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W2K Pro and Linux dual boot...

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by finnie

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When I get home today I would like to make my system a dualie. I currently have a K6 II 500 Mhz machine with 192 MB and a 15 GB hard drive. I also have GeForce II MX 32 MB and EnSoniq Sound. Included in this is an Adaptec 2940 SCSI Controller and 4 GB hard drive. I have never used Linux before and I would like to download Linux onto the SCSI drive. I am currently running W2K Pro on my C: drive. Can I run W2K on my c:\drive and Linux on my D: with the option to dual boot? If so can someone give me a clue what to do? I also have cable internet, will I have any forseeable problems?

9 replies

by dustbunnyden_webmaster

You might have a problem doing it that way. There was another guy on here that had to wipe his whole OS out after trying to do that. It would be easier if you got Partition Magic and partitioned your disk so that you allocated 4 gigs to place your linux partition on. You have to have unallocated space though. You might get it to work though.

by dpalsen

It really depends on which version of Linux you're looking at using. Linux Mandrake is VERY user friendly, and will integrate itself very easily into your system. Redhat is a good system, very popular, but not quite as user friendly. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Slackware and its ilk, which are still kind of stripped down.

Getting back to the question at hand, I installed Linux on a system with a similar config awhile back and had no trouble whatsoever. That was using SUSE Linux, another user friendly system. E-mail me, and I can point you in the right direction on some of this.

by finnie

I appreciate the help you kindly offered. My interests have gone astray, as I find myself in a sales/department environment. I find myself much more happy, an better paid ;-)

Apologies for my lenghty delay.

Wishing you all the best,

Shawnathon D. Finnie

by paul majestic

Linux mandrake is definately a good linux choice and it can handle the dual booting for you. Another option is to purchase a boot manager program like System Commander. It greatly increases the ease of making a machine able to boot from multiple OS's.

by macgyver.hicks

finnie,
I, too, have a K6-II 500 with a 20GB drive and cable modem. I have used Win98, WinME, & WinNT with the latest versions of Redhat, SuSe, and Mandrake. All three will allow you to partition the drive during setup, however, SuSe is the easiest. As well, I have Partition Magic & Boot Magic to manage the partitions and the multi-boot. If you don't have such a program, the LiLo(Linux Loader) can be configured during the installation to handle the multi-boot. As for your cable modem, Linux will configure itself for the connection and will boot up with it every time.
Just a safety note about Linux; during the install, create a login ID for yourself and other users. Leave the "root" alone unless you have to get into it. The "root" login is for admin. purposes and should only be used for system maintenance, adding/removing programs, etc. People cannot mess up Linux in their own login environments, but, they can if they get into the "root".
I wish you well.

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