OT: One for the computer geeks. Linux & a boot menu

Westie said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers for
the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI doesn't
start. What's with that? It was the auto-install process.
What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot machine (I'm not
even sure I know what that means) where I could choose
Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot that gives me the
option of Linux or Windows but will always boot to Linux
even if I don't choose Linux. The missus is getting a bit
tempermental about it so at worst I'd like to delete
partions and reinstall windows. At best I'd like to be
able to choose the operating system at boot. Any ideas on
how I can do that? Is there a partioning program on the
linux CD? Any Linux forums that might help me without too
much techno jargon?

Redo and get Lindows (lindows.com). Works great with no
hassles on the install. It dual boots, too.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Westie said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers
for the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI
doesn't start. What's with that? It was the auto-install
process. What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot
machine (I'm not even sure I know what that means) where
I could choose Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot
that gives me the option of Linux or Windows but will
always boot to Linux even if I don't choose Linux. The
missus is getting a bit tempermental about it so at
worst I'd like to delete partions and reinstall windows.
At best I'd like to be able to choose the operating
system at boot. Any ideas on how I can do that? Is there
a partioning program on the linux CD? Any Linux forums
that might help me without too much techno jargon?

Redo and get Lindows (lindows.com). Works great with no
hassles on the install. It dual boots, too.

godfrey (visualize holding up a cross to a demon)

"Westie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers for
the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI doesn't
start. What's with that? It was the auto-install process.

what was the video card? some are not fully supported
(like SiS).

Quoted message said:

What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot machine (I'm not
even sure I know what that means) where I could choose
Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot that gives me the
option of Linux or Windows but will always boot to Linux
even if I don't choose Linux. The missus is getting a bit
tempermental about it so at worst I'd like to delete
partions and reinstall windows. At best I'd like to be
able to choose the operating system at boot. Any ideas on
how I can do that? Is there a partioning program on the
linux CD? Any Linux forums that might help me without too
much techno jargon?

to dual boot, this assumes you have a fairly substantial
hard drive to begin with. if it is less than a few gigs, it
will work, but just bairly.

kill linux for now, and remove the partitions it created.
this can be done sometimes by just re-running the install to
the point of when it gets to the partitioning. delete all
the partitions, and continue only to the point where it
writes the partitions (some versions complain at this point
as you gotta have a linux partition. try the second option
if this happens). or, you can run the windows fdisk (usualy
on the install disks) and delete them. they will be as NON-
DOS partitions.

once that is done, with the windows fdisk, create a windows
partition of the size you want for windows. you can use a
percentage IIRC (like 50%). install windows. then install
linux, and set it to take up the rest of the disk. not sure
on Debian as i am a Mandrake man myself, but it should auto-
detect the windows partition when the bootloader installs.

this may be of some help. linuxforums.orggrub multibootOpen ↗
howto/Multiboot-with-GRU B-1.html

it deals with GRUB though (I prefer Lilo, but to each his
own).

~Travis

Merlin wrote: <snip>

Quoted message said:

kill linux for now, and remove the partitions it created.
this can be done sometimes by just re-running the install
to the point of when it gets to the partitioning. delete
all the partitions, and continue only to the point where
it writes the partitions (some versions complain at this
point as you gotta have a linux partition. try the second
option if this happens).

It won't let me delete partitions for some reason. <shrug>

Quoted message said:

or, you can run the windows fdisk (usualy on the install
disks) and delete them. they will be as NON-DOS
partitions.

once that is done, with the windows fdisk, create a
windows partition of the size you want for windows. you
can use a percentage IIRC (like 50%). install windows.
then install linux, and set it to take up the rest of the
disk. not sure on Debian as i am a Mandrake man myself,
but it should auto-detect the windows partition when the
bootloader installs.

this may be of some help.

linuxforums.orggrub multibootOpen ↗
howto/Multiboot-with-GRU

Quoted message said:

B-1.html

it deals with GRUB though (I prefer Lilo, but to each
his own).

Thanks Travis. That's very helpful and should be enough to
sort me out; fingers crossed.
--
Westie (Replace 'invalid' with 'yahoo' when replying.)

Westie said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers for
the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI doesn't
start. What's with that? It was the auto-install process.

