Installing Linux

[jcr1]

I have a 1.6mhz Compaq Presario with 384 mb ram, nvidia Vanta graphics card and two hard drives, a 20gig primary and a 30gig slave. Currently running WinXP. If I was to partition the slave drive and install linux there, would there be any fish hooks I should be aware of ?
I have a magazine version of Boot Lt ng, which seems to work alright (although I've only tried it in a superficial manner). I could also use cfdisk, which I've used quite successfully before to create a partition with Win 2000.
My modem is a Conexant HSF V92 56k internal, are there any issues with this one and Linux does anyone know? The other thing is (if the 56 k modem was to work) I have an Ultra connection; Ihug do have linux drivers available but only up to linux 2.2... and they give dire warnings about the consequences of trying to configure their sat. card if one doesn't know what they are doing.
Are there any thoughts on all of this?

[Chilling_Silently]

> I have a 1.6mhz Compaq Presario with 384 mb ram,
> nvidia Vanta graphics card and two hard drives, a
> 20gig primary and a 30gig slave. Currently running
> WinXP.If I was to partition the slave drive and
> install linux there, would there be any fish hooks I
> should be aware of ?
Only if you've been on a boat this weekend.
Just make sure you install the Boot Loader on the Master Boot Record.

> I have a magazine version of Boot Lt ng, which seems
> to work alright (although I've only tried it in a
> superficial manner). I could also use cfdisk, which
> I've used quite successfully before to create a
> partition with Win 2000.
Take your pick, It's probably best to leave the space "un-partitioned" and your Distro of choice will partition your PC accordingly

> My modem is a Conexant HSF V92 56k internal, are
> there any issues with this one and Linux does anyone
> know? The other thing is (if the 56 k modem was to
> work) I have an Ultra connection; Ihug do have linux
> drivers available but only up to linux 2.2... and
> they give dire warnings about the consequences of
> trying to configure their sat. card if one doesn't
> know what they are doing.
> Are there any thoughts on all of this?
If you use scanModem.gz (A quick google will find it), it'll tell you what drivers you need to download for your Distro to make it work.

As for Ihug Satellite, the 2.2 kernel is old as.. we've been through 2.4, and the latest is 2.6.2....
You'll have to experiment and find out unless there are other Linux and Ihug Satnet users here :-)

What Distro?


Chill.

[jcr1]

Thanks Chill, you've mentioned Ark Linux from time-to-time and it sounds interesting, not too big either, one can always add to it later I guess.
I've got a fairly recent version of Libranet, which is good, close to Debian too, so apt get can be used.
I suppose it doesn't really matter which distro as they basically have all the same properties, barring I suppose windows look alikes.
I might download & try Ark Linux

[Chilling_Silently]

> I've got a fairly recent version of Libranet, which
> is good, close to Debian too, so apt get can be
> used.
> I suppose it doesn't really matter which distro as
> they basically have all the same properties, barring
> I suppose windows look alikes.
> I might download & try Ark Linux

Good on ya! Go for Ark Linux.

It also has Synaptic, so you can easily get KDE-3.2 :-)

Go Ark ;-)

Let us know how you get on


Chill.

[jcr1]

As a matter of fact I've started downloading an ISO of Ark Linux and since my last post it's 32% of the way there (Ultra can be very fast at times).
I'm now using Firefox as a browser and the Gimp (big learning curve) for my imaging stuff, so I'm getting more "open source" as time goes on.
Plus the software that my son is doing for me is web based so that it's "cross platform".

[Chilling_Silently]

That's great to hear!

That'll all make life easier...
Firefox is a great web-browser, only thing is it doesnt come with Ark Linux, so you'll need to download it yourself from the mozilla.org website :-)

[mark.p]

Good for you. Have you had a look at Open Offlice yet?

[jcr1]

Yes, I've used Open Office from time to time as well. Its not too bad as a replacement for MS Office; one of the first things I got into when I first started using computers about 10 years ago, was Excel, it helped me greatly with budgeting, predicting cash flow etc. and some of those files I did a way back then I still use today, they can be used in Open Office and Word and the equivalent in Open Office are interchangeable as well.

Tell me, I seem to remember that there is something I should do with an ISO when its downloaded, before it'll boot and start the install process; but I just can't remember what it was. Can you, Chill or MarkP tell me what it is?

[mark.p]

Burn it to cdrom maybe

[jcr1]

Yes, I've done that, of course. But Cd won't start install, just boots into XP and I've set boot sequence to boot from cd first.
But I've got a vague recollection that there's something else I should do to get it going and I just can't remember what.