A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing . . .
OK, I've read...re-read...checked...double and triple checked...read yet again..and have outrun the men in the little white coats with butterfly nets *g* Now, I think I'm well into information overload. So much so that I can hardly remember what I read or looked into on the net at the beginning. Much of what I've run into has been fairly basic which was extremely helpful in my case! But...there are many references to things having to do with Linux that I really have no idea what they're talking about and it starts becoming frustrating. So, I'm thinking of backing off for a day or two and then doing a quick run-through of the info I have, and then finally installing on Saturday. I d just like to know if I'm going about this install the right way or should I delve even deeper into this foreign world *g* before even attempting the install?? I hope the answer is no, as I said, everything is starting to blur together. I've backed up everything I can think of to back up as I've had to completely re-install my system twice in a years time and wouldn't look kindly to having to do it again. I've another question...will Mandrake show me the drive sizes so I know the difference between hda and hdb? The drive I have solely for Linux is 20GB, completely empty and as of this moment, unpartitioned. I can't stress enough how much help you've all been up to this point, and thanks for not sending me to the "Reassurance Lounge". Kelly
On Tue, Jul 16, 2002 at 10:58:53AM +0100, Kelly Ash wrote:
OK, I've read...re-read...checked...double and triple checked...read yet again..and have outrun the men in the little white coats with butterfly nets *g*
hehe, good plan. If you keep running for long enough and far enough the men in the white coats find it hard to keep up, this is why i have moved about 6 times in 3 years ;)
Now, I think I'm well into information overload. So much so that I can hardly remember what I read or looked into on the net at the beginning. Much of what I've run into has been fairly basic which was extremely helpful in my case! But...there are many references to things having to do with Linux that I really have no idea what they're talking about and it starts becoming frustrating.
oh some of the references never make any sense, that you have found some that are helpful is a good sign...
So, I'm thinking of backing off for a day or two and then doing a quick run-through of the info I have, and then finally installing on Saturday. I d just like to know if I'm going about this install the right way or should I delve even deeper into this foreign world *g* before even attempting the install?? I hope the answer is no, as I said, everything is starting to blur together.
Installing should not be too scary or such a big problem, especially as you have a new drive to put linux onto, there is very very little chance of dataloss etc. what OS are you going to dual boot Linux with? Windows NT/2000/9x? Also if you do find it scary can you not make one of the Alug meetings where somebody will quite happily install (well try ;)) linux for you... If not where in the world are you as somebody could perhaps come and help you in person. (btw i just had a thought, could we not offer some kind of telephone helpline to people who are stuck 50% of the way through an install?)
I've backed up everything I can think of to back up as I've had to completely re-install my system twice in a years time and wouldn't look kindly to having to do it again.
Very good idea, at least if you do kill everything you can experiment a bit more (not that you should be able to kill everything, but assuming the worst case scenario is a good plan)
I've another question...will Mandrake show me the drive sizes so I know the difference between hda and hdb? The drive I have solely for Linux is 20GB, completely empty and as of this moment, unpartitioned.
It should do although I have no experience with Mandrake, perhaps a Mandrake user (BJ) could enlighten us? Adam -- "Step away from the Cathedral, This Bazaar is loaded" jabberid = quinophex@jabber.earth.li
On Tuesday 16 Jul 2002 12:53 pm, Adam Bower wrote:
On Tue, Jul 16, 2002 at 10:58:53AM +0100, Kelly Ash wrote:
OK, I've read...re-read...checked...double and triple checked...read yet again..and have outrun the men in the little white coats with butterfly nets *g*
hehe, good plan. If you keep running for long enough and far enough the men in the white coats find it hard to keep up, this is why i have moved about 6 times in 3 years ;)
Now, I think I'm well into information overload. So much so that I can hardly remember what I read or looked into on the net at the beginning. Much of what I've run into has been fairly basic which was extremely helpful in my case! But...there are many references to things having to do with Linux that I really have no idea what they're talking about and it starts becoming frustrating.
oh some of the references never make any sense, that you have found some that are helpful is a good sign...