I've not played with Debian for a couple of years, but
certainly some recent Linux distributions don't boot to GUI
by default (Slackware 9.1 immediately springs to mind).
Linux is there, it just doesn't have the pretty front end.
It could be that you need to install a window manager such
as KDE or Gnome.

When it boots, log in and type 'startx' at the prompt. Let
us know what it gives you.

Quoted message said:

What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot machine (I'm not
even sure I know what that means) where I could choose
Windows or Linux.

Well, you appear to have got the idea of dual-booting 🙂

Quoted message said:

I get a menu at boot that gives me the option of Linux or
Windows but will always boot to Linux even if I don't
choose Linux.

This all depends on partitions. If Windows existed on there
before, then its file system would have taken up the whole
disk. For Linux to run, it needs its own file system on part
of the disk. Unfortunately, it's not possible with Windows
to just create a bit of space for Linux to run on. By
installing Linux, you've almost certainly overwritten
Windows, or at least parts of it, which is why it won't run.

To setup a dual-boot system you need to first split the
disk and then install Windows on one partition and Linux on
the other.

Quoted message said:

The missus is getting a bit tempermental about it so at
worst I'd like to delete partions and reinstall windows.
At best I'd like to be able to choose the operating system
at boot. Any ideas on how I can do that? Is there a
partioning program on the linux CD?

I use either fdisk or the slightly more friendly cfdisk
which come with Linux, but you might be more comfortable
with something like Partition Magic (if you have it).

Quoted message said:

Any Linux forums that might help me without too much
techno jargon?

Techno jargon comes with the territory a bit - especially
if you're going down the Debian route. There are loads of
newsgroups out there (of which, I tend to skim
uk.comp.os.linux from time to time), and obviously loads
of websites.

You can send questions directly to me if you want. Just say,
and I'll mail you my real mail address.

On 2004-03-12, Westie penned:

Quoted message said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers for
the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI doesn't
start. What's with that? It was the auto-install process.
What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot machine (I'm not
even sure I know what that means) where I could choose
Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot that gives me the
option of Linux or Windows but will always boot to Linux
even if I don't choose Linux. The missus is getting a bit
tempermental about it so at worst I'd like to delete
partions and reinstall windows. At best I'd like to be
able to choose the operating system at boot. Any ideas on
how I can do that? Is there a partioning program on the
linux CD? Any Linux forums that might help me without too
much techno jargon?

I'd suggest trying knoppix first. You can make a bootable CD
and run linux off the CD without requiring a separate
partition. If you screw something up, just reboot. If you
get sick of linux, remove CD and reboot -- et voila, back in
Windows-land.

I read the debian-user mailing list. There's a newsgroup
mirror that you can use if you point at the news.gmane.org
server -- gmane.linux.debian.user

I can think of a few ways to get you back into Windows. Do
you know if the boot manager is currently lilo or grub? You
can boot into linux, fix /etc/lilo.conf, run lilo, and
things will be working -- assuming you got the file right,
and assuming you're using lilo, which I believe is the
default on debian. Not sure how to do it using grub.

It might also be possible to boot on a DOS floppy and run
'fdisk /mbr'. WARNING: I don't know if this works for more
recent versions of windows, and if it pooches you, it'll
really pooch you.

Feel free to email me with questions.

--
monique

On 2004-03-12, Westie penned:

Quoted message said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers for
the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI doesn't
start. What's with that? It was the auto-install process.
What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot machine (I'm not
even sure I know what that means) where I could choose
Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot that gives me the
option of Linux or Windows but will always boot to Linux
even if I don't choose Linux. The missus is getting a bit
tempermental about it so at worst I'd like to delete
partions and reinstall windows. At best I'd like to be
able to choose the operating system at boot. Any ideas on
how I can do that? Is there a partioning program on the
linux CD? Any Linux forums that might help me without too
much techno jargon?

I'd suggest trying knoppix first. You can make a bootable CD
and run linux off the CD without requiring a separate
partition. If you screw something up, just reboot. If you
get sick of linux, remove CD and reboot -- et voila, back in
Windows-land.

