Any linux fanatics here?

[Mekhu]

Hey all.

I am currently taking a web developer course and one of my classes is "A guide to Unix using Linux".

In the book, I received a version of RedHat 6.0. After reading the installation instructions is it true I must wipe my computer clean in order to load this on???

Would it run on my piece of poop pc (pentium 133, 16 RAM, etc)...?

Thanks,

Mekhu

PS. I basically only need it to input commands and learn what they do...

[niv]

it'll run on almost anything...that is as long as you use terminal mode if you have a comp that's 66 Mhz and below :P

[Bruce]

Originally posted by Mekhu
After reading the installation instructions is it true I must wipe my computer clean in order to load this on???

No, you could do a dual boot.

[Mekhu]

Alright Phrozen now I am intrigued...

How would I do a dual boot?

Mekhu

PS. Please feel free to direct to a page with instructions if needed.

[Bruce]

Just make another partition on your hard disk and install it there. Then when you boot up your computer you can choose which os to boot with.

[Mekhu]

lol, now your jumping to the conclusion that I know how to partition my hd.

Currently it is already in 2 sectors(!?)...

c: 30 gig

d: 10 gig

So what letter would I assign next and how?

Sorry for all the questions, I suck at this stuff.

Mekhu

[Bruce]

Well I wasn't assuming anything. I didn't even dare to partition my harddrive myself because I thought I might accidentally delete something. I just used Partition Magic. Maybe someone else could tell ya how to do it the other way.

[Mekhu]

I think I am just going to bring down my old 133 and rig it up...

Playing with this pc is not the best choice :P

Mekhu

[Rick]

Redhat comes with a disk partition utility that runs during installation... But be sure to run scandisk and defrag your windows drive before you start the installation... During the install process, redhat will ask you if you want to keep your windows partition, and will allow you to define how much hard disk space you want for linux. It's not completely intuitive, but not totally confusing either.

[Mekhu]

How much space should I allocate for linux?

Mekhu

[Akalon]

I don't know about Red Hat, but I installed a Corel Linux partition (with Win98) on my 2gb (that's gotta be a record) and I only needed 800mb, the OS took up 600 and something mb and it said to have at least 200mb free. Depending on whether you are gonna load on alot of programs on it, just work out how much the OS takes and add enough space to it so there is equal amount space free on both windows and linux.

Hope that helped...

[Mekhu]

Is there anyone that could guide me through the process of loading linux onto my current windows based machine?

I tried and it said some stuff about how I need to RE-PARTITION....

I would lose all my current files..

Mekhu

[sp0radic]

the only way of keeping your files would to be:

a) back them up

b) get partition magic 6

[Mekhu]

Actually I found a program on my linux disk that will split an already made windows/DOS partition without affecting the data on the partition.

Mekhu

[Akalon]

Originally posted by Mekhu
Actually I found a program on my linux disk that will split an already made windows/DOS partition without affecting the data on the partition.

Mekhu

So you got it working now? Or you're still having problems? Maybe you have to do what the book says and wipe your computer clean?

[Bruce]

Originally posted by sp0radic
b) get partition magic 6
Why 6? I prefer 7, but 4 or 5 would work too.

[Rick]

The linux disk partition utility will allocate a part of your existing hard drive as a linux partition without deleting any of your windows files as long as you don't choose to use more than the amount of free space available on your HD...

By the way, it can also be used to split a hard drive into more windows partitions without deleting existing data... And it costs a lot less than partition magic... It's free