Re: Linux installation - please help

From: R.F. Pels (spamtrap_at_tiscali.nl)
Date: 07/17/05 

Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2005 23:00:04 +0200

Neil Hindry wrote:

> I have a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop with an Intel P4 2.2GHz CPU, 40GB HD
> formatted as NTFS and 512MB RAM.

There is one possible nastiness if you have an nVidia video card in it.
Other than that, this machine is quite OK to use Linux on.

> I wondered if I would be possible to partition my hard drive and setup my
> laptop so that I could boot into Windows XP Pro (which is currently
> installed) or Linux depending on which I wanted to use at the time.

Yes, that's possible.

> Is all this possible? If I partitioned my HD would I lose any data that
> is currently on the HD?

You should make a backup, then optimize the partition, then install a distro
that does that for you. If you loose your stuff, you can always start over.

> I was thinking of partitioning the HD into two partitions of 20GB each, is
> that the best way to go about it?

Don't partition yourself, let your distro do this for you, because you also
need a swap partiton.

> How could I set it up to enable me to select whether I wanted to boot into
> Win XP Pro or Linux?

Yes, that's almost automatic. Both lilo and grub do this, and most distro's
create the correct settings for you.

> Which distribution of Linux do you recommend I go for given all the
> information I have supplied?

First have a look at a live CD, either Knoppix or Ubuntu. That will give you
the feel for it anyway without the need to install it.

> I know I can download Live versions of the different distributions, but
> can I download the full versions that get installed on a HD? Where can I
> find and download the full version of the Linux distribution you recommend
> for me?

Oh. You might want to try the latest SuSE distro. The downloadable version
is almost 100% feature complete. 

-- 
Ruurd
.o.
..o
ooo

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