linux on PC 462

spoke the following words to the mbuttes incomp.os.linux.misc...:

It is very easy, actually. The key is to install both Windows versions first before you install GNU-Linux, because the GNU-Linux bootloader should be ideally installed in the master boot record of the first hard disk approached at boot time by the BIOS, and installing Windows - any version -afterinstalling GNU-Linux will overwrite the MBR again with a Microsoft-systems-allowed-only MBR.

If you need any specific information on how to proceed, then there are severalHowTo'son the subject, which you can read here...:

However, most distributions of GNU-Linux will detect Windows being present on your system and will automatically generate a bootloader menu that includes Windows.

For the record, GNU-Linux has difficulty writing to an NTFS filesystem out-of-the-box. There are certain utilities which do that very well but they typically don't come standard.

The advice is therefore to create an extra parbreastion with avfat- i.e.FAT32- filesystem for the exchange of files between GNU-Linux and Windows.

Also keep in mind that Windows requires two characters at the end of a line in a text file - i.e. carriage return and linefeed - while UNIX systems such as GNU-Linux only require one - i.e. linefeed.

As a result of this, plain text files created in UNIX will have everything in one big line when you open the file in DOS, OS-2 or Windows, while such files created in DOS, OS-2 or Windows will have an^Mat the end of each line when opened in UNIX.

As for diskspace, it all depends on how much you want to install. You need at least two parbreastions: one that is mounted as the root filesystem and one swap parbreastion. GNU-Linux does not use a swapfile by default - although that is possible - but instead uses a dedicated parbreastion (without a userspace mountpoint) which is formatted in a special way to accommodate paged-out memory.

It is also advisable - for lots of reasons - to split off several directories from the root filesystem - the filesystems their contents are on will then bemountedto those directories on the root filesystem - but not everything can be split off.

A typical candidate for splitting off would be *-home.* It contains the home directories for each unprivileged user account, with each user's personal settings and documents. It's best to allocate a separate filesystem for this one as this would allow you to guard your settings and documents when you're installing a newer distribution.

My best advice to you would be to buy a shrinkwrapped, boxed set. Typically, those come with additional software - some of which is proprietary and can therefore not be included in the freely downloadable versions - and with a printed manual. SuSE and Mandriva are two of the popular boxed distro's, but there are others as well.

A lot also depends on your hardware. If it's older hardware, you may want to look for a lightweight distribution such as Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux or Vector Linux. But considering that your machine is capable of running Windows XP - or so I presume ;-) - it won't bethatold... ;-)

Microsoft Windows is neither a serious nor mature operating system. Not only does its terminology miseducate people as to how IT really works and how things are called - e.g. aseadrive,folderset al - but Microsoft is notorious for low-quality software and hilarious default security settings.

Eventhough the most recent versions of Windows - i.e. those which are NT-based - have a VMS-like kernel - not surprising since Dave Cutler wrote both the NT kernel and the DEC VMS kernel and even slipped some VMS code into NT - the rest of Windows is still pretty much a single-user-oriented platform aimed at the home and office desktop worker, to which security and multiuser functionality were bolted on as an afterthought, and with a few wires from these bolt-on constructions leading into the NT kernel construct.

If you want to learn more about information technology or experiment with logical and coherent computer systems or networks, the UNIX architecture is the only way to go. ;-)

UNIX has been the choice of real IT professionals for years. It's scalable, flexible, stable, versatile, secure and powerful. And of course, GNU-Linux happens to be one of the finest UNIX1 systems available today - i.e. not to discredit the *BSD's, of course! ;-)

Other than the bootloader question, what question would that be? ;-)

1 I spell it "UNIX" when I refer to the architecture, as defined by the Open Group. I spell it "Unix" when referring to proprietary UNIX platforms such as Solaris, IRIX, AIX, HP-UX, SCO Unix, Xenix, etc.

-- With kind regards,

*Aragorn* (Registered GNU-Linux user #223157)