Replacing Red Hat with SuSE.
OK ... If this where a single boot Linux box I would not hesitate to just through SuSE on the machine but here is what I am facing. I have a IBM think pad that is configured as a dual boot Linux / Windoze system. The only reason Windoze is on there is at times when I need it at client sites, I don't use it myself. Since Red Hat has dropped free iso distribution, I have decided if I am going to pay for Linux I am going to use SuSE which is IMHO a far superior product the Red Hat Enterprise. Now back to the issues. As i said the laptop is a dual boot Linux / Windoze system with GRUB as the boot loader. All works fine now and my inclination is to leave things as they are. However the Red Hat 9.0 that is on there is getting farther and farther away from current. My main concerns with laying SuSE 9.1 Pro over the Red Hat distribution that is on there are two.... First overwriting of the MBR and losing GRUB and there by not being able to boot Windoze, and second getting the XFree86 to come up. Once I get there configuring the rest of SuSE is no problem. I did have had the problem of the MBR overwrite happen on an old Red Hat 6.x install. I don't remember how I fixed it but I remember it was hell Anyone have any experience here?? For completness the laptop is an IBM 600 series with a 12 gig HD and 328 MB RAM All comments welcome -- ############################################# # John N. Alegre # Andante Systems # Web Hosting # Web Site Development # www.johnalegre.net #############################################
Søndag den 3. oktober 2004 23:14 skrev John N. Alegre:
OK ... If this where a single boot Linux box I would not hesitate to just through SuSE on the machine but here is what I am facing.
I have a IBM think pad that is configured as a dual boot Linux / Windoze system. The only reason Windoze is on there is at times when I need it at client sites, I don't use it myself. Since Red Hat has dropped free iso distribution, I have decided if I am going to pay for Linux I am going to use SuSE which is IMHO a far superior product the Red Hat Enterprise.
Now back to the issues.
As i said the laptop is a dual boot Linux / Windoze system with GRUB as the boot loader. All works fine now and my inclination is to leave things as they are. However the Red Hat 9.0 that is on there is getting farther and farther away from current.
My main concerns with laying SuSE 9.1 Pro over the Red Hat distribution that is on there are two....
First overwriting of the MBR and losing GRUB and there by not being able to boot Windoze, and second getting the XFree86 to come up.
Never had an issue with that and I did some crazy things. But here is a fix as described in the admin manual: ---------- quote begin -------------- 6.5.2. Restoring the MBR of Windows XP Boot from the Windows XP CD and press R during the setup to start the recovery console. Select your Windows XP installation from the list and enter the administrator password. At the input prompt, enter the command FIXMBR and confirm with y when asked to do so. Then reboot the computer with exit. ---------- quote end -------------- If for some odd reason your MBR goes "ballistic" you can boot linux from the install-media too. 3'rd. the "Repair-option" on the install media can assist you "recreating" a missing/dead MBR again ..... So bye bye RH.
Once I get there configuring the rest of SuSE is no problem. I did have had the problem of the MBR overwrite happen on an old Red Hat 6.x install. I don't remember how I fixed it but I remember it was hell
Don't hope I spoiled your Sunday (installing SuSE)
Anyone have any experience here?? For completness the laptop is an IBM 600 series with a 12 gig HD and 328 MB RAM
Well I don't know about your laptop and linux-compliance but www.tuxmobil.org might be a good place to have a closer look.
All comments welcome -- ############################################# # John N. Alegre # Andante Systems # Web Hosting # Web Site Development # www.johnalegre.net #############################################
On Sunday 03 October 2004 04:14 pm, John N. Alegre wrote:
OK ... If this where a single boot Linux box I would not hesitate to just through SuSE on the machine but here is what I am facing.
I have a IBM think pad that is configured as a dual boot Linux / Windoze system. The only reason Windoze is on there is at times when I need it at client sites, I don't use it myself. Since Red Hat has dropped free iso distribution, I have decided if I am going to pay for Linux I am going to use SuSE which is IMHO a far superior product the Red Hat Enterprise.
Now back to the issues.
As i said the laptop is a dual boot Linux / Windoze system with GRUB as the boot loader. All works fine now and my inclination is to leave things as they are. However the Red Hat 9.0 that is on there is getting farther and farther away from current.
My main concerns with laying SuSE 9.1 Pro over the Red Hat distribution that is on there are two....