I read the debian-user mailing list. There's a newsgroup
mirror that you can use if you point at the news.gmane.org
server -- gmane.linux.debian.user

I can think of a few ways to get you back into Windows. Do
you know if the boot manager is currently lilo or grub? You
can boot into linux, fix /etc/lilo.conf, run lilo, and
things will be working -- assuming you got the file right,
and assuming you're using lilo, which I believe is the
default on debian. Not sure how to do it using grub.

It might also be possible to boot on a DOS floppy and run
'fdisk /mbr'. WARNING: I don't know if this works for more
recent versions of windows, and if it pooches you, it'll
really pooch you.

Feel free to email me with questions.

--
monique

On 2004-03-12, Westie penned:

Quoted message said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers for
the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI doesn't
start. What's with that? It was the auto-install process.
What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot machine (I'm not
even sure I know what that means) where I could choose
Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot that gives me the
option of Linux or Windows but will always boot to Linux
even if I don't choose Linux. The missus is getting a bit
tempermental about it so at worst I'd like to delete
partions and reinstall windows. At best I'd like to be
able to choose the operating system at boot. Any ideas on
how I can do that? Is there a partioning program on the
linux CD? Any Linux forums that might help me without too
much techno jargon?

I'd suggest trying knoppix first. You can make a bootable CD
and run linux off the CD without requiring a separate
partition. If you screw something up, just reboot. If you
get sick of linux, remove CD and reboot -- et voila, back in
Windows-land.

I read the debian-user mailing list. There's a newsgroup
mirror that you can use if you point at the news.gmane.org
server -- gmane.linux.debian.user

I can think of a few ways to get you back into Windows. Do
you know if the boot manager is currently lilo or grub? You
can boot into linux, fix /etc/lilo.conf, run lilo, and
things will be working -- assuming you got the file right,
and assuming you're using lilo, which I believe is the
default on debian. Not sure how to do it using grub.

It might also be possible to boot on a DOS floppy and run
'fdisk /mbr'. WARNING: I don't know if this works for more
recent versions of windows, and if it pooches you, it'll
really pooch you.

Feel free to email me with questions.

--
monique

Quoted message said:

This all depends on partitions. If Windows existed on
there before, then its file system would have taken up
the whole disk. For Linux to run, it needs its own file
system on part of the disk. Unfortunately, it's not
possible with Windows to just create a bit of space for
Linux to run on. By installing Linux, you've almost
certainly overwritten Windows, or at least parts of it,
which is why it won't run.

I seem to remember a possibility of installing Linux piggy
backed on windows. IOW, windows starts (just the kernel and
DOS, not the GUI) and then Linux can load via syslinux from
a disk image. I got it to work on a floppy once, but have
not tried to do it on a hard drive.

IIRC, it was a somewhat complicated process though (altering
a kernel, making the images, etc...)

I think one of my Mandrake installs had an option to do it
that way from the start though.

~Travis

Quoted message said:

This all depends on partitions. If Windows existed on
there before, then its file system would have taken up
the whole disk. For Linux to run, it needs its own file
system on part of the disk. Unfortunately, it's not
possible with Windows to just create a bit of space for
Linux to run on. By installing Linux, you've almost
certainly overwritten Windows, or at least parts of it,
which is why it won't run.

I seem to remember a possibility of installing Linux piggy
backed on windows. IOW, windows starts (just the kernel and
DOS, not the GUI) and then Linux can load via syslinux from
a disk image. I got it to work on a floppy once, but have
not tried to do it on a hard drive.

IIRC, it was a somewhat complicated process though (altering
a kernel, making the images, etc...)

I think one of my Mandrake installs had an option to do it
that way from the start though.

~Travis

Quoted message said:

This all depends on partitions. If Windows existed on
there before, then its file system would have taken up
the whole disk. For Linux to run, it needs its own file
system on part of the disk. Unfortunately, it's not
possible with Windows to just create a bit of space for
Linux to run on. By installing Linux, you've almost
certainly overwritten Windows, or at least parts of it,
which is why it won't run.

I seem to remember a possibility of installing Linux piggy
backed on windows. IOW, windows starts (just the kernel and
DOS, not the GUI) and then Linux can load via syslinux from
a disk image. I got it to work on a floppy once, but have
not tried to do it on a hard drive.

