[techtalk] Delurk/Getting started

[Karl-Heinz Zimmer]

On Wednesday 23 May 2001 06:30, Ruhiel wrote:
..
> I'm *trying* to learn Linux. It ain't easy, since I don't have it
> installed anywhere yet, but the books are helping. At the moment,
> i'm downloading an ISO of SUsE 7.1, which seemed to be one of the
> better distro's for newbies. (Discuss?)

That's surely a matter of opinion: in my opinion you are absolutely
right but there might be other people telling you the contrary.

Just try it and you will see if you love it.

> I'm seriously contemplating partitioning off 2-3 gig of my current
> windows machine (HP 6545c, Celeron 500, 20gb HD and 191mb) and
> running it from there.

Great idea!
If you own Partition Magic this re-sizing can be done easily - if not
look at the 'fips' program you will find on your #1 SuSE disk (in a
directory called 'dostools').
There is a documentation file to fips (called 'README.DOS') saying:

  -fips.exe     Use this tool to change the size of DOS partitions
                (only primary partitions). This can be used to create
                space for a Linux partition ;-)
                Two versions are available : fips15 and fips20. If you
                don't have a FAT32 partitions, it is recommended to use
                fips15. That version proved to be reliable for a long
                time. So far we received only a few (although very
                positive) comments on fips20. For further information
                please read the file InfoSuSE in the fips directory as
                well as fips.doc in the corresponding subdirectory.

Of course the files  readme.1st, fips.faq, fips.doc
in directory  /dostools/fips/fips15 (or /dostools/fips/fips20, resp.)
are also very worth reading...


> I know that I have to make a Linux partition, not a FAT32.

That's right, but this is not the very first step to success.  :)

Step #0 will be reading the file /README.DOS on SuSE CD #1.
        This will lead you to the english SuSE Linux users manual.

             /docu/book-en.pdf.

        Open this file using a *.PDF viever program and proceed to page
        28, this is the beginning of chapter 2
            "Your first SuSE Linux installation"
        Read this chapter...

Step #1 is running a defrag program on your windows partition.

Step #2 is shrinking the partition's size using Partition Magic or
                                                    fips or ...

Creation of the Linux partition normally is done while installing Linux:
there is a point in the SuSE setup procedure where you may partition
your disk.


> Here's where I get confused... After I burn the ISO's onto CD,
> will it boot from the CD, or do I have to use my old windows boot
> disk?
..

It will boot from SuSE CD #1.


> If I can boot from CD, will the installer see that there is already
> a Linux partition and start the install there?

IMO you should create the partition inside the SuSE setup.


> I'm really worried about something on the windows side getting lost.

In this case just make sure you actually read the comments and questions
written on the setup screens before proceeding with [Enter].

There is one moment when you can decide to make a 'manual' installation
rather than an automatic partitioning: if you worry about your data
that much you might want to enter this manually process.

Normally the setup program will recognize a/the windows partition(s) and
*not* overwrite it/them but there might be a bug in the setup - you never
know - so I allways choose to partition manually.

Note: When creating the Linux partition make sure you do *not* use all
      the space that got free when shrinking the Windows partition!

Reason: In addition to creating a Linux partiton you also have to create
        a 2nd partition, type Linux Swap!

IMHO you should reserve about 300MB for this (anybody please correct me
if I am wrong:) because using less than 191MB will be useless when using
a 2.4 kernel since these modern kernels will ignore the Swap space totally
if it has smaller size than your RAM.

..
> That said, i'm a Linux geek at heart, but my brain isn't convinced. I
> love listening to people talking about it, and i'm trying SO hard to
> absorb everything I read. But i'm still unsteady.

My impression of your mail is that it is written by a person who does not
resign too quickly so just jump into Linux: it will be an exciting adventure
and you will make nice experiences - NOT because everything is running fine
from beginning BUT because of the nice people you will meet on here techtalk
and on the english SuSE Mailing List.

  subscribe it here: http://www.suse.com/us/support/mailinglists/index.html
  read the archive:  http://lists.suse.com/archives/suse-linux-e/

Also there are some Linux related newsgroups in english language that you
might want to look at:

   comp.os.linux.*

Perhaps  comp.os.linux.setup  could be interesting?

And perhaps you might want to visit the KDE group:  comp.windows.x.kde

> :sits back and waits with head between knees like the flight attendant

Help is near, the trick is to never interrupt the magic circle

     'reading/asking/trying --> reading/asking/trying --> reading'...

There *are* solutions to nearly all problems that you might face - far
more solutions than you might find for MS Windows related problems since
(due to the openness of the system and due to the large number of true
 Linux enthusiasts willing to help others) many people will be helping you.

To conclude I am sure you will have a lot of fun!

Karl-Heinz
-- 
Karl-Heinz Zimmer                            But the only way to really make
Senior Software Engineer                     sure your server is secure,
Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB                 sadly, is knowledge.
<mailto:khz at klaralvdalens-datakonsult.se>    --Michelle Murrain, 12 May 2001