First overwriting of the MBR and losing GRUB and there by not being able to boot Windoze, and second getting the XFree86 to come up. Once I get there configuring the rest of SuSE is no problem. I did have had the problem of the MBR overwrite happen on an old Red Hat 6.x install. I don't remember how I fixed it but I remember it was hell
Anyone have any experience here?? For completness the laptop is an IBM 600 series with a 12 gig HD and 328 MB RAM
SuSE 9.1 uses grub as well. I am fairly sure the SuSE install will recognize the Windows partition and include it in the grub boot menu, but not 100% sure. You could go through the install process and watch carefully. SuSE should tell you what it intends to do. If you don't like what you see, you will be able to abort before anything is done to your system. Actually, SuSE presents a list of what it intends to do at the very beginning. You get to select from the list to make changes to each item. This is a little different from other Linux install systems where you are led through a step-by-step process. With SuSE, everything is laid out for you at once and you can pick and choose what you want to change until you get everything the way you want it then press the "go" (or whatever it's called) button. -- Robert C. Paulsen, Jr. robert@paulsenonline.net
On Sun, 3 Oct 2004 16:14:30 -0500
"John N. Alegre"
My main concerns with laying SuSE 9.1 Pro over the Red Hat distribution that is on there are two....
First overwriting of the MBR and losing GRUB and there by not being able to boot Windoze, and second getting the XFree86 to come up.
first, what do you mean by "laying SuSE 9.1 Pro over the Red Hat distribution"? I presume you have files you do not wish to lose. If this is the case, I would be inclined to copy those to the M$ partition and do a clean install of SuSE. I've never tried, but I imagine trying to install another distro over a different will either result in a total overwrite, or chaos! GRUB is the default boot manager in 9.1, and will find your Windoze partition and show it at boot-up. As for XFree86, I have had no problems with that on installation on any machine I've tried. HTH Terence
On Sun, 2004-10-03 at 23:14, John N. Alegre wrote:
OK ... If this where a single boot Linux box I would not hesitate to just through SuSE on the machine but here is what I am facing.
I have a IBM think pad that is configured as a dual boot Linux / Windoze system. The only reason Windoze is on there is at times when I need it at client sites, I don't use it myself. Since Red Hat has dropped free iso distribution, I have decided if I am going to pay for Linux I am going to use SuSE which is IMHO a far superior product the Red Hat Enterprise.
Now back to the issues.
As i said the laptop is a dual boot Linux / Windoze system with GRUB as the boot loader. All works fine now and my inclination is to leave things as they are. However the Red Hat 9.0 that is on there is getting farther and farther away from current.
My main concerns with laying SuSE 9.1 Pro over the Red Hat distribution that is on there are two....
First overwriting of the MBR and losing GRUB and there by not being able to boot Windoze, and second getting the XFree86 to come up. Once I get there configuring the rest of SuSE is no problem. I did have had the problem of the MBR overwrite happen on an old Red Hat 6.x install. I don't remember how I fixed it but I remember it was hell
The SuSE boot CD, also has an option boot from disk, with this, you can boot windows or Linux with a broken GRUB/LILO.... Then (like you said), once the GUI is up, everything is easy... Jerry
Anyone have any experience here?? For completness the laptop is an IBM 600 series with a 12 gig HD and 328 MB RAM
All comments welcome -- ############################################# # John N. Alegre # Andante Systems # Web Hosting # Web Site Development # www.johnalegre.net #############################################
On Sunday 03 October 2004 18:13, Jerome R. Westrick wrote:
The SuSE boot CD, also has an option boot from disk, with this, you can boot windows or Linux with a broken GRUB/LILO....
Then (like you said), once the GUI is up, everything is easy...
Easier not to break it in the first place:-) -- ############################################# # John N. Alegre # Andante Systems # Web Hosting # Web Site Development # www.johnalegre.net #############################################
John N. Alegre wrote:
Since Red Hat has dropped free iso distribution
RedHat hasn't dropped free ISO distribution. After RHL 9.0 came Fedora Core 1 last fall and Fedora Core 2 last spring. Fedora Core 3 is in open testing now. Other than the possible advantage to installing from free downloaded isos instead of FTP, I know of no advantage of FC1 or FC2 over SuSE. -- "[W]hoever finds me finds life....[A]ll who hate me love death." Proverbs 8:35-6 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/
On Sunday 03 October 2004 23:14, John N. Alegre wrote:
My main concerns with laying SuSE 9.1 Pro over the Red Hat distribution that is on there are two....
