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ok, ive never really screwed around with linux, but i wanna start. one of my friends has offered to help me get started. right now, im planning on dual booting my win2k box with linux. i know this is gonna require use of lilo(i think thats the name, ive heard it mentioned here before), but my question is if the pc is set up with NTFS can i still install linux or does it have to be FAT32?
hello
you need a new partition
which will be formated by linux (read carefully the instructions when installing the Linux).If you dont have a partition than you have to format your hard disk and repartition it .
i hope this help
bye
Try Partition Magic if you can get hold of it to re-size your existing partition(s) in order to make some space for *nix, the installation might be able to assist in resizing depending on the flavour but I stick to a manual re-size before starting.
After that, start the *nix install, you'll need at least two partitions for *nix, a '/' and swap (the swap should be at least 2 x your RAM), after you've been through most of the installation it should ask you about installing lilo, you can do this a number of ways, I'd recommend not using your primary disks MBR as this will probably upset win2k, so install lilo either on to the / partition (ignore the nags if it tells you it might not be bootable) or lilo onto a floppy, in either case make a boot disk!.
After that...
The way I did it (with NT4 service pack 6a but Windows 2000 uses the same files) was to use the NTloader program. If you load linux second and allow the LinuxLoader (lilo) to reside on the partition that contains the MBR (master boot record) you will overwrite NTLDR. This is a file NT needs to boot up.
Otherwise assuming you loaded lilo to your linux partition your machine will boot to the normal NT boot options. To be able boot linux as one of the options you need to edit the boot.ini file located in your Windows partition to point the way, as it were, to your linux OS.
Boot into linux with a boot disk created for the purpose.
In a terminal or console log in as root.
type in :
dd if=/dev/hdax of=/bootsect.bin bs=512 count=1
including spaces
Where hdax is your linux partition. This command will copy your boot sector information from off you linux partition to a file located in the / directory and name that file bootsect.lnx. Copy this file to a DOS formatted floppy with...
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
copy /bootsect.bin /mnt
umount /mnt
Reboot your machine into Windows 2000 then find and edit
boot.ini in Windows 2000 usually also located in the root directory. This is
roughly how the file looks before editing:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
Your version will probably refer to Windows 2000 not NT 4. Add the following line
c:\bootsect.bin="Linux "
Save the file.
Finally copy the bootsect.bin file to the C: drive.
When you reboot your machine, in addition to your normal
Windows 2000 boot options you will also have an option of Linux.
I hope this helps,
Jamie
;)
DUDE! thanks man, i think the only way you could help me more would be to come over and do the install for me next week...so whats your thursday wednesday look like? :-P
anyway, what i was getting at is: if i go with the partition magic rout(which i will if i can...i dont wanna deal with re-installing and patching all my windows programs again), will it matter that the HD is currently set up as using NTFS as oposed to FAT32 or does that not matter?
Partition Magic will shrink an NTFS partition down to a more appropriate size, the only other thing is to have a clean out of any trash documents and recycle bin (it'll speed up the conversion), after you've got free space (1Gb or more, you can use less) you can either again, use partition magic to create the linux disks or boot from a *nix distro and create the partitions from the gui (recommended).
Have fun!
:p
J.
heh, no problems with space here. i have a 40 gig drive :thumbsup:
i just wasnt sure if there would be problems because of the format. i guess it doesnt really matter what file system the drive is formated to then?
the best thing 2 do is shrink the current partition(s) then leave spare space and let the *nix distro install choose how the remaining space should be best utilised (a lot easier!).
J.