minute. X comes with its own simple window manager, but you will probably never use it, as you will probably use a desktop environment which will come with a window manager of its own.

5. The Desktop Environment - KDE and GNOME are desktop environments. They provide taskbars, menus and all sorts of graphical apps and utilities. To begin with a program which was written for KDE could not be run in GNOME and vice versa, but now many (not all) programs can run in both. There are now several other desktop environments available (mandrake comes with about six others) and my favourite is XFce. Others are windowmaker, fluxbox and enlightenment. Most of these environments can run KDE and GNOME programs too, or they would make themselves redundant.
GNOME and KDE each have their own window managers and file browsers. File browsers do the job of windows explorer, and window managers control all the colours, fonts, toolbar sizes and so on, to use a rough analogy. You often are best advised to stick to the window manager that's supposed to be used with your particular desktop, but you don't have to. Some desktops deliberately attempt to be compatible with other window managers. I think enlightenment aims to be a flash, zippy looking environment that is still totally GNOME compliant.

Anyway, that's enough for now, i am sure, hope that clears it up a bit!  

[bha]

it does, and thank you. one other thing, i was searching for a program on mandrake that was similiar to disc scan and defrag. is this not as important in linux, or is there a way to defrag?

[Calum]

the file system is better so it is not necessary to defrag. i am sure somebody will be able to tell you a way though...