Installing Linux On An Old Computer..

[yaustar]

Also, is there a way that I can install linux and windows using dual boot without partitioning?

edit: Saying that, does linux natively support NTFS drives?

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

Also, is there a way that I can install linux and windows using dual boot without partitioning?

edit: Saying that, does linux natively support NTFS drives?

Not really, partitioning isnt a big deal, and even some distros will automatically repartition your drive to make room for linux, without messing up any data, or you can simply resize your windows parition with partition magic and let the linux installers use that freed up space.

 

[Twinbee]

Well, i've finally decided i'm going to completely get round to wiping my system and replacing my Windows set up with Redhat 9.

It won't be the smartest idea ever but hey... It'll be a novelty for the time being. I'm familiar with using it so hey...

 

[khephren]

Hmm, there is a linux distro that fits on a floppy with Xwindows as well- stick some sort of parallel to parallel software on it, and you could do without a nic (just)

Also, for those that are interested there is a linux distro called colinux which runs from within windows. Then there is Knoppix, which is a distro which boots from CD (good if your windows falls over and you need to trouble shoot).

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

There are a few linux distros that run from "within" windows, I have installed a couple and none of them have ever worked for me, and running an os inside of an os isnt the fastest thing in the world. Also running linux from within windows kinda defeats the entire purpose of linux wouldnt you say?

KNOPPIX is great, I use it as my rescue disc, just boot from in, and within a couple minutes I have a full working os with access to the internet and any apps I would really need. Many distros now are making "live cds" that you can run from like KNOPPIX. They require a nice chunk of ram though because they create a virtual "ram disk", so they dont have to mess with your harddrives in any fashion.

 

[yaustar]

I am still at the "testing stage" so an OS in an OS would be a nice point for me... then after that I need to figure out what filesystems is compatible to both of the OSs...

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

Well linux can read NTFS, FAT*, EXT2, EXT3, JFS, RFS, and many many more. Windows can read FAT* and NTFS (there are buggy unoffical drivers and software to read EXT2 & 3 from windows).

Its not a good idea (and I dont think its even possible anymore) to use FAT32 for linux. Linux depends on information that FAT32 does not provoide, permissions among other things. Trying to run a game/app on a FAT32 drive from within linux can result in wierd errors. (I dont know how these linux from within windows will work...)

So just let linux use EXT3 and let windows use FAT32. Linux can read and write FAT32 so you can copy files to and from your linux drive and your windows drive withou much problem (from within linux).

From within windows there is a nice "explorer" type app that will read EXT3 filessytems and you can use it to copy files from EXT3 to FAT32 from within windows (writing to EXT3 with it is a bit buggy though so dont try that!)

If you are just into "testing" get KNOPPIX. You dont even have to install linux, it boots directly from the CD and you can get a feel for linux through this (although knoppix is much slower than a real linux installation would be)

 

[yaustar]

Sorry there is one bit that confused me in the last post...

Its not a good idea (and I dont think its even possible anymore) to use FAT32 for linux. Linux depends on information that FAT32 does not provoide, permissions among other things. Trying to run a game/app on a FAT32 drive from within linux can result in wierd errors.

and

Linux can read and write FAT32 so you can copy files to and from your linux drive and your windows drive withou much problem (from within linux).

Are you saying that linux should be ran from an EXT* system but can read and write to FAT32 normally?

PS How do I foramt to EXT*?

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

Are you saying that linux should be ran from an EXT* system but can read and write to FAT32 normally?

PS How do I foramt to EXT*?

Yes.

Most distros will do that for you, if you try and do it manually you need to have an existing linux install (or knoppix) to create ext* parititions, however, Partition Magic and similar apps may be able to format partitions in that format from windows.

But I suggest you just resize your windows partition, (make it smaller) and let the linux installer use the newly created freespace to automatically create the partitions. Because you need more than 1. You need a minimum of 3 partitions for a linux system.

Boot, Swap, and your standard partition.

 

[yaustar]

Thanks... okay: more questions (sorry)

So linux can install from windows or boot up ?(knoppix that is)

And finally, you say resize the windows partition, you mean the one partition that already exists on the drive?

 

[c0ncept]

Knoppix is the best thing ever for testing linux, it comes with most major apps and boots directly from CD. In fact it's what convinced me to (eventually) dual boot.

Oh, and FYI Akuma, yes the linux kernel DOES support USB modems, but the research that I've done suggests it's limited and fairly patchy support. Everywhere I've asked has suggested using Ethernet instead.

[edit] Might as well answer Yausters other question, if your drive is unpartitioned Linux will give you the option of partitioning it. If its already partitioned it gives you the option to change the size of a partition to fit Linux in.

badly explained...

[---------------------windows-------------------] Drive C:\

When you install linux all it does is this:

[---------windows--------][-------linux---------]

 

[yaustar]

Ah... so I dont need to repartition the windows from 80 gig (HDD is 80) to 30... This is looking easier and easier

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

Thanks... okay: more questions (sorry)

So linux can install from windows or boot up ?(knoppix that is)

And finally, you say resize the windows partition, you mean the one partition that already exists on the drive?

Dont do one of those "from windows" distros. Just download the distro that sounds good, burn it to a cd, and boot from that cd, its usually as simple to install as windows is.

Only do this if you are serious about trying linux. Linux takes a bit to get used to, its not like a new program, its a whole new OS. It takes some getting used to and a bit to setup, but once you do, its great.

Or if you want to play with knoppix, just download and burn it to a cd and boot from it, there is no install proccess it boots and runs the OS directly from the cd (so expect delay times when launching apps, etc..) It uses ram for a virtual disk so performance wont be top but knoppix is still great.

 

[yaustar]

Is it actually possible to partition a drive without losing the data on it?

edit: Also, I have the Knoppix live cd but cant find the install for it...

edit2: In answer to my own question... yes you can partition a drive without destruction

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

There is no install for knoppix. It doesnt install thus the whole purpose of knoppix.

You simply burn the ISO to a cd, and restart your PC and boot from the CD (make sure your bios is set to be able to boot from a CD). Thats all there is to it.

Although I think there is a way to install it on to your actual harddrive if you really want to (I read about a method somewhere), but if you are going to install linux I wouldnt do knoppix.

 

[GPJosh]

While looking for Linux ISO's found this site. It is great for everyone (Like me) who has trouble with the compiling instructions.

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

Best place to find linux isos is on torrent sites. Some linux distro sites even have their own torrents you can download.

 

[GPJosh]

True, but have been having trouble with Torrent lately and all the downloads here are at over 100 KB/Sec.