install

I apologize in advance for asking this question because I have seen the answer before, but seemed to have misplaced it along with most of my sanity.
Just got Red Hat Linux 6.2 and have Windows ME. Not sure how to install Linux and keep Windows. Asking for help or a violent but abrubt shove in the right direction :what:

IMO, I would stay away from ME....but, its no biggie.

1: partition your hard drive into the sizes you need.
2: install windows ME on one of the partitions
3: install linux, use lilo(boot loader) and load it on the MBR, and you should be all set.

Again I apologize, but I dont know how to partition, not a clue what lilo or MBR are. Thanks for the help, but I am not that savy with this machine just yet. Just give it to me in grade 1 terms. Thanks again though.

ok,
before you do anything BACK UP CRITICAL DATA!



by partitioning, I mean using a utility called FDISK. it is a standard DOS tool. It should be on your ME CD or bootdisk. if its on your bootdisk, just pop it in, and boot the computer...change to your A: drive and type fdisk.
go through the list starting with #4 which should be display partition table.


I take it you have ME installed already, so you will have to reinstall it, or you can load linux on the same partition(which I do not recommend)

lilo: is the linux loader. its a simple boot loader..it lets you decide which OS to boot.

MBR is the master boot record, it pretty much defines where the OS is on the hard drive. the boot loader interacts with the MBR in order to load the specified OS.

Is it necessary to partition when I have 2 hard-drives?

No it is not necessary to partition if you have two hdd.

If you already have windows installed on say partition 1, then make sure when you install linux it installs on partion 2. When this is done, you should install lilo and let linux write to the MBR (master boot record). This ensures that everytime your system boots up, you will be promted with a screen displaying which OS to load up.

If you are not sure on how to use FDISK, there are many other partitioning programs available. One that I would suggest is Powerquest Partition Magic Pro. So far i have found this the easiest to use, because it has all the necessary options and choices to partition your drives and dual boot. Very user friendly.

Well hope this helps!
:D

Talking with godswarrior this morning on IRC resulted in finding the solution. It would appear that godswarrior was installing on a laptop with a pcmcia card hard drive. So once the install got to the point of the partitions, it no longer had the drivers for it and it went downhill from there. Godswarrior was able to find I believe some drivers and will continue hopefully happily from there.

A note for those asking for help on installs: be as detailed as possible. The more details, the more we can help. ;)

Thanks for the help... At least with me around you dont have to worry about running out of questions to answer. I start to wonder about the condition of my computer if it does not crash at least once a day.

If you just want to get started using Linux and don't want to go about the hassle of partitioning and installing a whole new distro, you can build a single floppy boot disk that'll run in RAM and allow you to continue to use your machine with the base Windows install (for whatever reason you want to do that).

If this is something that interests you use TOMSRTBT.
http://www.toms.net

If you need help getting Linux on your laptop, a good resource is:
www.linux-laptop.net

IMHO, the 6.x distros of RH aren't necessarily stable with networking over PCMCIA cards, but if you have a built-in NIC you should be okay. Otherwise, get RH 7.2 ..... at least that's been my experience .... YMMV

Have Fun!