On Fri, 31 Mar 2000, George Sullivan wrote:
> I just ordered a dell laptop with Redhat Linux pre-installed. Will it be
> possible to repartition this machine, add windows98 and make it a dual
> boot machine.
Assuming all of the hardware is supported by Win98, yes. Most laptops are
designed primarily to run MS-Windows, so I doubt that will be a problem.
> I know how to ad Linux if the machine already has windows installed and I
> am familiar with partionmagic utility. I just don't know if the opposite
> scenario is possible
It should be.
You may run into problems with LILO after resizing the partitions. LILO
works by recording the physical location on disk of various files (the kernel
image, for example) in a "boot map". Those locations will likely change after
a partition resize. Be sure you have a working Linux boot diskette before you
begin. You can then boot from the floppy and re-run the map installer
(/sbin/lilo) to update the boot map with the new file locations.
You may run into problems with Microsoft's installer programs. Some refuse
to install MS-Windows if other OSes (even MS OSes!) exist on the disk. I
recommend you obtain the "full retail" version of Windows ("For PCs Without
Windows" in MS-speak). Costs about $200 at Best Buy. Create a primary
partition for Windows using Partition Magic, format it as FAT or FAT32, and
make it active. *Then* boot the MS installer. It should see the empty
partition waiting for it.
Hope this helps!
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
| Linux: The choice of a GNU generation! http://www.linux.com |
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