| User | Post |
Nebetsu
Posts: 925/1574 |
I dunno, but I'm putting Debian on my computer pretty soon. |
Emptyeye
Posts: 1393/2273 |
Well, I do have plenty of empty hard drive space; the problem is that it being a prebuilt comp it's probably all partitioned to the same thing.
In any event, I'll try one of those, thanks. |
Ailure
Posts: 7575/11162 |
Heh, I said that Windows 98 is based on DOS but I didn't say it clear enough. Hell the last DOS based Windows was Windows ME.
Personally, I prefer SystemrescueCD, but you need basic *nix knowledge to even use that one. As it's command prompt only, still I prefer it over Knoppix since it's so faster to boot, especially on a old computer... 
And yes, running a disk checking program afterwards is always a good idea. I seen wierdness after resizing a FAT partition, but Scandisc fixed that problem anyway. Even if it didn't report any problems intrestingly enough... maybe the checkup just updated something in the filesystem. I don't know exactly how FAT32 works. :/ |
FreeDOS
Posts: 1054/1657 |
That's because Windows 98 is not an operating system, just a really complex MS-DOS program. Fedora recognised the Win98 partitions as having DOS installed, because it did. When you install it next to one of the NTs, it says "Windows NT/2000/XP" on it.
If you have Windows 9x/Me, try to find a distribution that installs on FAT in UMSDOS. UMSDOS is a pseudo-filesystem that overlays FAT in order to provide all of the *nix filesystem features. If you have Windows 2000 or XP, you can also do the UMSDOS if you are using FAT. If you are using NTFS, use Knoppix and run QTParted to resize the NTFS partition to make room for GNU/Linux. It's not risky at all really. It marks the partition as dirty so that Windows will run CHKDSK on it at next boot. Although I've never seen an error from ever resizing NTFS, it's a good idea to let it run. |
Ailure
Posts: 7571/11162 |
Fedora core 3 is easy to setup as dual-boot. As far I know it, it's hard to messup during the installation. So don't worry about that, besides it setup the "bootloader" for you, but you should rename it's choiches if you can. (It did name Windows 98 DOS... and even if Windows 98 does run on a DOS core...)
I only installed it on a Windows 98 computer, but it's should be the same for Win XP. As long you have unpartioned space or an partion that you can waste or an empty HD. It shouldn't be a problem, otherwise you can try resizing a current partition althought that's risky. 
FC3 seems good as long you don't install it on a old PII as I did... |
HyperLamer
Posts: 3100/8210 |
I installed Mandrake 9.1 and didn't even have to change settings or anything, it installed a bootloader automatically. Seemed to run pretty well too on a computer about twice as fast, 192MB RAM but only like 4MB video.  Does take a few gigs though. |
Emptyeye
Posts: 1391/2273 |
Here's another question...which Linux distro would you recommend that's easy to set up to a dual boot (IE I don't have to mess around with any external fdisking or whatnot; I can create my Linux partition right in the setup program) with WinXP? I've wanted to play with Linux for awhile, but the fact that my entire family (Most of whom are computer challenged) uses the comp means I can't just wipe Windows, or even change it too drastically. |
Ailure
Posts: 7568/11162 |
I wouldn't recomend Fedora Core 3 on that computer thought, it's too bloated for such an old computer. Hell I have a slighlty better computer and it's not running very fast.
I want to replace with a light but fast and easy to use distro, a such distro would be good for LPE too.  |
Cornellius
Posts: 140/460 |
Either Fedore Core 3, Red Hat, SuSE or Mandrake. They're easy to use. |
Liquid Pi Experiment
Posts: 104/138 |
Hey, after playing with knoppix on my pc, I quite fancy using linux on it, but I don't know which distro would be best for me!
I just want to use it for general web use etc, but I'm sick of windows crashing every 30 minutes!
The PC is a 400 Celeron, with 64 Mb ram, a 10gb HDD, 802.11g wireless networking card and some form of generic graphics card! (iirc, its a tnt2 64mb, but don't hold me to it!) |