IIRC, it was a somewhat complicated process though (altering
a kernel, making the images, etc...)

I think one of my Mandrake installs had an option to do it
that way from the start though.

~Travis

"Monique Y. Herman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 2004-03-12, Westie penned:

Quoted message said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers
for the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI
doesn't start. What's with that? It was the auto-install
process. What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot
machine (I'm not even sure I know what that means) where
I could choose Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot
that gives me the option of Linux or Windows but will
always boot to Linux even if I don't choose Linux. The
missus is getting a bit tempermental about it so at
worst I'd like to delete partions and reinstall windows.
At best I'd like to be able to choose the operating
system at boot. Any ideas on how I can do that? Is there
a partioning program on the linux CD? Any Linux forums
that might help me without too much techno jargon?

I'd suggest trying knoppix first. You can make a bootable
CD and run linux off the CD without requiring a separate
partition. If you screw something up, just reboot. If you
get sick of linux, remove CD and reboot -- et voila, back
in Windows-land.

I read the debian-user mailing list. There's a newsgroup
mirror that you can use if you point at the news.gmane.org
server -- gmane.linux.debian.user

I can think of a few ways to get you back into Windows. Do
you know if the boot manager is currently lilo or grub?
You can boot into linux, fix /etc/lilo.conf, run lilo, and
things will be working -- assuming you got the file right,
and assuming you're using lilo, which I believe is the
default on debian. Not sure how to do it using grub.

It might also be possible to boot on a DOS floppy and run
'fdisk /mbr'. WARNING: I don't know if this works for more
recent versions of windows, and if it pooches you, it'll
really pooch you.

Feel free to email me with questions.

--
monique

last time I killed my XP Pro mbr, I just ran the setup disk
in repair mode. can't remember the specifics, but I learned
as I went, so I assume most could do the same. not sure if
XP Home is the same, but I thought I would toss it out in
case it was helpful.

one thing I did in the past when I was trying out Linux was
run Linux on a separate hard disk with no boot-loader for
Linux. I just popped in the boot disk (occasionally had to
modify the boot via setting the "root=..." parameter when I
altered the hard disk configuration).

if the Linux install is made somewhat portable (fairly
generic drivers that will work on whatever you give it) then
you can then pop the hard drive into any compatible computer
and boot it as needed. something to think about anyway.

~Travis

"Monique Y. Herman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 2004-03-12, Westie penned:

Quoted message said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers
for the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI
doesn't start. What's with that? It was the auto-install
process. What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot
machine (I'm not even sure I know what that means) where
I could choose Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot
that gives me the option of Linux or Windows but will
always boot to Linux even if I don't choose Linux. The
missus is getting a bit tempermental about it so at
worst I'd like to delete partions and reinstall windows.
At best I'd like to be able to choose the operating
system at boot. Any ideas on how I can do that? Is there
a partioning program on the linux CD? Any Linux forums
that might help me without too much techno jargon?

I'd suggest trying knoppix first. You can make a bootable
CD and run linux off the CD without requiring a separate
partition. If you screw something up, just reboot. If you
get sick of linux, remove CD and reboot -- et voila, back
in Windows-land.

I read the debian-user mailing list. There's a newsgroup
mirror that you can use if you point at the news.gmane.org
server -- gmane.linux.debian.user

I can think of a few ways to get you back into Windows. Do
you know if the boot manager is currently lilo or grub?
You can boot into linux, fix /etc/lilo.conf, run lilo, and
things will be working -- assuming you got the file right,
and assuming you're using lilo, which I believe is the
default on debian. Not sure how to do it using grub.

It might also be possible to boot on a DOS floppy and run
'fdisk /mbr'. WARNING: I don't know if this works for more
recent versions of windows, and if it pooches you, it'll
really pooch you.

Feel free to email me with questions.