So, I'm thinking of backing off for a day or two and then doing a quick run-through of the info I have, and then finally installing on Saturday. I d just like to know if I'm going about this install the right way or should I delve even deeper into this foreign world *g* before even attempting the install?? I hope the answer is no, as I said, everything is starting to blur together.
Installing should not be too scary or such a big problem, especially as you have a new drive to put linux onto, there is very very little chance of dataloss etc. what OS are you going to dual boot Linux with? Windows NT/2000/9x?
Also if you do find it scary can you not make one of the Alug meetings where somebody will quite happily install (well try ;)) linux for you... If not where in the world are you as somebody could perhaps come and help you in person. (btw i just had a thought, could we not offer some kind of telephone helpline to people who are stuck 50% of the way through an install?)
Good idea mail me off list for a contact number if you are really nervous or wait untill the next meeting. Where are you located?
I've backed up everything I can think of to back up as I've had to completely re-install my system twice in a years time and wouldn't look kindly to having to do it again.
Very good idea, at least if you do kill everything you can experiment a bit more (not that you should be able to kill everything, but assuming the worst case scenario is a good plan)
I've another question...will Mandrake show me the drive sizes so I know the difference between hda and hdb? The drive I have solely for Linux is 20GB, completely empty and as of this moment, unpartitioned.
No problem here Mandrake has a very good prartitioning tool called diskdrake that rocks bigtime. Diskdrake is one of the first things you will encounter with the install bbut you do have the option of using fdisk if you want to. Its all very graphical and pretty straight forward (no fafing about with arcane tools like fdisk although fdisk does have it's place).
It should do although I have no experience with Mandrake,
Call yourself a sysadmin with no experience with of the best distro </me puts on flame proof suit>. :-)
perhaps a Mandrake user (BJ) could enlighten us?
Do you feel enlightend? No? Didn't think you would somehow. :-) -- Cheers, BJ
On Tue, Jul 16, 2002 at 01:48:52PM +0100, John Woodard wrote:
On Tuesday 16 Jul 2002 12:53 pm, Adam Bower wrote:
It should do although I have no experience with Mandrake,
Call yourself a sysadmin with no experience with of the best distro </me puts on flame proof suit>. :-)
hmmmm, i hope that your flame proof suit can also protect you from Debian fanaticism and pointy sticks. ;) Adam -- "Step away from the Cathedral, This Bazaar is loaded" jabberid = quinophex@jabber.earth.li
Adam Bower <abower@thebowery.co.uk> wrote:
hmmmm, i hope that your flame proof suit can also protect you from Debian fanaticism and pointy sticks.
Pointy sticks? Herring are the weapon of choice! Much safer for the user, but just as devastating when they overwhelm the infidel.
Pointy sticks? Herring are the weapon of choice! Much safer for the
user,
but just as devastating when they overwhelm the infidel.
If I remember right, the alternative to pointed sticks was fruit! (Mind you bananas can be nasty ;-) ) Regards, Keith ____________ CONSULTANT, v.i. One who borrows your pocket-watch to tell you the time, then keeps the watch. Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary
Adam Bower wrote:
On Tue, Jul 16, 2002 at 01:48:52PM +0100, John Woodard wrote:
On Tuesday 16 Jul 2002 12:53 pm, Adam Bower wrote:
It should do although I have no experience with Mandrake,
Call yourself a sysadmin with no experience with of the best distro </me puts on flame proof suit>. :-)
hmmmm, i hope that your flame proof suit can also protect you from Debian fanaticism and pointy sticks.
Don't forget the resident Gentoo loony! cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie@brownowl.com PGP key at http://pgpkeys.mit.edu:11371 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't forget the resident Gentoo loony!
Is that the guy who always sits next to you at the ALUG meetings? BJ says we don't talk about him! :o) Regards, Keith ____________ Live life as life lives itself. Zen Proverb
Keith Watson wrote:
Don't forget the resident Gentoo loony!
