Red hat 7.2 Install problem

irishgeo

i am trying to install red hat 7.2.

i can get it installed nopronlem and up and running the problem is that i cant load windows xp as it not on the red hat boot manager that loads up.

I have my drive parttitoned as follows.

C:\ Windows XP
F:\ Fat 32
G:\ linux
H:\ Linux swap
I have partition magic to do this.

How much do i need for the linux drive and how much for the swap drive.

Also how do i stop linux taking over the booting of my computer and how can i have windows xp and linux as options in a boot up.

Fianlly its says when installing it can partition automatically and i should do it myself. It gives a range of options which one should i pick

My spec is good ebnough for linux.

Please help.

Stinkah

I have my drive parttitoned as follows.

C:\ Windows XP
F:\ Fat 32
G:\ linux
H:\ Linux swap

Ok then,

We'll start here. In order for anyone to get a full understanding of Redhat and in turn solve your problem, you'll need to move away from the DOS concept of Lettering "drives".

the way in which Redhat sees partitions on a hard drive is as follows:

If you have the above setup on one hard drive, redhat had would say the following about them...

/etc/hda1 = Windows XP
/etc/hda2 = Fat 32
/etc/hda3 = Linux
/etc/hda4 = Linux Swap

Where hda is the Master hard drive ( hard drive plugged into the master slot on the Primary IDE cable ) and 1 is the Primary Partition and there after on the same harddrive.

Or you might have two harddrives. With two DOS ( Fat 32 and XP ) on the primary master harddrive and the two Linux partitions on the primary slave harddrive, redhat would say this ..

/etc/hda1 = Windows XP
/etc/hda2 = Fat 32

/etc/hdb1 = Linux
/etc/hdb2 = Linux Swap

An easy way to remember it ( i think ) is the break it down like this...

hd = always stands for Hard Drive.
Next letter is to do with the position of the hard drive on the particular IDE cable its on. Where ..
a = Master on First cable
b = Slave on First cable
c = Master on Second cable
d = Slave on Second cable
Next number is the a number of the partition on the hard drive partition table. Where ..
1 = First
2 = Second and so on

Do you get that or am I confusioning things more ??

Cause the next step is the specify the above and the partition type in a file called /etc/lilo.conf ( that of course assuming that lilo is the bootloader, namely the think which comes on first boot asking you which OS you want. )

So the best thing to do is to go through the above and revise the bit I quoted you on and then someone can suggest a layout of your lilo.conf file and it should be bobs uruncle from then on

dahamsta

A late-night coding session error no doubt, but all the hdX "files" are of course in /dev, not /etc.

adam

Stinkah

Originally posted by dahamsta
A late-night coding session error no doubt, but all the hdX "files" are of course in /dev, not /etc.

adam

Doh !

Good point Adam

They are of course in /dev

SkepticOne

Originally posted by irishgeo
How much do i need for the linux drive and how much for the swap drive.

I would recommend about 4Mb. This will allow a good selection of packages and space to work with. Everyone will have different opinions on this. The drive letters don't mean anything to linux, as Stinkah points out, but during installation, RedHat will detect where the partitions are. If you have only one linux partition, then RedHat will probably default to installing the operating system there, otherwise you may need to indicate which one.

Also how do I stop linux taking over the booting of my computer and how can i have windows xp and linux as options in a boot up.

You will be given the choice for dual booting during the installation routine.

Fianlly its says when installing it can partition automatically and i should do it myself. It gives a range of options which one should i pick

Some of the installation options actually repartition your entire system, wiping out any other operating systems you may have. Although you have already partitioned your system using Partition Magic, you need to select the option that allows you to partition yourself using the Disk Druid tool.

jmcc

Originally posted by SkepticOne
I would recommend about 4Mb. This will allow a good selection of packages and space to work with. Everyone will have different opinions on this.

4GB surely? The good thing about Redhat (and Mandrake) is that it will give an indication of the amount of HD space taken by the packages chosen. I've installed 7.3 on a machine here and it is very userfriendly. Of course bing a BOFH, I couldn't cope with that and had to install a real distro instead.

Gnome is a good desktop for graphics and multimedia but KDE is now a very nice desktop and the office software can import and read M$ spreadsheets and apparently M$ Word docs. There is something intensely calming about KDE or Gnome. Perhaps it is the sense that your machine will not crash *just* when you are finishing a critical task.

Regards...jmcc

SkepticOne

Originally posted by jmcc
4GB surely?

Yes.