-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Friday 13 February 2004 8:53 am, Chuck Mattsen wrote: > Hi ... new to the list and, hopefully soon, new to Mandrake (and Linux in > general, with the exception of some prior dinking around in WinLinux 2003 > awhile back). > > What I'm looking for, I guess, is someone to either allay my fears or > to point out potential "gotchas" for the install. > > This is a new Compaq notebook, with no personal data on it yet, so > potential data loss is not a major concern. I have about 35GB free, > and the notebook's running XP Professional (preinstalled and preformatted > NTFS). > > I've tried to research this, but I seem to get somewhat conflicting > answers when doing so ... will the Mandrake install handle > partitioning for me, or do I need a 3rd-party program to pre-partition, > etc.? Again, I'm new to all this and, since it's a brand new PC for me, > I'm still in the paranoid stage with it. :-) > > Can I pretty much just let the install do its thing, or are there > major problems ahead for me in doing so? > > TIA
Run a defrag, but don't allow Windows to arrange things to make Windows programs start faster or whatever that's called. Shut down Windows. On reboot set the boot order (in "set-up", reached by F10 I think on Compaq systems) to CD-ROM first and boot from Mandrake install disk number one. You'll be asked about preferences, using free space entire drive etc., select free space, then allow the installer to do the work for you. It will resize the partitions and set up the partition table, the first time Windows boots after it will complain and want to do a disk check, allow it since that was written into the routine intentionally. It won't hurt anything, it's just a way to allow Windows to think it still has control. After the install you'll get a summary screen, go through everything there. You'll learn "stuff" and be more comfortable. Pay attention to the bootloader section, I'd suggest setting Windows as default for now. Skip the check for available updates at the end of the install since it hardly ever works. You can do that easily as soon as you log in the first time. Go here for that: http://urpmi.org/easyurpmi/index.php and follow the instructions BUT leave out the step urpmi.removemedia -a or you'll have to add the install disks back in. Since it's a Compaq you'll have restore disks instead of install disks for the bundled software, I'd call customer service and raise hell. If you ever have to re-install Windows you'll get a repartitioned hard drive with no Linux at the end of a "restore." They can supply CDs with the bundled software if you demand it but usually you have to yell at them. A _lot._ Good luck, have fun, and welcome to Open Source and Freedom. Charlie - -- Edmonton,AB,Canada User #244963 at http://counter.li.org Mandrake Linux release 10.0 (RC1) for i586 kernel 2.4.25-0.pre7.3mdk 09:39:19 up 23:01, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.06, 0.15 genealogy, n.: An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own. -- Ambrose Bierce -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFALQFQZqvqlrLPr5YRAuLLAKC1+zICA0fJEj2e1UZtVy3Qmy9HWACgmooC CqNbK00b0UQQe7V0YyZEVWY= =1EEc -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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