Is that the guy who always sits next to you at the ALUG meetings? BJ says we don't talk about him! :o)
Nah, it's the one that never turns up! Cheers, Laurie. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Laurie Brown laurie@brownowl.com PGP key at http://pgpkeys.mit.edu:11371 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Laurie Brown <laurie@brownowl.com> wrote:
Keith Watson wrote:
Don't forget the resident Gentoo loony! Is that the guy who always sits next to you at the ALUG meetings? BJ says we don't talk about him! :o) Nah, it's the one that never turns up!
He'd like to, but he's never quite finished compiling and configuring all the software that he wants to demonstrate... ;)
person. (btw I just had a thought, could we not offer some kind of telephone helpline to people who are stuck 50% of the way through an install?)
Sounds like a good idea, problem is how do we make it work? On our web pages? I suspect most people may not be too happy about their home numbers being put on the web. I suppose we could do it via the announce list e.g. "I will be available on 01234 56789 between 22:00 and 04:00 on Tuesday's and Thursday's for telephone help if anyone requires it." Perhaps a better way would be to post up a message saying what you were going to try and when, that you might need some help and asking volunteers to send you a private e-mail with a contact phone number. Regards, Keith ____________ TWICE, adv. Once too often. Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary
Keith Watson <keith.watson@kewill.com> wrote:
Sounds like a good idea, problem is how do we make it work? On our web pages? [...]
Well, if we wanted, it's not too hard to get a mobile (k) rate number and pass it around between willing people. I've been looking at whether it's possible to do this with some sort of callshare numbers, so that people could be paid something for their time but I'm not too far down the road and it already looks non-viable. Is there really the interest in trying to do this?
will be available on 01234 56789 between 22:00 and 04:00 on Tuesday's and
What have you got against that poor soul in Bedford? (Hint: use 01632 960009 in future, like all good writers should.) MJR
Now, I think I'm well into information overload. So much so that I can hardly remember what I read or looked into on the net at the beginning. Much of what I've run into has been fairly basic which was extremely
helpful
in my case! But...there are many references to things having to do with Linux that I really have no idea what they're talking about and it starts becoming frustrating.
Sounds about right. Frustrating ain't It! :o) OK, a little bit off topic but... have you ever come across the ideas of learning theory? My 1st intro was in the Charles Handy book "The Age of Unreason", which I very much recommend (I look back on reading it in the early 1990's as one of the key events in forming the way I saw things). The idea is that learning is the process of converting information into knowledge. We do this by gathering infomation in some way, e.g. reading, experiments, practical activities or a mixture of the 3, and then a period of reflection where we assimilate what we've learned (which isn't neccessarily a conscious activity). Until I took this idea on board I always used to get very worried that I was reading a lot but didn't feel I was actually learining anything (probably true in my case!). So what has this got to do with the price of fish? I suppose is a long winded and less offensive way of saying "Throw enough mud at a wall and some of it will stick!". And it's the strategy I now adopt (with varying degrees of success :o) ) Don't worry about converting all the information you're reading into knowledge. Do as much research as you're happy with then stop. Do something else for a bit, then go off and try and apply what you've been researching. It's amazing what suddenly pops up into your mind at the right moment. Even if you don't have the info you need to hand often you'll know where to go to find it. This is where having access to the web really pays dividends.
So, I'm thinking of backing off for a day or two and then doing a quick run-through of the info I have, and then finally installing on Saturday.
I
d just like to know if I'm going about this install the right way or should I delve even deeper into this foreign world *g* before even attempting the install??
Right!, see above :o)
I've backed up everything I can think of to back up as I've had to completely re-install my system twice in a years time and wouldn't look kindly to having to do it again.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt!
I've another question...will Mandrake show me the drive sizes so I know the difference between hda and hdb? The drive I have solely for Linux is 20GB completely empty and as of this moment, unpartitioned.