--
monique

last time I killed my XP Pro mbr, I just ran the setup disk
in repair mode. can't remember the specifics, but I learned
as I went, so I assume most could do the same. not sure if
XP Home is the same, but I thought I would toss it out in
case it was helpful.

one thing I did in the past when I was trying out Linux was
run Linux on a separate hard disk with no boot-loader for
Linux. I just popped in the boot disk (occasionally had to
modify the boot via setting the "root=..." parameter when I
altered the hard disk configuration).

if the Linux install is made somewhat portable (fairly
generic drivers that will work on whatever you give it) then
you can then pop the hard drive into any compatible computer
and boot it as needed. something to think about anyway.

~Travis

"Monique Y. Herman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On 2004-03-12, Westie penned:

Quoted message said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers
for the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI
doesn't start. What's with that? It was the auto-install
process. What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot
machine (I'm not even sure I know what that means) where
I could choose Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot
that gives me the option of Linux or Windows but will
always boot to Linux even if I don't choose Linux. The
missus is getting a bit tempermental about it so at
worst I'd like to delete partions and reinstall windows.
At best I'd like to be able to choose the operating
system at boot. Any ideas on how I can do that? Is there
a partioning program on the linux CD? Any Linux forums
that might help me without too much techno jargon?

I'd suggest trying knoppix first. You can make a bootable
CD and run linux off the CD without requiring a separate
partition. If you screw something up, just reboot. If you
get sick of linux, remove CD and reboot -- et voila, back
in Windows-land.

I read the debian-user mailing list. There's a newsgroup
mirror that you can use if you point at the news.gmane.org
server -- gmane.linux.debian.user

I can think of a few ways to get you back into Windows. Do
you know if the boot manager is currently lilo or grub?
You can boot into linux, fix /etc/lilo.conf, run lilo, and
things will be working -- assuming you got the file right,
and assuming you're using lilo, which I believe is the
default on debian. Not sure how to do it using grub.

It might also be possible to boot on a DOS floppy and run
'fdisk /mbr'. WARNING: I don't know if this works for more
recent versions of windows, and if it pooches you, it'll
really pooch you.

Feel free to email me with questions.

--
monique

last time I killed my XP Pro mbr, I just ran the setup disk
in repair mode. can't remember the specifics, but I learned
as I went, so I assume most could do the same. not sure if
XP Home is the same, but I thought I would toss it out in
case it was helpful.

one thing I did in the past when I was trying out Linux was
run Linux on a separate hard disk with no boot-loader for
Linux. I just popped in the boot disk (occasionally had to
modify the boot via setting the "root=..." parameter when I
altered the hard disk configuration).

if the Linux install is made somewhat portable (fairly
generic drivers that will work on whatever you give it) then
you can then pop the hard drive into any compatible computer
and boot it as needed. something to think about anyway.

~Travis

bomba said:

Westie said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers for
the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI doesn't
start. What's with that? It was the auto-install process.

I've not played with Debian for a couple of years, but
certainly some recent Linux distributions don't boot to
GUI by default (Slackware 9.1 immediately springs to
mind). Linux is there, it just doesn't have the pretty
front end. It could be that you need to install a window
manager such as KDE or Gnome.

At boot I get LILO boot manager - whatever that is. ;-)
It seems that I no nothing about boot managers or LILO
or GRUB....

Quoted message said:

When it boots, log in and type 'startx' at the prompt. Let
us know what it gives you.

The screen reset itself a couple of times, whole heap of
text fired up the screen briefly and then it listed a bunch
o' video modes followed by Fatal server error:
addscreen/screen init failed for driver0 (A generic error
reporting message) X connection to 0:0 broken (explicit kill
or server shutdown)

The computer is a Gateway system about 5 years old and I'm
using the integrated video card. A (Trident?) Trio64
apparently.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot machine (I'm not
even sure I know what that means) where I could choose
Windows or Linux.

Well, you appear to have got the idea of dual-booting 🙂

Quoted message said:

I get a menu at boot that gives me the option of Linux or
Windows but will always boot to Linux even if I don't
choose Linux.

This all depends on partitions. If Windows existed on
there before, then its file system would have taken up
the whole disk. For Linux to run, it needs its own file
system on part of the disk. Unfortunately, it's not
possible with Windows to just create a bit of space for
Linux to run on. By installing Linux, you've almost
certainly overwritten Windows, or at least parts of it,
which is why it won't run.

