David, Michael, John,
I have combined and responded to these 3 posts. Thanks again for all
the advice. I will be posting more as I move through this.
-----Original Messages-----
You're not "in trouble", you're in for a learning experience. Keep in
mind that *DIFFERENT* doesn't mean the same thing as hard. All the
"stuff" you're used to in DOS/Windows environment is in there
somewhere, it's just in a different place; and it might look a little
funny at first.
(Russ)---------------------------
And I am really looking forward to it too.
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What I did and you may not have to do this if your cd-rom auto boots
(mine
does not) <snip>
(Russ)----------------------------
I am running an old 486 DX4 100, so it does not support a CD boot. So
I figured I would just create a boot disk. I can do this in DOS and
Winx. I am fairly proficient in that. I have installed that software
several times and most of my friends around here come to me when they
mess things up. I bought the CD off of eBay (then I found out I could
get it for $1.95, oh well, live and learn). I did not get a manuel or
a boot disk. I didn't think it would be that difficult to make one (my
Kingdom for a boot disk). I started browsing through the CD and got
more and more confused (I couldn't find the bathroom). I visited web
pages and FAQ pages and just showed myself how much I don't know. I
figured, Hey, I'm Internet savvy, and you have to know a little about
UNIX to get around and Linux is based on UNIX so it shouldn't be too
hard for me to get up to speed (ya right).
------------------------------------
Now when the install program starts just answer the question the first
few
are easy and you will get them. The next part is the hardest. First
off
you need to be careful here and it would be good to buy a book before
you
try this if you are not confident that you know what you are doing.
Because
you have to partition you hard drive. And you can erase all the data
that
you have on the disk doing this--believe me --been there done that.
(Russ)-------------------------
Yep, been there done that too. There is never a more sickening feeling
than realizing you have formatted the wrong drive, you know, the one
with all the irreplaceable data. That is why I am going to install
Linux on a clean 1.2 gig HD and completely remove my 5 gig (the one
with all the irreplaceable data).
----------------------------------
Once this is done the install program will ask you if you want to use
disk
druid this program will let you create new partition. One area that I
had a
lot of trouble with was mount point. A mount point as I understand it
is
just a location on the disk with a name. I set mine like this where
the
value between " and " is the name of the mount point.
"/" root 300 mb
"/usr" 900 mb
"/home" 900 mb
swap 127mb
the swap file does not have to have a name or mount point.
(Russ)--------------------------
So are you saying that Linux is not concerned with a particular boot
sector like DOS? Just basically wherever you put it?
-----------------------------------
If you will look on the 5.3 cd under manuals their is written
information
and there are some How to information as well.
(Russ)-------------------------
Whoa, I've hit pay dirt here. In my first scan of the disk, I didn't
see these. I haven't looked at them yet but at least I can access
them. Michael's suggestion to look in Index.000 was a dead end because
that file on my CD is empty.
-----------------------------------
With Mandrake 5.3 you are running Red Hat 5.2 and the KDE desktop.
(Russ)---------------------------
This is another slightly confusing point. You say it is Red Hat 5.2
and KDE desktop. What is KDE Desktop. Does this replace the one from
Red Hat? Or does Red Hat not have one?
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