Frits Wüthrich wrote:
Currently I am running SuSEprof8.1 on a machine, which also has WindowsME installed. That works fine, and installing it was easy.
Now I have a new PC, which has WindowsXP preinstalled. I want to ad another drive, and then install SuSE8.1prof on that machine as well.
No problem with this at all. (When you bought the computer with the re-installed XP you should have been given the CD with XP on it so that you could re-install it if necessary. Did you get the CD? afterall you paid for it. If you didn't, then go back to the shop and get the CD (and any others if other s/ware was pre-installed).)
I have read on the SuSE web page that if you run XP with FAT32, there is no problem.
There is NO problem with having XP running in an NTFS partition. Only thing is that Linux won't be able to WRITE to that partition but can READ what's in it- that's all.
However, the new machine has a 60GB drive, which is configured like this: C:\ (called BOOT) a NTFS file system of 28GB D:\ (called BACKUP), a NTFS file system of 25.5GB E:\ (called RECOVER), a FAT32 system with 2.4GB.
Sorry to say but whoever formatted the new drive in this way needs his/her head examined - and I'll bet XP is installed in drive C, right? Eh, never mind this is just my opinion and I guess it's horses for courses. I format my HD into 100Mb FAT for C (BOOT), 2.5Gb D NTFS where I install Win, then split the rest of the drive into say 4 equal parts and formatted in FAT32 AFTER keeping 5Gb for Linux which will go at the end of the HD. When installing SuSE and get to the bit where it "tells" you what it has decided it wants to do re the partitioning of your HDs and what it wants to format and where it wants to install itself, select the last option which is that you are not happy with its decision and that you are going to partition the HD(s) the way you want. Then select EXPERT mode and then select REREAD THE PARTITION TABLE. SuSE will give you a message that the sky is about to fall down if you don't know what you are doing but you ignore this and proceed. You will then be able to delete/create/format partitions the way you want. I mention this here because in SuSE 8 selecting where you wanted to install SuSE was different.
I want to ad the drive from my old PC, a drive I bought very recent, 120GB in total, 80GB on FAT32 and 40GB on ReiserFS.
Now, how do I install SuSE8.1? GRUB will be installed, but can the installation take care of the correct settings, as it doesn't seem to be able to re partition NTFS particions? I would be happy to have SuSE8.1 installed on the ReiserFS partition on the second drive.
Just like XP, you can install Linux anywhere you want - meaning that just install the second HD and install SuSE on it. However I would be suggesting that you reformat the second (the 'old') drive as on with an Extended partition with 5 or 6 Gb for SuSE (anything more than 6Gb is a waste unless you intend to install everything that comes on the 7 CD or the DVD for SuSE 8.1).
My other question is about the physical installation of that second drive. It is now as the slave of the primary IDE channel. My new PC has the 60GB as the master on the primary IDE, and the DVD as the slave on the primaryn IDE, the CD-R as the master of the second IDE, so I could ad this drive as the slave of the second IDE. However the first IDE drive is 100ATA, and the DVD drive 33ATA. I thought that they would default to whatever the slowest is. Is this correct, and am I losing speed on the first IDE already? This would be the same on the second when I ad the second drive there as well. Or is this not an issue?
The PRIMARY IDE connetion is for HDs and the SECONDARY is for everything else. Do NOT mix HDs and CDROMS/DVD on the same cable. Install the new HD and the 'old' HD on the same PRIMARY connection. Don't forget to use an 80-wire cable for this otherwise UDMA will not work. Connect the MASTER at the END of the cable and the slave on the middle connector (the cable itself should already have Master and Slave 'stamped' on it). You can either use jumpers on the HDs to make one a Master and the other a Slave or you can jumper both as CABLE SELECT in which case the Bios will automatically sort out which is master and which is slave (which is why you put the master at the end of the cable). Then put the DVD and the CDROM on the other, secondary cable. Same condtions apply as for the HDs. Put the DVD at the end of cable because this will be the Master - and you will find that it has a faster DMA than the CDROM; same jumpering conditons apply as well. Your new BIOS will have the opton of AUTO DETECTING all the drives and you should use this option. BTW, when installing Linux you must set in the BIOS that you are NOT using a PnP platform, EVEN though you have XP installed which is PnP, so that the BIOS will control all the devices. Linux expects the BIOS to be in control. I've been thru what you are about to go thru so many times that I can install everything with my eyes closed :-). I had the same questions as you at the beginning so what I say above is the end result of what I learnt. Cheers.
Thanks for your help,
Not a problem. Cheers. -- Sound that shatters silence is called noise. Sound that enhances silence is called music.