I installed to a 'clean' 40GB drive. It formatted it as part
of the install/partioning process and I ended up with a
Linux partion, a linux swap partion, and the remainder was a
third one (that I probably thought that I could use for
windows.) I tried to install windows again at one stage but
it didn't work. I'm assuming that it wrote to the third
partion but this is where I've come unstuck - I don't know
enough about what's happening with the partions and
reinstalling windows. When I try to reinstall Debian it more
or less tells me that it has enough partions to work with
and won't let me rearrange the partioning.

Quoted message said:

To setup a dual-boot system you need to first split the
disk and then install Windows on one partition and Linux
on the other.

Quoted message said:

The missus is getting a bit tempermental about it so at
worst I'd like to delete partions and reinstall windows.
At best I'd like to be able to choose the operating
system at boot. Any ideas on how I can do that? Is there
a partioning program on the linux CD?

I use either fdisk or the slightly more friendly cfdisk
which come with Linux, but you might be more comfortable
with something like Partition Magic (if you have it).

Don't have partition magic and am loath to pay for a
partioning program. How do I run cfdisk from the linux
command prompt?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Any Linux forums that might help me without too much
techno jargon?

Techno jargon comes with the territory a bit - especially
if you're going down the Debian route. There are loads of
newsgroups out there (of which, I tend to skim
uk.comp.os.linux from time to time), and obviously loads
of websites.

You can send questions directly to me if you want. Just
say, and I'll mail you my real mail address.

I'll go have another fiddle with it and maybe try
using cfdisk or fdisk or something and see what that
does :-) Cheers
--
Westie (Replace 'invalid' with 'yahoo' when replying.)

Westie said:

bomba wrote:

At boot I get LILO boot manager - whatever that is. ;-) It
seems that I no nothing about boot managers or LILO or
GRUB....

You need to edit /etc/lilo.conf. I assume you can boot
Windows if you choose, but it defaults to Linux? Just alter
default=linux to default=windows or whatever the windows
partition is called in lilo.conf. Look at the url below for
a bit more info (from redhat's site, but lilo is the same
everywhere).

redhat.comrefOpen ↗
guide/s1-grub-li loconf.html

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When it boots, log in and type 'startx' at the prompt.
Let us know what it gives you.

The screen reset itself a couple of times, whole heap of
text fired up the screen briefly and then it listed a
bunch o' video modes followed by Fatal server error:
addscreen/screen init failed for driver0 (A generic error
reporting message) X connection to 0:0 broken (explicit
kill or server shutdown)

You'll need to mess around with different x configuration
programs. I remember there's a very good one that can launch
X to see if it's working, and then lets you alter settings
some more if it bombs. Unfortuneately I can't remember the
name. Try pressing x and then tab to see the various
programs that begin with x, and try a few likely ones. Don't
forget to try X too, lower and upper case are seperate in
linux / *nix.

Quoted message said:

The computer is a Gateway system about 5 years old and I'm
using the integrated video card. A (Trident?) Trio64
apparently.

Have a google to see if they're supported or not, but I'd
expect that they are.

Quoted message said:

I installed to a 'clean' 40GB drive. It formatted it as
part of the install/partioning process and I ended up with
a Linux partion, a linux swap partion, and the remainder
was a third one (that I probably thought that I could use
for windows.) I tried to install windows again at one
stage but it didn't work. I'm assuming that it wrote to
the third partion but this is where I've come unstuck - I
don't know enough about what's happening with the partions
and reinstalling windows.

Oh. That's the worst way to go about IMO. The least
troublesome method of installing Linux and Windows is to
install Windows, then install Linux and let that take care
of the boot loader and partitions etc. Windows just
overwrites the MBR (bit of the disk that's looked at for an
OS when the system powers up) if you install it after Linux,
so you have to reinstall
lilo. Having read this far, I can see that what I've said at
the top about editing lilo.conf isn't going to work
because you've not got Windows installed 🙂.

Quoted message said:

When I try to reinstall Debian it more or less tells me
that it has enough partions to work with and won't let me
rearrange the partioning.