Mandrake was the distro I installed 1st time (in fact it's the only distro I've ever installed!) because I got a free copy of 7.0 (and recently got a later copy at the latest ALUG meeting). I found the install front end quite friendly. It will go through a whole bunch of initial stuff like what sort of install do you want; Desktop User, Developer, Expert, what sort of keyboard do you have; US or UK, etc. and at some point should throw up a graphical display for partitioning your disks. Like you I have 2 drives hda and hdb. Ignore hda and bring up the display for hdb and let Mandrake select an appropriate partitioning scheme. If you've got a large disk it will probably set up 2 or 3 partitions. A small /boot partition near the front of the disk (see the Large Disk How To) that will contain the kernel image and where you might want to put LILO (e.g. hdb1) and then a root '/' partition and possibly a /usr partition (oops almost forgot it will also create a swap partition as well :o) ). At this point you're still OK as you haven't applied the changes yet. When you're happy enough to proceed select the OK option (or whatever it is) and it will go off and partition your disk and format the partitions. As long as you've not told it to do anything to hda, it won't (hopefully :o) ). Being paranoid I used to disconnect my hda at first, but once I'd got familiar with the software I left it connected. Then just continue through the install answering the questions. A note of caution, at some point it will give you a list of packages you might like to install. It's tempting to select the lot! I did and then sat there for over 2 hours while it unpacked and installed masses of software. Keep your sights low initially until you are familiar with the process. Near the end it will ask you about the boot loader install. This is where it gets 'interesting' as you have 2 hard disks. Presumably, until you are fully confident in GNU/Linux (note the GNU prefix to keep Richard Stallman happy - not that he'll probably ever read this), you'll want to boot Windows by default and have the choice about booting Linux. So you'll need a boot loader on your hda drive that will allow you to choose between booting Windows on hda or invoking LILO on hdb(1). You can use the Windows boot loader but I had problems getting it to invoke LILO (anyone got this working?) so I got a third party boot loader (BootMagic from Powerquest that comes bundled with PartitionMagic, I didn't buy it, I got a freebie copy with something else), there's a lot out there, I'm sure other ALUGers will be happy to advise :o). For me, at present, this means that starting GNU/Linux is a 2 step process; run the boot loader on hda and from that select the boot loader (LILO) on hdb and from that select the version of Linux I want to run (I've currently got 3; Mandrake 7.0 + 2 home brewed). I think there's a How To that covers this scenario. Still with me? (Yes, but I wish I wasn't!) Good, there'll be a test tomorrow!! :oD Regards, Keith ____________ The natural order of things includes us, and its laws are our laws. We are an endless moving stream in an endless moving stream. Jisho Warner
Keith Watson <keith.watson@kewill.com> wrote:
[...] GNU/Linux (note the GNU prefix to keep Richard Stallman happy - not that he'll probably ever read this) [...]
Oh please! The reason for mentioning GNU when talking about your normal system is that much of what makes this an operating system, including most of the original design, was done by the GNU project starting in 1984. Linux is a kernel used with it: a useful little program that talks to the hardware and controls the programs. RMS's happiness has little to do with it, at least for me.
Keith Watson <keith.watson@kewill.com> wrote:
[...] GNU/Linux (note the GNU prefix to keep Richard Stallman happy -
not
that he'll probably ever read this) [...]
Oh please! The reason for mentioning GNU when talking about your normal system is that much of what makes this an operating system, including most of the original design, was done by the GNU project starting in 1984. Linux is a kernel used with it: a useful little program that talks to the hardware and controls the programs. RMS's happiness has little to do with it, at least for me.
Aaaarrrggghhh!!! KEEP BACK DEMON SWINE!! [snatches crucifix from coat pocket and looks wildly around for wooden stake and hammer]
participants (7)
-
Adam Bower -
John Woodard -
Keith Watson -
Kelly Ash -
Laurie Brown -
MJ Ray -
MJ Ray