At 07:07 01/02/2008 +0100, you wrote: I had read that it was recommended to make space on the disk under windows first, which as I said, is what I did. Then is just detected the unallocated space and proposed a sensible way of dividing this up into the usual 3 linux partitions. All I had to do was click OK....
What on earth gave rise to a SPAM-HIGH: warning ? It is surely just common sense that if you want a multiple boot machine you should mark the space out before installations. I have no idea what Linux has to offer in the way of such tools, but you have FDISK with Windows though PQMAGIC on a floppy is my preff'. Bearing in mind you need a Primary ptn' for each bootup, only one of which can be active at a time. Any other space for programs and data I place in an extended frame. That info' is in the MBR and handled by the BIOS which informs whatever OS is present or th be installed. It was MDV! & 2 or FLP1 or 2 that made me an inveterate partitioner (even more so under FAT16 cluster sizing), separation of prog' & data seems just common sense - quite apart from the OS. Many don't believe, everything in the C: drive, swapfile and all, maximum fragging ! I was surprised to see in XP help MS recommendation the pagefile to be on a diff' drive !! The QL also taught me about file layout on the medium, I had a set of the TURBO load PSION suite , each sector of the file was saved at an interval on the tape so that a following gulp was present at the head as the last mouthful had been swallowed. A precursor to the Floppy interleave. I did once install W95, 98 & 2000 in one box, as I recall it was a doddle, Windows just used free space to make the new primaries, but of course on the virgin disk there was nothing to get in the way, or, like a Linux drive - to be thought of as unallocated space - unrecognised as such. I never used it in anger, one OS is more complex than I can master. As to laptops I have used - First was a Daewoo ! 1999 -Sounds odd but not bad at all, nothing kooky, just like a PC clone - W95 disc included. Sadly the friction hinge lost it's grip on the screen and later a bit of fragment found it's way to the voltage regulators and blew them away. There was an HP, 2001,not for my personal use, came with XP when I was quite content with 98, tried to roll it back but being proprietary based there were no drivers written for 98 so Back to XP- NTFS - HP patent reinstallation, total C: drive. No floppy, CD-RW PAR PS2 SVGA 2USB Next was a German Medion 2001, sometime sold thru' Aldi in DE I found in Toys R Us ! Heavy but with all the usual ports - SER PAR PS2 & Kbd 4USB IR FIWI S_video, FLP &CD, Modem & Network. 2pcmcia. SVGA and XP disc. Modem failed after 10 months so a PCMCIA card was easier than shipping . then it got pulled off a chair, cable round a castor, 18" drop broke backlight, quoted £150 or £70 - maybe I could do it for £20 . . . Still in occasional use over network or with a monitor. A heavy lump but perfectly adequate. As with all (I have seen) the keyboard, the need to bottom the key rather than the regular touch2break. This is no prob' for those that use kbd as an exercise m/c, those you find yourself next to you in the library or Inet Kaff making such a hell of a racket but I SUFFER with NO loss of hearing, and am handicapped by laziness. The keys are so complex to remove, not to mention replace, if something gets underneath. I recommend a regular airline blast. 2004, replace the Medion with an ACER, a long search down Tottenham court Rd. I was happy to find it FAT32, but already short of ports, as it was not loaded up I got the seller to put XP into a limited primary part'n and create the extended p't'n. Proper installation discs and nothing aggressively proprietary, works fine but I really don't like the keyboard and touchpad, sometimes use a USB device to attach a PS2 mouse&kbd, strangely more complex than one might think as you can run a USB mouse in a PS2 socket but not vice versa. Any missing ports can be emulated with modest USB devices. Does detract from the portability. A Sony VAIO of a friend caused quite a headache, a reinstallation was a pain due to the Sony Specials and an unhelpful dealership Lastly my wife bought an Advent when I was away, at least it is not Vista, but as the OS and delivered software is only in a recovery partition, no discs, one cannot reformat the HDD without losing the system. I have never invoked one of these recovery procedures, I presume they can only do so by recreating the original environment, everything else would be lost. There is a sense in which I would not feel I had acquired ownership of such a machine It may be an economy and advantage for the supplier not to include a full OS installation, at point of purchase the punter has no choice. I think it may be possible to get the problem by putting a different HDD in and trying a clean installation, if you were wanting to use XP instead of Vista you would discover if XP had sufficient drivers. But if the hardware is a late development there would likely be no backward compatibility. For those within striking distance I would recommend Bayswater Computer Fair, wide range of dealers, 7 days p/wk. Just Nth of Queensway Ice Rink. There is a chap who replaces screens or back lights, loads of laptops, I find it is no longer worthwhile to assemble PC boxes, the last 3 have come from there, partitioned as required and OS installed. _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