TBH Debian isn't the easiest Linux system to install. It's
still my favourite though.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I've got a second computer lying around here (well, OK,
it's the missus's most of the time) and in a fit of
curiousity I douwnloaded Debian Linux, burn the first CD
and installed it on her computer knowing next to nothing
about Linux. Now Linux boots fine even if the drivers for
the display aren't correct meaning that the GUI doesn't
start. What's with that? It was the auto-install process.
What I wanted to do was have a dual-boot machine (I'm not
even sure I know what that means) where I could choose
Windows or Linux. I get a menu at boot that gives me the
option of Linux or Windows but will always boot to Linux
even if I don't choose Linux. The missus is getting a bit
tempermental about it so at worst I'd like to delete
partions and reinstall windows. At best I'd like to be
able to choose the operating system at boot. Any ideas on
how I can do that? Is there a partioning program on the
linux CD? Any Linux forums that might help me without too
much techno jargon?

Get Knoppix or MEPIS, then you can boot it off the CD and
generally, it doens't require any configing.
knoppix.orgknoppix.orgOpen ↗, mepis.orgmepis.orgOpen ↗
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia ramsays-ramsays-Open ↗
online.com

Sorry this has nothing to do with your original post, but I
would like to announce that this thread has triggered my
latent desire to move to linux. I have wanted to for several
years now... and I finally did it. I downloaded Mandrake 10
today and I have never been so happy. This is what an OS
should be.

-John Morgan

Westie said:

Quoted message said:

I've not played with Debian for a couple of years, but
certainly some recent Linux distributions don't boot to
GUI by default (Slackware 9.1 immediately springs to
mind). Linux is there, it just doesn't have the pretty
front end. It could be that you need to install a window
manager such as KDE or Gnome.

At boot I get LILO boot manager - whatever that is. ;-) It
seems that I no nothing about boot managers or LILO or
GRUB....

Those are boot managers; simple programs which tell the
computer which system to boot to.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When it boots, log in and type 'startx' at the prompt.
Let us know what it gives you.

The screen reset itself a couple of times, whole heap of
text fired up the screen briefly and then it listed a
bunch o' video modes followed by Fatal server error:
addscreen/screen init failed for driver0 (A generic error
reporting message) X connection to 0:0 broken (explicit
kill or server shutdown)

Ah, welcome to the wonderful world of X failures 🙂 It is
trying to give you a GUI, but the parameters are wrong. The
easiest (ha!) way to resolve this is to run 'xf86config',
but before you do, make sure you know what graphics card you
have and what vertical and horizontal refresh rates your
monitor can support.

Quoted message said:

The computer is a Gateway system about 5 years old and I'm
using the integrated video card. A (Trident?) Trio64
apparently.

When running xf86config, there's a large list of cards.
Trio's should be covered (they're made by S3, I think) -
just choose the correct number for your card. (Just checked:
the S3 generic is 22 and the S3 Trio64 is 442)

Quoted message said:

I installed to a 'clean' 40GB drive. It formatted it as
part of the install/partioning process and I ended up with
a Linux partion, a linux swap partion, and the remainder
was a third one (that I probably thought that I could use
for windows.) I tried to install windows again at one
stage but it didn't work. I'm assuming that it wrote to
the third partion but this is where I've come unstuck - I
don't know enough about what's happening with the partions
and reinstalling windows.

I'm going to defer here. I'm spoilt in that I have different
computers for Linux and Win, so my knowledge is patchy at
best. I'll just point you towards the dual-boot howto: linux.orgLinux+Win9x+GrubOpen ↗
HOWTO/intro.html

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I use either fdisk or the slightly more friendly cfdisk
which come with Linux, but you might be more comfortable
with something like Partition Magic (if you have it).

Don't have partition magic and am loath to pay for a
partioning program. How do I run cfdisk from the linux
command prompt?

Type 'cfdisk' (that's assuming cfdisk is provided with
Debian). It would be a good idea to read up on cfdisk before
making too many changes.

It's been mentioned elsewhere, but Debian is not the
simplest distro for a beginner to work with. If you're
looking for a Linux distro that works like Windows, then
you're best off looking at something like Mandrake. Dead
easy to install, does everything for you, holds your hand
and kisses you goodnight. If you're interested in putting in
a bit of work and learning a bit about how computers run,
Debian is pretty good. It'll be frustrating at times, but
rewarding all the same.