OT: a short guide to install Linux Red Hat 9 with already existing windows...??

[Anna]

hi all,

In my system I already have Windows 98 and XP in 2 different partitions of
the same HD and I have Linux Mandrak in a seperate HD. i boot up throught
Linux and then get to windows boot manager. Everything is okay.

Recently I have got linux red hat 9 and want to update my Linux Mandrake to
Red Hat. I run the installation CD but when i reached the point to select
the partitions I really got confused. Because I was not sure which hd to
select. I want to install it over the Mandrak in seperate HD.

I wonder is there any free installation gude, short but comprehensive with
pictures where i will be able to guide me Red Hat.

Any help will be appreciated.

regards

 

[Richard Steven Hack]

I wonder is there any free installation gude, short but comprehensive with
pictures where i will be able to guide me Red Hat.

The Red Hat install instructions on the CD should be sufficient. No
pictures maybe. You can see it on the Web here (URL is long and may
wrap):
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/...rtitioning.html#S2-DISKPARTITIONING-GRAPHICAL

Your partition table layout should be easily discerned during the Red
Hat install. Just look at the file system descriptions. Anything that
is FAT32 or NTFS (your Win98 and XP) is Windows. Anything that is
ext2, ext3 or Linux swap is your Mandrake installation.

The Red Hat Installation Guide says the following:
=====================================================
3.19.3. Partition Fields

Above the partition hierarchy are labels which present information
about the partitions you are creating. The labels are defined as
follows:

Device: This field displays the partition's device name.

Mount Point/RAID/Volume: A mount point is the location within the
directory hierarchy at which a volume exists; the volume is "mounted"
at this location. This field indicates where the partition will be
mounted. If a partition exists, but is not set, then you need to
define its mount point. Double-click on the partition or click the
Edit button.

Type: This field shows the partition's type (for example, ext2, ext3,
or vfat).

Format: This field shows if the partition being created will be
formatted.

Size (MB): This field shows the partition's size (in MB).

Start: This field shows the cylinder on your hard drive where the
partition begins.

End: This field shows the cylinder on your hard drive where the
partition ends.
========================================================

Make sure you are doing a new install, not an upgrade, as Red Hat does
not "upgrade" over another distro, only over its own previous
versions.

Make sure you do a backup of any critical data. If you have your
/home directory on a separate partition, you can install Red Hat and
just have it ignore your /home partition by not changing it during the
partitioning. You can discern that by looking at the Mount Point
field mentioned above. It's a good idea to always assign /home to a
separate partition when installing Linux as this allows you to
reinstall or upgrade or even install a different distro without having
to restore all your data in /home.

Hope this helps.

 

[mile]

Hi,

The Red Hat install instructions on the CD should be sufficient. No
pictures maybe. You can see it on the Web here (URL is long and may
wrap):
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/...rtitioning.html#S2-DISKPARTITIONING-GRAPHICAL

Your partition table layout should be easily discerned during the Red
Hat install. Just look at the file system descriptions. Anything that
is FAT32 or NTFS (your Win98 and XP) is Windows. Anything that is
ext2, ext3 or Linux swap is your Mandrake installation.

well, I've just an add question,
- OK, RH takes care about partitititiong and we should also
follow the instructions, but what about multi booting?
- Is there a prompt or something, we can choose during installation
that offers to us which (XP, Red Hat) will be booted (like an options)
or it's a risk stage.
Frankly, Iwouldn't like to loose, let's say, the current XP boot ;(

The Red Hat Installation Guide says the following:
=====================================================
3.19.3. Partition Fields

Above the partition hierarchy are labels which present information
about the partitions you are creating. The labels are defined as
follows:

Device: This field displays the partition's device name.

Mount Point/RAID/Volume: A mount point is the location within the
directory hierarchy at which a volume exists; the volume is "mounted"
at this location. This field indicates where the partition will be
mounted. If a partition exists, but is not set, then you need to
define its mount point. Double-click on the partition or click the
Edit button.

Type: This field shows the partition's type (for example, ext2, ext3,
or vfat).

Format: This field shows if the partition being created will be
formatted.

Size (MB): This field shows the partition's size (in MB).

Start: This field shows the cylinder on your hard drive where the
partition begins.

End: This field shows the cylinder on your hard drive where the
partition ends.
========================================================

Make sure you are doing a new install, not an upgrade, as Red Hat does
not "upgrade" over another distro, only over its own previous
versions.

Make sure you do a backup of any critical data. If you have your
/home directory on a separate partition, you can install Red Hat and
just have it ignore your /home partition by not changing it during the
partitioning. You can discern that by looking at the Mount Point
field mentioned above. It's a good idea to always assign /home to a
separate partition when installing Linux as this allows you to
reinstall or upgrade or even install a different distro without having
to restore all your data in /home.

Hope this helps.

thank's

mileN

 

[MikeyD]

well, I've just an add question,

- OK, RH takes care about partitititiong and we should also
follow the instructions, but what about multi booting?
- Is there a prompt or something, we can choose during installation
that offers to us which (XP, Red Hat) will be booted (like an options)
or it's a risk stage.
Frankly, Iwouldn't like to loose, let's say, the current XP boot ;(

Redhat installs GRUB by default, I use lilo myself so I don't know much
about it. One piece of advice for winxp: rather than installing it to the
MBR which xp doesn't like, install it to the superblock of your linux root
partition, then use fdisk to set the linux partition as the "active" or
bootable one.

 

[tfog]

Hi,




well, I've just an add question,
- OK, RH takes care about partitititiong and we should also
follow the instructions, but what about multi booting?
- Is there a prompt or something, we can choose during installation
that offers to us which (XP, Red Hat) will be booted (like an options)
or it's a risk stage.
Frankly, Iwouldn't like to loose, let's say, the current XP boot ;(

All distros I have tried (10 of them) not only handle the partitioning
questions, but give you the option of including other installed operating
systems (WinXP, DOS, etc). Furthermore, you can select the default
operating system during the bootloader phase of the installation. This
is true for distros that use both GRUB and LILO. Word of
caution......backup and proceed through the partitioning and bootloader
parts of the installation slowly and carefully. Give it a try, you'll
enjoy it!

 

[Richard Steven Hack]

- Is there a prompt or something, we can choose during installation
that offers to us which (XP, Red Hat) will be booted (like an options)
or it's a risk stage.
Frankly, Iwouldn't like to loose, let's say, the current XP boot

No sweat - the installer will handle it. The installer will detect
Windows partitions and ask if you want to add them to a LILO or GRUB
boot menu. They may choose uninspired names (like "dos") for the
Windows partition, but you can edit their config files later and fix
that, no sweat.

 

[mile]

No sweat - the installer will handle it. The installer will detect
Windows partitions and ask if you want to add them to a LILO or GRUB
boot menu. They may choose uninspired names (like "dos") for the
Windows partition, but you can edit their config files later and fix
that, no sweat.

thanks a lot - that was I need.

and an info:

Gentoo Linux, guess that's the name,
has an extraordinary installation guide on it's CD,
and probably on their site too.
(install.html or install.pdf ~90kB)for 1.4ver.
step by step and it seems to me, can be used generally
as how-to. a lot of accompanied good, short explanations...

mileN