Attempt to install on hard disk

[wayne128]

greeting,

since i could now get internet using modprobe broadcom/tg3 as in this thread:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,78219.0.html

i am now trying to figure out how to multi-boot my computer so that i could install PCLinuxOS with existing Win7, and cater for future testing, fun playing with different Linux OS.

i am in the process of backup all win7 data to external drives, after that i am in the position to start new.
i still need to maintain win7 installation for reason of some software run only on windows.

this computer has i3 2.93G CPU, 4G Ram, 640G hard disk, so i wish to have several additional partitions for testing linux OS while retaining win7/PCLOS for main use.

i would hope some guidance on how i should plan for the partitions.
thanks in advance

[Xenaflux]

in a nutshell

1--decide how many distros you would like to test at the same time.
.....let's say you want to test 10 distros ( wow )
.....you can use one and the same swapfile for all of them ...lets say 3Gb
----each distro would basically have a / and /home ...lets say , together 15Gb
----So, for 10 distros that would be 150Gb of free and unpartitioned space to be created after Win7
----you can use a program like Gparted of Parted Magic available on the Net (google ! )
      Do not use Partition Magic v.8 ...it will screw up all related to linux

2---You will have to boot them from somewhere
......this can be done without effort if all your distros pick up the bootloader ( ask )
......this can be done by a process called chain loading ( ask )
......This can be done by installing a Boot Manager ( ex: GAG....use google ) as long as you stay with GRUB . AFAIK they are not Grub2 compatible yet

3---Install the first one and see if it'all working
4---Install the second one and see if it is working.
5--etc etc etc

Do - 1 - first and come back to this forum for more questions.
Many people are just waiting to mess up your drive...sorry...to help you with every thing they can      

Have fun

Xena

[wayne128]

in a nutshell

1--decide how many distros you would like to test at the same time.
.....let's say you want to test 10 distros ( wow )
.....you can use one and the same swapfile for all of them ...lets say 3Gb
----each distro would basically have a / and /home ...lets say , together 15Gb
----So, for 10 distros that would be 150Gb of free and unpartitioned space to be created after Win7
----you can use a program like Gparted of Parted Magic available on the Net (google ! )

Do - 1 - first and come back to this forum for more questions.
Many people are just waiting to mess up your drive...sorry...to help you with every thing they can      

Have fun

Xena

thank Xena,
ok, step1 first, i go for 10 distros, i had downloaded Parted Magic and now have a CD burnt.
but i have to know more how to ensure that each distro can be booted up.
and, where should i keep my data on each Linux distro?
thanks

Edit: better download latest Parted Magic:  Distribution Release: Parted Magic 5.3
can anyone confirm this will be OK?

[Xenaflux]

You can keep your data on windows partition if you like.
Just about any linux distro is capable of accessing windows partitions.
In PCLOS you can open PCC and look for local disks
There you will be able to mount your windows data partition, and any other for that matter

You also can create a DATA partition after your ( 10 ) distros , but why bother if you can have it on your existing windows partition
Please note that reading Linux data from within a windows partition is possible , but those programs do the most, but not all of what you want.

As for the chain loading, which I will recommend here, as you for sure will come accross distros with Grub2, you will have to wait for an other member of Pclos to join in.
If I try to help you, there's agood chance I mess up.....and we don't want that, isn't it

[wayne128]

ok i undestand Linux OS can read and write Win 7 data partition. So that makes thing easier.
i also might just copy/back up to external drive for safety., just in case i messed it up, at least important data is always on external drive.

i hope i can learn Linux, having stayed way too long in windows.
i hope this place is a good place for my learning experience.

thanks

[Xenaflux]

i hope i can learn Linux,....................

Patience and one thing at the time

i hope this place is a good place for my learning experience.

it is, but you are not restricted to this forum.
There are many places on the Net to learn.
Google will be your friend

[wayne128]

well, too bad, i burn the Parted Magic 5.3, run it, and found i could not control the mouse ( there is no mouse cursor) on one old laptop, restart several time, same issue,
however it runs on the target computer..

so download gparted live 0.3.9-13 iso and burn it, yes it can run..
if this version had any problem please let me know since i shall be using it after win7 re-install
thanks

[Xenaflux]

so download gparted live 0.3.9-13 iso and burn it, yes it can run..
if this version had any problem please let me know since i shall be using it after win7 re-install
thanks

Latest version is 0.6.2.8
But if 0.3.9 works.....OK

[wayne128]

I read somewhere that swap is usually 2x Ram size, shall i cater for 8G or 3G?

[Xenaflux]

I read somewhere that swap is usually 2x Ram size, shall i cater for 8G or 3G?

Swap depends what you want to do later
.
If you have 4Gb RAM, then you will most probably not need swap
If you want to remaster or do heavy video operations, you may//might need it. It's debateble

However ...8 GB is for sure overkill
I would go with 3Gb or Less

Opinions vary wildly

[7272andy]

as XenaFlux says, it all depends. there's some good advice here though

Regards

[wayne128]

i am not planning anything special on video, except watching HD movies and normal works.

for this desktop, i just go for speed and learning linux, so there is no requirement on hibernation..
i guess , with all the forumers help i can spend more time learning Linux and less on Win7 ,


thanks andy, i read the link, i shall just go for 3G swap...

long time ago 3G is a lot,,, when one of my drive was 4G total..
now with 640G,, 3G seems like ...well, all relative to what is available.

thanks for advice

[wayne128]

OK, now win7 reinstalled complete.
do some partition work on Parted Magic 5.3
see that sometime there is error on a new partition, do not understand what is the issue, but delete partition or format it resolve the problem.

now i use the PCLOS gnome CD, and applied the modprobe on tg3 and wow get into internet and thus login to forum

now I need help. because i have not yet tried installed on harddisk.
anyone? thanks a lot

[wayne128]

  I am happy i did it. with helps from forums!! thanks much

now my PCLOS gnome is installed on harddisk with Win7. and the bootloader just worked...

just copy some stuff here for reference,, i would need it later

also try for the first time on fdisk -ls, learnt from reading forum, here is mine:

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -ls

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x98000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          12       96358+   6  FAT16
/dev/sda2              13        1111     8824832    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            1111       36806   286720000    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4           36806       77826   329488396    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           36806       37202     3174400   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6           37202       39127    15462400   83  Linux
/dev/sda7           39127       41052    15462400   83  Linux
/dev/sda8           41052       43015    15769600   83  Linux
/dev/sda9           43015       44978    15769600   83  Linux
/dev/sda10          44979       47069    16793600   83  Linux
/dev/sda11          47069       49160    16793600   83  Linux
/dev/sda12          49160       51391    17920000   83  Linux
/dev/sda13          51391       53622    17920000   83  Linux
/dev/sda14          53622       55994    19046400   83  Linux
/dev/sda15          55994       58365    19046400   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 4043 MB, 4043308544 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 491 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1         492     3948416    7  HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(490, 254, 63) logical=(491, 143, 36)


and here is the grub menu.lst, 
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,5)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=e922af00-1023-43a5-8fa0-33e9034ece4b  vmalloc=256M splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=e922af00-1023-43a5-8fa0-33e9034ece4b  vmalloc=256M
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=e922af00-1023-43a5-8fa0-33e9034ece4b  failsafe vmalloc=256M
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

good learning!  time to play more..

[7272andy]

  go gettem Wayne128