On Sun, 13 Aug 2000, Garry wrote:
>
> Hi Guys,
>
> I am trying to install redhat linux 6.1 on a p200mmx machine with 64 Mb edo
> RAM, 4.3 gig HDD (C) & 2.1gig HDD (D) in dos parlance, trident 9750 4Mb
> video card. I am installing it to the 2.1 gig HDD and trying to install lilo
> to the MBR on C.
>
> The installation goes great until it gets to the end of the process when
> linux says "performing post install configuration" and the system just hangs
> there and does nothing.
Leaving aside the distribution, which is largely irrelevant (I'm using
SuSE 6.3), I'm assuming you want to dual-boot the machine, with Windows
on /dev/hda (drive "C") and Linux on /dev/hdb (drive "D"), yes ?
I believe you'll have to have the second drive as the slave on the
primary IDE controller, not the master on the secondeary channel - I
tried this with RedHat and never could get it to work.
What I did (although I was using Windows NT) was install Linux on the
second drive and, when the configuration program asks you where you
want it installed, tell it the boot sector of the SECOND hard drive...
You can then dual-boot in a number of ways;
1. Use something like Partition Magic / Boot magic / System Commander
under Windows
2. If using Windows NT, use the boot.ini file and install the
appropriate entries to boot Linix (involves the use of the Linux "dd"
command to create the "boot file".
3. Boot from a floppy, configured to boot and mount /dev/hdb as the
root file system.
From my (aging) memory, when I first started investigating Linux
(Redhat 5.1 days), the boot.ini option was pretty easy to set up, but
the floppy was the coward's way out !!!
Apart from running Linux on a P200 as a fileserver, and on a P75 as a
gateway / proxy server, I have a P233MMX with a removable drive bay
(they cost $25 at North Rocks Markets), as I use Linux on it, but the
Mrs uses Windows NT for editing photos and doing web-page stuff (see
www/jon.fl.net.au/katelyn).
The removable system works best, removing the need to dual-boot - when
you need to change O/S, just plug in the other drive and re-boot. This
is by far the best method if you are learning the OS, as some of the
Linux tools make it VERY easy to overwrite your Windows partition .
drive (speaking from bitter experience here !!)
Come to think of it, I paid $25 for the drive kit (the frame and a
removable tray) and about $15 each for the additional trays. If enough
SLUG members are interested, we should be able to get a bulk price on
them from somewhere.
Hope this is of some help to you Garry - contact me off-list if you
want any more details on the drive units.
Jon
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