Linux 8.0 Pro

[vagabond]

Hey Folks,

Gotta stupid question, I've got SuSe Linux 6.2 and 8.0 Professional. Funny thing is both OSs were given to me. I'm talking about, the seal wasn't even broken. I know that Linux is a whole lot cheaper than Microsoft but why would someone just throw these Systems. I want to install the 8.0 and would like a couple of recommendations in getting it to install. I've tried with 6.2 but either I am doing something wrong with the format or I'm not copying the bootdisk correctly or I'm missing a step in the installation. I've even tried booting from the CD.

I still have 98SE as a backup just in case.

Is there anything I have to setup or prepare first either in the BIOS or in the HARD DRIVE that'll make the OS work?

Vagabond

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it!

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

If you don't have any wierd hardware, and if the cd-rom is bootable...just pop the cd-rom in and boot. Everything is super simple from there, choose your keybard and mouse, select what pacakges you want to install and thats about it. Everything is easy as can be with help tips.

If you do have some wierd hardware, or if it's an outdated oem machine, you might want to change all your drives manuall, instead of cabel select (put the jumpers to master/slave etc.).

see if that works and let us know how it goes.


Disregard my previous post.

 

[vagabond]

Thanks for the reply Mouse but what do you mean by weird hardware? My hardware is old but by no means outdated.

Got a 900 Athlon with 384MB of RAM, 1 20 Gig Seagate ATA66 @5400rpm and 1 17 Gig Seagate ATA66 also @5400rpm. An FDD,
48X CD-ROM and an HP Burner. My BIOS on the AK74-EC is up2date and all my drivers are on par.

BTW the 17GB Seagate is my master.

Someone was telling me from work that the old 6.2 might have only recognized FAT 16 formatting. Is there any truth to that? I thought Linux systems were 32-bit.

Anyways I will definitely try and keep you posted.

Thanks,

Vagabond


You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it!

 

[silverpig]

By weird hardware he meant something like a super old SCSI controller or the like. You have no weird hardware, so don't worry about it.

Only recognized FAT and not FAT32? That doesn't make sense to me. Linux supports a wide varity of filesystems, including FAT.

If my baby don't love me, I know, I know, her sister will.

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

yup, silverpig pretty much said it.

wierd hardware as in a super no-name NIC that was made in south africa and uses a super no-name chip......but your setup should be fine.

yeah, what silverpig said, linux supports a wide variety of filesystems, including fat16 and 32, amongst others.

Disregard my previous post.

 

[poorboy]

Hey dude, just a note about the old 6.2 version: Don't bother with it. 8.0 is so much better and easier it's not funny. And yeah, Linux is 32 bit, and 64 bit versions are available too (and I think the IBM S/390 version is 31 bit).

<i>Do I look like I care?</i>

 

[vagabond]

thanx for the clarification but there is still something that bothers me if Linux supports a variety of filesystems, how come I can't get the 6.2 to boot in FAT 32?

poorboy, I've still got 98SE as the main OS. Could that be the reason that 8.0 isn't recognized? Meaning autostart.

I really would love to learn a different OS. I don't want to be too dependant on Microsoft.

Should I first format the "C:\" before installing 8.0 or can I write over the existing OS?

Should I first make the bootable diskettes or is that redundant having a CD-ROM already?

These are just some of the ??? I have.

Appreciate the answers though and I'll go on from there.

And no weird hardware )

Vagabond

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it!

 

[poorboy]

I'm a bit confused by your terminology: "I can't get 6.2 to boot in FAT 32", Are you wanting to install on a FAT32 partition, or something else...? And by "autostart" do you mean booting the CD, or putting the CD in and Windows starts an installer? 8.0 is bootable, but it probably doesn't have an autostart installer like some Windows apps. (I haven't put my CD's in a Windows box, so I'm not 100% on that last bit)

That aside, 8.0 is a bootable CD, so assuming your BIOS can boot a CD, you should be able to restart with it, and the installer should take you through the setup process from there.

You don't need to clean the disk first, just tell the installer to use the whole disk, when you get to the partitioning stage. Linux will want to repartition and reformat the disk anyway, so there's no real benefit in doing it yourself first.

If your BIOS can boot the CD, you don't need to make the boot diskettes. They're only usefull for a network install or a non-CD-bootable system.


<i>Do I look like I care?</i>

 

[genlee]

If you want to keep 98se, you might want to free up some partition space with something like partition magic. Telling the linux installer to use the entire disk will remove everything that is on it. I would stray away from the older versions since there has been a lot of security updates since then. Linux doesn't care what partition its on like windows does so you can just free up space at the end of the disk.

 

[vagabond]

Hey poorboy and genlee,

I meant to say Linux version 6.2 but that was before I got the 8.0 pro. That's exactly what I meant by autostart and I realize now after reading your POST that that wouldn't work. I had a brain cramp.

If I don't need to clean the disk like you said, can I install the 8.0 in a different partition without having to format it first?

I've got a 17 and a 20 GB HDD and both are FAT32 formatted with a total of 6 partitions between the two HDDs. C: being my Win OS. Can I, through the 8.0 bootable CD install the 8.0 to one of the other partitions i.e. E:

that's assuming my BIOS can boot a CD.

I believe genlee answered my question.

Thanks folks for the input.

Vagabond

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it!

 

[poorboy]

Yes, you can install without formatting *first*, but during the installation, you will have to format the disk.

Yes, you can install onto another partition, but you still need a boot loader to be able to choose which OS to use and this will (generally) go on C: drive. It won't hurt anything, it'll just give you a funky boot screen before loading up Linux or Windows.

<i>Do I look like I care?</i>

 

[vagabond]

poorboy,

sorry it took a while to answer back. was gone for a week.

thanks for the info and yeah I know what you mean.



You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it!