So, I’ve finally decided to take the plunge and install RedHat Linux 6.1. Here are my computer specs:IBM Aptiva w/ AMD-K6 ~500MhZ, 13 GB IDE HD, 64 MB SDRAM.
This is a Win 98 system and I probably have used ~7 Gigs of the HD. Also, this was a preloaded system, so a destructive partition is out of the question, since any reload will just reformat the whole disk anyway.
From what I understand, Linux must boot under the 1023rd cylinder. What exactly does this mean and where, in GB, is 1023? I’m still trying to grasp this concept. If I can’t fit /boot under this benchmark, can I just boot from a floppy or CD everytime? (This wouldn’t be a big deal because my CD burner doesn’t get used all that much except as a backup tool.)
Also, I think, Fips will not recognize anything greater than 8 gigs? Is that right? Do I have to delete the second partition before I install Linux?
Then I will need to use DiskDruid to partition the remainder of the space but, will Diskdruid recognize the HD size or partition either?
Finally, why the fuck hasn’t someone configured new tools for working with Linux under these large HDs, or have they, and if so, where can I get the goods?
Oh yes, my “ideal” setup. Use ~9 GBs for Win98 space and ~4 GBs for Linux space.
I have recently addressed this question in another thread about Installing dual boot Linux/Windows, but I’ll go over some points here.
First off, do NOT use Disk Druid. It is destuctive, and will remove your existing data. I would recommend using Partition Magic. It is well worth the cost of being able to resize partitions without losing data. It’s also graphical, so forget about fips.
Second, the hard drive limitation is not a problem with Linux. It is a problem with stupid PC BIOSes that can’t access anything above cylinder 1024 on a hard drive. Some bioses do not have this problem, but most do, so it’s best to just play it safe. In order to boot any operating system, the BIOS must be able to access the portion of the drive containing the necessary parts of the kernel. This is the same for every PC operating system. The best way to be sure you have a bootable installation of Linux is to put the /boot partition as close to the beginning of the drive as possible. This partition doesn’t need to be any bigger than about 20MB, although I usually make it 50MB so I have room to have several kernels. You will probably be able to squeeze it in just after your Windows partition. If you are in doubt, just bump the Windows partition down a bit and put /boot at the beginning of the drive.
Partition Magic makes all of this very easy to do, and it should tell you the starting and ending cylinder for each partition. However, there are many other things to take in to consideration when installing a dual boot system, so you should look for the other thread I posted in. (sorry, I don’t have the link off hand, but there can’t be too many of them.) Also, check out the many dual boot how-to’s at the LDP home page:
I would also make sure you have a good back up of your data from the Windows drive, just in case.
As far as working with Linux on large hard drives, don’t think for a moment that the creator of Linux wouldn’t love for hardware to be a little easier to deal with in PC world. You won’t find problems like this on pretty much anything but PCs. Of course, all computers have their quirks. Incidently, if you were not creating a dual boot system, you would not have to worry about the configuration of your hard drive.
The newest version of LILO somehow circumvents the 1024th cylinder restriction. I’m running Linux on a 13 gig, myself, so large hard drives aren’t really a problem…
Fuck, I just tried to install and it froze on me. I decided to use fips after all and successfully partitioned about 9 GB for Win and 4 GB for Linux. I figured I would just boot from a floppy, since it is only for experimental purposes. When I went to install, I got a bunch of vertical lines, then it froze with a white screen. It may be my AMD-K62/500 proccessor, from what I read on Redhat.com. I’m so pissed, all this preparation and planning to be stuck at the first damn step. I see dollar signs in my future…uugghh.
Any suggestions? IBM says there’s no bios updates for my computer, but I don’t know if I trust those bastards…
For those having trouble installing Red Hat, I would highly recommend Linux Mandrake 7.1. It has a nifty graphical installation similar to the one you see in Windows 98, and it is Red Hat compatible. Go http://www.linuxmandrake.com and you can download a .iso file for it for free.
If you are paranoid, I would recommend simply installing LILO on your linux partition (say, /dev/hda5) NOT your boot partition. Then, simply make certain you have a boot floppy in the drive when you start the computer.
This is generally a very good idea if you are using NT, but even Windows could potentially screw things up.
Also, if you can’t afford partition magic, and you are using FAT16 or FAT32, there is a non-destructive and free partition resizer available.
Should I delete the new partition I made with fdisk before I try installing linux so I don’t get the error of windows trying to read the new drive? If not, how do I get around that error message or tell windows that it is linux and not a windows drive? Is that even possible?
What do you mean Windows trying to read the drive? A Linux partition should be invisible to Windows…
What type did you create the partition as?
Perhaps a detailed explanation of what you have done so far in your installation would help…
Well, that old partition was created using fips, but I deleted it and created new partitions with the Mandrake install. Thank you all so much for your help. Linux is up and running. Now I just have to figure out how to configure the DSL. Headed to Mindspring’s site now, but I’d still appreciate any tips if anyone has any.
Thanks again, especially for the Mandrake referral.
Yahooo! I am now posting from my Linus environment. I ended up getting Raoring Penguin PPPOE client for my DSL connection and it works like a charm. Strange, everything is faster in this environment. I can’t wait to discover all the little tricks for tweaking it. Again, thanks for all your help.
So how are you enjoying the linux/dsl world? great, isn’t it? Now you get to share the joys of messing with ipchains and getting ip forwarding & masquerading to work with all your programs (I still have to use a modem to play starcraft…I can’t get it to work with NAT…grumble grumble), but It’s a great platform for doing real work as well as for learning new stuff.
Well, I can’t believe how fast it is, especially to boot. There are a few hangups, and of course the software dilemma, but I’m sure that will change in time. Still trying to figure out how to change the “registry” (not sure what it is called in Linux). When booting, I get an error when it tries to initiate eth1. My NIC is at eth0, or at least that’s what setting works with. The default on the ADSL software was eth1, but I found it using “ifconfig eth0” when I got a response. Anyway, I get a bunch of green "ok"s, except that. Funny thing is, the DSL runs fine, so it doesn’t really matter. I tried changing the configuration using failsafe to eth0, but that just causes a different boot line to come up red. Hmmm. I guess I shouldn’t worry about it. Also, Netscape doesn’t forward as well under Linux.
Oh yeah, another thing is, the screen is TINY!!! Or the text at least. I tried doing ctrl + or alt +, can’t remember now. This succeeded in giving me a huge PART of the screen. And I can’t seem to find anything to change the screen size like in Windows under screen settings.
for the text size, try <ctrl><alt><+> and <ctrl><alt><->
As for your eth1 problem, first off, do you have a 2nd ethernet interface? Or only one?
most standard startup stuff is in /etc/rc.d/init.d/ There you’ll find a script that calls each program that is configured to run at boot time. There are also directories called /etc/rc.d/rc*.d, where the * is a number from 0 to 6 that represent each runlevel (halt, single-user, multiuser without networking, full multiuser <the normal startup>, <not used>, X11, reboot). These directories have links to scripts in /etc/rc.d/init.d so that the proper services run for each situation.
For your networking, check /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
if you don’t have an eth1 device, you can delete that script. If you do and it’s just not starting properly, then you need to edit that (either with a text editor or with one of the graphical tools like linuxconf or control-panel in X) so your second ethernet card starts up with the right info.
Feel free to e-mail me if there’s anything I can help with.
