Partitioning

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Installing SUSE 9.2 Personal, but a bit worried about the partitioning changes. I've got a 160GB drive, formatted in one partition to NTFS. The warning message before install said information would be lost, so am I going to have to re-partition and re-install Windows? Or, buy another drive?
Cheers

 

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do you have a separate partition already set up to use for linux? if you do, then you shouldnt have to. it just means that all the information currently placed on that partition will be lost, not the whole drive.

if you only have one partition set up, id reccommend getting a third party partition tool and resize the one you already have so that you have two partition spaces. i know when i installed SuSe 9.0 pro that the partition manager stuff was confusing as hell.

Fergal

 

I think you can repartition Windows with the FIPS utility. I ran across it while working with Red Hat but it may only be a Red Hat thing. Here's the link:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-8.0-Manual/install-guide/s1-x86-dualboot-fips.html

 

Thanks trip but it doesn't support NTFS. Seeing as 40GB drives are going for under £30 these days, think i'll grab one and set that up as a linux drive. Can't see me needing more space than that.

 

that will be your best bet Gaz
is there a reason your trying this in a dual boot solution rather than a VM Solution? I know we have been discussing your VM options over the last few days, and figured it may be easier/safer to use that solution, atleast first, ofcourse if you got a dedicated 40GB drive for VM use anyway that may well increase performance somewhat as you can keep it nice and defragged, and not cluttered with thousands of files

let me know mate


Also a note on Linux partitioning
generally linux will require two partitions, root (or / ) and swap (which is like a pagefile)

some distributions will go one step further and create partitions for all the primary directories
/
/usr
/home
/etc
/boot
/var

for your first few goes its probably best to stick with the 'auto' partition options of many distros, then play around later when u have a bit more experiance

a quick note with drive 'letters' in linux
in windows we are used to C: D: E: etc
linux is a bit more strict in that it uses actual physical disk information rather than logical information

/dev/hda <-- First IDE hard disk, so Master on IDE0, or the first hard disk you have

/dev/sda <-- First SCSI hard disk, based on SCSI channel numbers I believe (this is important as VMWare disks often show up as SCSI)

/dev/hda1 <-- First primary partition
/dev/hda2 <-- Second primary partition

/dev/cdrom0 <-- First CDRom detected

hope that clears up atleast some confusion

 

Downloaded VMware, but having many problems installing SUSE. Yast won't display the full graphical mode at all (reckons less than 96MB memory available, but I allocated 256MB in VMware).

First time I installed, hit lots of problems when attempting to boot for the first time (think the drive was setup us as SCSI when its actually IDE). So I scrubbed that and tried again.

Second time, got as far as hardware setup when booting for the first time, but ran into more problems. It didn't seem to like my graphics card (GeForce FX5900 XT), and was having problems finding or connecting to X Server. I'm a little out of my depth here...

 

Gaz, you need to set SuSE up in text mode when installing it in vmware.

 

Yes. I had a heck of a time trying to install SUSE in VMWare using the GUI. Although it will set up on actual hardware like a dream using the GUI, there's something about the code that does not work and play well with VMWare.

I learned this the hard way and had a few conversations on the VMWare forums before I got this sorted. As I recall, when the installation first launches, you can use the arrow keys to select the kind of installation you want. Text mode is the correct selection. After it installs and you install VMWare tools, it works great.

 

Just a note, remember when setting up X that you dont want to scroll through the list and find 'your graphics card' idealy you want to fine the 'VMWare Graphics Card' which is standard with most versions of X, however some distros strip out this driver, i know when i run xfree86config its often an option, VMWare machines although piggybacking onto the 'real' hardware, use thier own 'dummy' hardware for driver purpose and cross platform usablility

same goes for network (VMware uses AMD PCNet 32) and SCSI (Buslogic something or other i believe, ill have to double check) (yes linux sees all VMWare hard drives as SCSI usually, even if you picked IDE, something to do with the way the kernel interacts with the hardware i believe)

You might want to try something like Fedora Core 3 or something first, that went on without any hassle i noticed, on both VMWare 4.5.2, and VMWare 5

 

Trying it again (4th time now), I can't see that text option anywhere. On the initial screen there's options for Install, ACPI off, Safe settings, Recover system, and Memory Test.
Can't see any options for text install on the install proper either.

 

Try this Tutorial

 

After installing, when booting for the first time, just get to GRUB command line, not even reaching the graphic card/network etc tests and setup


Sorted this

 

Right, after the 6th install (5th hit error 18 problems, set up a 4GB drive to get around this). I now have a working KDE desktop. Hooray.

Except VMware tools won't install because I don't have gcc installed, and its not on my CD.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

 

Is it just me, or have I walked into just about every problem going with this experiment? Or am I just being unlucky/naive/stupid?

 

How is your progress on this Gaz, as the fact that you are posting accurate details of each step and problems encountered is always of use to others.

Hope you get it sorted m8

 

I've hit a wall with the lack of a C compiler (gcc), think i'll have to get a distribution with one included, or go back to the dual-boot scenario.

I've been filming the various installs & footage will soon be seen in a new cable TV program 'When VMware machines go bad' (Series 4).

My progress has largely been to some incredibly helpful people on a CERTain forums site, many thanks to them.

 

are you using the free downloadable copy of Suse Personal? it may well be that it lacks a C compiler as its not designed for that kind of use

Give Fedora Core 3 a try, or Mandrake 10 (I prefur Fedora Core 3 for noobies over Mandrake as it gives you the power to further develop yourself without changing distros, i found mandrake very noobiefied :/ )

 

Was on the coverdisc of PC Format (DVD). Have downloaded disc 1 of Fedora Core 3, but watching it because i'm on a capped broadband line (2GB/month).

The ftp install (from novell's site) might work but that would involve large downloads as well.