First overwriting of the MBR and losing GRUB and there by not being able to boot Windoze, and second getting the XFree86 to come up. Once I get there configuring the rest of SuSE is no problem. I did have had the problem of the MBR overwrite happen on an old Red Hat 6.x install. I don't remember how I fixed it but I remember it was hell
As long as you don't repartition you should be fine. SuSE should give you a boot screen with both OSes available. If you do repartition, remember to read this first. It is vital http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/05/fhassel_windows_not_booting91.html About X, I can't say for sure. But you could try running the Live 9.1 CD first, to see if your gfx card is properly supported without installing anything. If red hat can handle it there shouldn't be a problem.
On Monday 04 October 2004 09:27, Anders Johansson wrote:
On Sunday 03 October 2004 23:14, John N. Alegre wrote:
My main concerns with laying SuSE 9.1 Pro over the Red Hat distribution that is on there are two....
First overwriting of the MBR and losing GRUB and there by not being able to boot Windoze, and second getting the XFree86 to come up. Once I get there configuring the rest of SuSE is no problem. I did have had the problem of the MBR overwrite happen on an old Red Hat 6.x install. I don't remember how I fixed it but I remember it was hell
As long as you don't repartition you should be fine. SuSE should give you a boot screen with both OSes available.
Hey, Anders! Good to see you.
If you do repartition, remember to read this first. It is vital
http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/05/fhassel_windows_not_booting91.html
About X, I can't say for sure. But you could try running the Live 9.1 CD first, to see if your gfx card is properly supported without installing anything. If red hat can handle it there shouldn't be a problem.
-- Fergus Wilde Chetham's Library Long Millgate Manchester M3 1SB Tel: 0161 834 7961 Fax: 0161 839 5797 http://www.chethams.org.uk
Again, I come to the list for help. I am having a problem at the Network conf of a SuSE 9.1 Pro on an IBM Think Pad. I know the PCMIA network connection works as this is a dual boot Windoze / Linux system. The Windoze side connects fine and the Linux side, which used to be Red Hat connected fine too. I am at the GUI install stage where I configure Network Cards. When I first get to this stage, Network card availabe is Other (not detected). I choose Configure and the following screen has Devise Type:Ethernet Config Name:0. I click the box that says PCMIA and the Network settings change to Devise Type:Ethernet Config Name:bus-pcmia. I see no place to set the Devise Type to et0. I am not sure if this matters. I then get the IP / DNS server dialogs to enter the IP, Netmask, DNS stuff etc. etc. I have no problem here. I have done two SuSE installs on towers and I know what to put here. When I do the internet test it fails and the error is ... eth-bus-pcmia: Error: Interface is not available Can someone help me with this??? I am sure there is a way to skip the Network setup at the install and configure it after I boot. I would rather have it work here as I have no clue how to do the former. Peace john ############################################# # John N. Alegre # Andante Systems # Web Hosting # Web Site Development # www.johnalegre.net #############################################
On Mon, 2004-10-04 at 08:23 -0500, John N. Alegre wrote:
I am at the GUI install stage where I configure Network Cards. When I first get to this stage, Network card availabe is Other (not detected). I choose Configure and the following screen has Devise Type:Ethernet Config Name:0. I click the box that says PCMIA and the Network settings change to Devise Type:Ethernet Config Name:bus-pcmia. I see no place to set the Devise Type to et0. I am not sure if this matters. I then get the IP / DNS server dialogs to enter the IP, Netmask, DNS stuff etc. etc. I have no problem here. I have done two SuSE installs on towers and I know what to put here.
When I do the internet test it fails and the error is ...
eth-bus-pcmia: Error: Interface is not available
Can someone help me with this??? I am sure there is a way to skip the Network setup at the install and configure it after I boot. I would rather have it work here as I have no clue how to do the former.
There's no need to configure the network card at this point unless you want to use it - for the online update, for example. You could just leave the settings as they are, finish the rest of the install, reboot, and go back to network card configuration once the pcmcia subsystem has been started. Then do your online update. David -- Registered Linux User No 207521 The Linux Counter: http://counter.li.org/ "The above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head."
participants (9)
-
Anders Johansson -
David Robertson -
Felix Miata -
Fergus Wilde -
Jerome R. Westrick -
Johan Nielsen -
John N. Alegre -
Robert Paulsen -
Terence McCarthy