On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 12:58, Steve Swezy
Hello everyone-
I hope you can help a rookie to Linux. Sure, Y not...
I am trying to install openSUSE 11.1 and Fedora 10 on 2 separate already existing partitions on a newly installed 120 GB HD. I actually created 3 partitions of about 10 GB each, using a LiveCD Ubuntu 8.04, and installed Ubuntu on the first one and Freespire 2.08 on the second. I have a third empty partition of 10 GB and the last partition of about 90 GB on which I want to install Win XP Pro. Okay, problem may be encountered. See below.
Neither Ubuntu nor Freespire have drivers for my wireless card, but it seems that openSUSE 11.1 and Fedora 10 do. So I want to install openSUSE on the secong existing partition and Fedora on the third existing partition. Unless you have a special love for Ubuntu or it supports some hardware that the others do not support, I would wipe Ubuntu as well. See the windows comments below for why.
But I am totally confused by the installation DVD choices. Do I do Partition Based or LVM based? Partition based.
The installation DVD wants to format both the first two partitions. Can't I leave the existing partition with Ubuntu already installed and just format the 2nd one (that has Freespire on it) and install openSUSE on that one? Yes, you can. You need to set it to only format the partition you are going to install on.
And then install Fedora 10 on the 3rd, leaving the 4th empty for Win XP?
I have looked at several LiveCDs of several distros and they all have different procedures regarding the existing partitions, and I am lost. openSUSE (installation DVD) does not seem to allow me to choose a particular partition to format and install into.
Am I being too ambitious? Nope, but you went about it the slightly harder way. I'll explain. When you install WinXP, it is going to overwrite the MBR. You'll then need to reinstall grub to get the Linux installs to boot. You can use the Windows bootloader to boot Linux, there are instructions on this floating on the web. The prefered order for installing Windows and Linux on a machine is install Windows first, then add Linux as you see fit. Remember that Windows needs to be installed on a primary partition. If adding more than one Linux distribution, make sure that grub for the secondary Linux install is on the partition of that install and mot the disk MBR, You can then amend the grub of the primary Linux install to chainload the grub of the secondary install. Also note that you may need a swap partition for the Linux install. This swap partition can be shared between the different Linux install.
Hope you are not overwhelmed by the info here. Remember, you can always search the mailing list archives for info. Most of the problems you are going to encounter have already been solved ages ago and we are here to help newbies who seen the light ((-: ne... -- Registered Linux User # 125653 (http://counter.li.org) Now accepting personal mail for GMail invites. Bob Hope - "You know you are getting old when the candles cost more than the cake." -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org