Hi guys, Ok, my second box has arrived and I am in the process of installing all the software. I have a manual (2 inches thick, lol) and mandrake 8.2 which I would like to install. Just wondering, when I install Mandrake, does it configure itself to dual boot? I don't want to go throught the setup and find that it overwrites the other OS or hide any other surprises. If anyone out there has gone throught the mandrake process (even maybe red hat experience will be similar), I would be most grateful. Constructive flames welcome. Thanks guys, l8r Shockwav3

Thanks guys, l8r There are girls here too!  Though not enough. - Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -Shockwav3

Hi guys, Ok, my second box has arrived and I am in the process of installing all the software. I have a manual (2 inches thick, lol) and mandrake 8.2 which I would like to install. Just wondering, when I install Mandrake, does it configure itself to dual boot? I don't want to go throught the setup and find that it overwrites the other OS or hide any other surprises. I'm guessing your other OS is Windows. Have you made space on your hd for linux ? Something like partition magic is good for that - the manual should explain partitioning etc. To answer your question: you will basically be offered a choice of where on your hd to install linux. If you're installing alongside windows, you'll be given a choice of configuring your boot manager. Once you get the hang of it it's easy, but it's too easy to accidently delete stuff if it's your first time - make sure you've backed up anything important first.   The low-tech solution would be to buy a second hd  and install linux on that. You could decide which os to boot by changing the master/slave jumpers on the back of the drives pete

Well, you have to partition your hard drive.  What is the other OS? For your Linux partion, you need a Linux native partition and a swap partition.  But depending on your other OS, it is hard to say, is it XP - because if you partition it under the NTFS file system, Mandrake will not dual boot.  I use LILO as my boot loader and boot into Linux and Windows.  If you use a boot loader, you should install it in the MBR - not root - if you want to dual boot.  Some people intsall it in root and dual boot but that is somewhat more complicated I think. Mandrake is really easy to install, just follow the onscreen instructions! I am dual booting WinXP on NTFS with Mandrake 8.2 just fine.  hda1 is NTFS 20G for XP, followed by a 10G extended partition hda2.  Within the extended partition is hda5 (20M) for /boot followed by hda6 (8.7G) for / and the rest for swap. After installing Linux I put LILO into hda5, make sure you make a boot disk, reboot the computer using the boot disk.  Log in and switch floppy disks, dd if=/dev/hda5 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1 , copy the bootsect.lnx to the floppy.  Boot into XP and copy this file to your root partition of drive C: Then edit your boot.ini adding a line like: boot=c:bootsect.lnx Mandrake 8.2 And you are done!

Hi guys, Ok, my second box has arrived and I am in the process of installing all the software. I have a manual (2 inches thick, lol) and mandrake 8.2 which I would like to install. Just wondering, when I install Mandrake, does it configure itself to dual boot? I don't want to go throught the setup and find that it overwrites the other OS or hide any other surprises. Well, you're using Mandrake, whoch makes me want to vomit but pretty much all the linuces are easy installs (yes, this includes Slack and Deb).  Just follow the directions.  You don't even need a partitioning tool, 'cause Mandrake can resize partitions IIRC.

The low-tech solution would be to buy a second hd  and install linux on that. You could decide which os to boot by changing the master/slave jumpers on the back of the drives Actually I would suggest making the change in the bios on which drive to boot, either C or D first.  Much easier then pulling your case apart and pulling a HDD every time you want to fiddle with a diffrent OS. Mashiki