My friend wants to try Linux so I said he could use my SUSE 8.2pro disks to try an install alongside his current XP pro. I gather from here and elsewhere that this is OK with SUSE. Perhaps he will like it and we can share the cost of SUSE9 (both a bit strapped for cash). I'm slightly nervous about "helping" him, as I'm not exactly an expert. Also my own install is SUSE only so I'm not sure about the dual-boot thing. His filesystem is NTFS, no partitions. I figure he should use partition magic to make a Linux partition before we start with SUSE. Is this correct? And grub is the way to go re dual-booting presumably? I ask because he was going on about some windows boot-loader. Oh no I remember, it was boot-magic. Jake
Jake: there should not be much of a problem with what you want to do. If you use partitionmagic (try to use the latest version) you might first want to check your NTFS partition for bad sectors. If pmagic finds any while it is in the midst of repartitioning it may stall in an unbootable state and have you groping for the repair disks (yep, you guessed it, that happened to me before). When starting the new install I would suggest to do the partitioning manually. Just pay attention that SuSE doesn't take XP's NTFS partition to install itself. I have no experience with boot-magic, but it probably works just as fine as grub or lilo. Good luck, Alex. On Sat, 3 Jan 2004, Jake Pumphrey wrote:
My friend wants to try Linux so I said he could use my SUSE 8.2pro disks to try an install alongside his current XP pro. I gather from here and elsewhere that this is OK with SUSE. Perhaps he will like it and we can share the cost of SUSE9 (both a bit strapped for cash). I'm slightly nervous about "helping" him, as I'm not exactly an expert. Also my own install is SUSE only so I'm not sure about the dual-boot thing.
His filesystem is NTFS, no partitions.
I figure he should use partition magic to make a Linux partition before we start with SUSE. Is this correct?
And grub is the way to go re dual-booting presumably? I ask because he was going on about some windows boot-loader. Oh no I remember, it was boot-magic.
Jake
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Thanks to Dylan and Alex for responding. I am reassured. 8) Jake
On Saturday 03 January 2004 22:12 pm, Jake Pumphrey wrote:
My friend wants to try Linux so I said he could use my SUSE 8.2pro disks to try an install alongside his current XP pro. I gather from here and elsewhere that this is OK with SUSE. Perhaps he will like it and we can share the cost of SUSE9 (both a bit strapped for cash). I'm slightly nervous about "helping" him, as I'm not exactly an expert. Also my own install is SUSE only so I'm not sure about the dual-boot thing.
His filesystem is NTFS, no partitions.
I figure he should use partition magic to make a Linux partition before we start with SUSE. Is this correct?
Just use PM to resize the NTFS then let the SuSE installer partition the newly created space. Of course - do the relevant fs checks on Windows first, and back up anything important!
And grub is the way to go re dual-booting presumably? I ask because he was going on about some windows boot-loader. Oh no I remember, it was boot-magic.
If he's concerned, or you are unsure, you can get the installer to put grub on a floppy - that way you can check how it all works out. Dylan
Jake
-- Sweet moderation Heart of this nation Desert us not We are between the wars - Billy Bragg
Jake Pumphrey wrote:
My friend wants to try Linux so I said he could use my SUSE 8.2pro disks to try an install alongside his current XP pro. I gather from here and elsewhere that this is OK with SUSE. Perhaps he will like it and we can share the cost of SUSE9 (both a bit strapped for cash). I'm slightly nervous about "helping" him, as I'm not exactly an expert. Also my own install is SUSE only so I'm not sure about the dual-boot thing.
His filesystem is NTFS, no partitions.
I figure he should use partition magic to make a Linux partition before we start with SUSE. Is this correct?
And grub is the way to go re dual-booting presumably? I ask because he was going on about some windows boot-loader. Oh no I remember, it was boot-magic.
Jake
Jake, You can use Partition Magic or Partition Commander either one to repartition the drive. I have used both successfully. But follow the directions carefully or you will be rebuilding both systems. Also take care about the numbering of the partitions. You can really get screwed up if you edit the partitions incorrectly. I have installed 8.1, 8.2 and 9.0 in parallel with XP (both home and professional versions) and haven't had any problems. I haven't used boot-magic to do the dual booting. I haven't used grub as the boot loader for Windows either since I dual booted Win98. I have set up the NT boot-loader and use it on both XP Home and XP Pro. It does work well, but it works best if XP is the OS used most of the time. In my case, my dual boot machine is a second machine that I use for testing Windows integration stuff and the XP Home/Linux is for my wife and offspring (which use Windows as a game platform). So both of those machines are used for Windows on more boots than Linux, even XP doesn't do away with the reboot after playing a game problem sometimes. I hope this helps reassure you that all is well with what your friend wants to do. It shouldn't be any real problem for him. -- Kelly L. Fulks Home Account near Huntsville, AL
participants (4)
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Alex Angerhofer -
Dylan -
Jake Pumphrey -
Kelly L. Fulks