[Nooncaster]

Sorry guys, but another 'newb here.

I've been looking into installing a Linux system as dual boot with my XP laptop and was wondering how I might go about getting this done. I bought a book at MicroCenter called "Teach Yourself RedHat 8" that came with a copy of the software and figure that would be a good place to start. I have a copy of partition magic 8, as well, and am ready to get going. The problems I'm running across and the book doesn't address the answers are these:

1) when using partition magic they have the option of partitioning ext2,3, fat32, or an option for 'installing a Linux system'. Which one do I use? I know ext is the format linux (RH) uses, but should I use the 'install a linux system' option? If so, it tells me I neeed to immediately install linux but... (see Q 2)

2) My DVD drive doesn't autoboot my RH8 disk and when I try to use the instructions in the book for creating a manual boot disk (go to rawrite--> type \images\boot.img <enter> then type drive letter) it doesn't write to the drive.

Unfortunately, I am working with a fairly new laptop and it doesn't have an "a:" drive (floppy) so I was trying to use and external ZIP drive. Is this an issue? I also have external compact flash reader I tried as well as an external 160g hardrive. Can I put it on one of them? I want to create the dualboot on the laptop in case I go somewhere and don't take the external harddrive (which is mostly for music/movies/pictures anyway).

I did a search on this site and found a topic where people were recommending Debian as a 'learning linux' alternative. Is Debian GUI? I went to their site and I couldn't find anything that said if it was or not. While I've used unix command line interface before I prefer GUI when I can. Of course, sometimes command line is easier and quicker.

What I'm not looking for is something difficult to where I get frustrated and quit, but something that's a good medium starter (aka: I need to learn something to get it to work, but I shouldn't start bleeding from the ears), and something that I can either (a) grow with my experience, or (b) something I can ditch later for more technical options.

All help is appreciated. Thanks,

-Jason

[Maverick83]

Originally Posted by Noocaster

Sorry guys, but another 'newb here.

I've been looking into installing a Linux system as dual boot with my XP laptop and was wondering how I might go about getting this done. I bought a book at MicroCenter called "Teach Yourself RedHat 8" that came with a copy of the software and figure that would be a good place to start. I have a copy of partition magic 8, as well, and am ready to get going. The problems I'm running across and the book doesn't address the answers are these:

1) when using partition magic they have the option of partitioning ext2,3, fat32, or an option for 'installing a Linux system'. Which one do I use? I know ext is the format linux (RH) uses, but should I use the 'install a linux system' option? If so, it tells me I neeed to immediately install linux but... (see Q 2)

2) My DVD drive doesn't autoboot my RH8 disk and when I try to use the instructions in the book for creating a manual boot disk (go to rawrite--> type \images\boot.img <enter> then type drive letter) it doesn't write to the drive.

Unfortunately, I am working with a fairly new laptop and it doesn't have an "a:" drive (floppy) so I was trying to use and external ZIP drive. Is this an issue? I also have external compact flash reader I tried as well as an external 160g hardrive. Can I put it on one of them? I want to create the dualboot on the laptop in case I go somewhere and don't take the external harddrive (which is mostly for music/movies/pictures anyway).

I did a search on this site and found a topic where people were recommending Debian as a 'learning linux' alternative. Is Debian GUI? I went to their site and I couldn't find anything that said if it was or not. While I've used unix command line interface before I prefer GUI when I can. Of course, sometimes command line is easier and quicker.

What I'm not looking for is something difficult to where I get frustrated and quit, but something that's a good medium starter (aka: I need to learn something to get it to work, but I shouldn't start bleeding from the ears), and something that I can either (a) grow with my experience, or (b) something I can ditch later for more technical options.

All help is appreciated. Thanks,

-Jason

For the formatting, you can do that during the RH install process. Linux uses QTParted, a partition manager of it's own. It'll do everything you need.
The format you'll want is ext3, it's essentially ext2, but with more features.
As for the CD not booting, go into your BIOS and make sure the boot order reads as follows:

1. CD/DVD drive
2. Hard Drive

Or something similar.

Hope that helps.