[techtalk] Newbie Install Problem

[Clair Mooza]

Jamie wrote:

> Hi!
> I'm trying to install Red Hat 6.1 on my Dell computer. I already have Win98
> and had an extra partiton just sitting there that I thought would be
> perfect for Linux.  Its about 2gigs in size.  When I get to Disk Druid and
> try to partion the root directory, I get an error that says Boot Partiton
> is too big.  I was able to partition /var and /usr and all that other good
> stuff.
>
> I did some research trying to find out on my own what to do.  I did find
> something that said Linux wasn't reading my hard drive right and I would
> have to pass the kernel the geometry of my hard drive(?!?!)  That's way
> beyond my realm of knowledge.  Is there another way to do it?  If there
> isn't, can someone explain to me exactly how that would be done?  Please?
>
> Thanks,
> Jamie  :)

Hey, Jamie.  I am a newbie as well and just encountered this exact problem.
What I did was use Partition Magic to format my extra partition with ext2 and
make the swap partition needed (and in the right spot).  It worked out really
well.  Something went weird with my install and then I found out that the video
card that I have has been known to cause problems with the version of Linux
that I was trying to install...but that's another issue I guess.  As far as
partitioning goes though, if you have windows also or aren't really too comfy
cozy with disk druid or fdisk which I surely wasn't, just use a third party
product such as Partition Magic.  Good luck.  Also, thanks again for all of the
help and advice that I got here from everyone with my little adventure!

-Clair