teacher Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 Bruno asked me to summarize my experience in loading Mandrake on my computer and what my initial impressions were. Here goes: How not to do Mandrake: My first attempt at Mandrake was a disaster. It took forever to download the ISO images and then I had to try a couple of different programs to get it burned to CDs. I did do some things right. I made CDs of all my files, particularly my banking files. I exported my registry settings to a CD as well. After all of this, I had a 20 GB hard drive with 7.5 GB free. I went in and reduced the amount of space Windows had for my system restore files and for working space. I then went in to partition the drive. It would only let me partition 1 GB of space. Since that was not enough for Mandrake, I could not do anything. I ordered a new 30 GB hard drive and replaced my aging CD burner. I thought I was ready to go. I put my Cd in and clicked on it. It said to restart my computer. Well, I restarted and nothing happened. I had my start up files set correctly, however, I had it booting to my DVD drive instead of my CD drive. Once I figured this out it was easier to move the disk than change the settings. I rebooted the computer and it went to work. I got to the part on setting up the partitions. I was smart enough to have a separate disk so my only danger to my XP side was if I erased and partitioned the wrong drive. I double-checked the size of the drives to make sure I had the correct one, even though I knew my Linux drive was installed as a slave. I then tried to manually enter in appropriate sizes for the different partitions. I am a very graphic-oriented person so the directions just did not do anything for me until I saw it myself. After trying to undo one partition after another, I figured out to press the clear button which removed everything and then I let Mandrake automatically set my partitions.l It was not the exact sizes recommended, but it did work. I thought I was well on my way. After installing all but the last 1% of the first CD I had an error message. It was in reference to the DVD drive. No problem, we could continue. The second CD came up with several error messages but it was in the middle of installing the games. I figured I did not need the games anyway so I continued. All seemed to be well. I could boot into Mandrake and everything looked fine. However, anything I clicked on came up wtih error messages. I had ordered a CD from the reference in one of the threads and was waiting on that to arrive..... How to do Mandrake I downloaded new copies of Disk 1 and Disk 2. They downloaded in 6 hours without any problems. The new CD-RW drive came with Nero. I used Nero and with a click or two (burn image setting, not wizard) I had my two disks. I put disk 1 in and rebooted the computer. It went to the install menu. I decided to start over. When it came to the part about the partitions, I cleared the partitions that were present and again let it automatically set them up. Then when it came to the menu of what options to install, I selected the defaults on the right and everything on the left. It then whizzed through the installation, stopping long enough only to ask for Disk 2. After a total of about 25 minutes since burning the CDs, it asked for the International disk or to cancel if I did not have it. I clicked cancel. Next thing I know my computer is booting up with the option of Mandrake or Windows. I go into Mandrake and it appears to work fine. I halt and go into Windows to check everything out there. Again, everything is fine. Since I used separate hard drives, there were no problems with this installation.My Impressions Initially, I was very fearful of doing something wrong while trying to identify all the new icons and menus. I have set up my browser, my e-mail, installed Firebird and am learning my way around. It is very much a graphically oriented environment, with throwbacks to the konsole as a reminder of the days of DOS. I like what I see. It appears to be a very stable environment but I have not truly tested it yet. I currently have about 12 separate things open on my desktop as I move around and figure things out. I have several browsers open and they are working great. I am testing out gedit with this post. I have so many different choices because it lets me choose between the Mandrake options, Gnome, the konsoles, and a wide variety. I have about four different options of what to boot into when I start it up. I have started with the KDE (I think that is right) and am happily working my way around trying everything out. It looks like all it is missing is my banking program to consider a complete switch. It is weird though to be able to find all my drives under Mandrake but only my Windows drive under Windows. That will probably keep me over in Mandrake quite a bit in the near future.Anyway, many thanks to all who have joined in trying to teach me how to do this. I am excited to get started and really learning now. Yes, I even have the books and what-all to start some reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quint Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 For that wonderful term paper, you get an: A+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greengeek Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 I'd make that an AA++. Congratulations, hope you stay with Linux! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 AAAOn that Paper Teach!And on your Patience and Tenacity!(Bruno sure provides some great install disaster insurance as well!You don't have to feel like you are going it alone.)Bruno's AAA Install Insurance!Great Job Bruno!Another Happy User Helped Along the Path Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThunderRiver Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 Julia, perhaps you should have defrag the NTFS partition first, and use the Mandrake to resize NTFS so that you would have at least 4 gig for it to install. It really doesn't take that much space to install if you are only doing it for experiment.Lastly, it really depends on what you install. I only needed CD1 to install all I need, so I didn't bother with CD2.I downloaded everything off the net, and used Nero to burn the CD image, and made up my plan before proceeding installation.I would not trust too much with Mandrake "auto-partition". I would always perform such procedure manually.Very nice of you for trying out Linux. Good job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zox Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 ****, it's got to be AAAA :)Congrats Julia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 There ya go zox .. you're in the swing of it now:AAAAA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 Thanks Julia,Nice job you did on telling us in lengths about your experiences. Thats the first AFor your never ending patience during all these adventures the second AThe fierce persistence of a bull-terrier getting Mandrake to work for you the third AYour willingness to learn something completely different and new the fourth AAnd all this without even shouting once: ¨I give up !¨ during those 197 posts, the fifth AFinally, for registering, without even asking why, at The Counter you get the +That takes the score to AAAAA+ Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 22, 2003 Author Share Posted May 22, 2003 Julia, perhaps you should have defrag the NTFS partition first, and use the Mandrake to resize NTFS so that you would have at least 4 gig for it to install. It really doesn't take that much space to install if you are only doing it for experiment.I have FAT32 on my XP drive. I never bothered to convert it when I moved up to XP. I guess I left out that I did defrag and scandisk before I tried to partition (It's hard to remember everything in hind sight . I consider my plans for it more than an experiment. I want to use it until I am comfortable with everything there is there. When you teach for a living, you can't just know bits and pieces or they will eat you alive!Lastly, it really depends on what you install. I only needed CD1 to install all I need, so I didn't bother with CD2. I downloaded everything off the net, and used Nero to burn the CD image, and made up my plan before proceeding installation. I want to try a little of everything and just did not understand well enough what the different programs actually do. I had tried a downloaded version of Nero to burn the first CD and it just was not complete enough to do the ISO. When I purchased the new CD-RW it came with a copy of Nero that had the ISO copy portion. Was I happy to see how easy that worked. I would not trust too much with Mandrake "auto-partition". I would always perform such procedure manually. This is not an area I ever do much in. I have never had a need to partition anything. I take that back, I think I did a partition once in the mid-90s. I proved to myself in the first install I just could not get it right. When I tried to manually partition, I got errors saying my partitions had overlapping sectors. I tried everything I could think of to move them so they would not overlap. I guess it is for people like me that they put the easy tools like auto-partition there. I admit I just don't have the skills for that particular step. Very nice of you for trying out Linux. Good job Thank you one and all. I know, without a doubt, I would never have ventured into trying Linux without the fourm. This would have remained one of those areas where I could have said when someone asked me: "Yes, I know it is out there and people use it, but it is just way out of my league." I can happily tell people now: "I am having a great time learning it!"Quint, GreenGeek, Zox, LilBambi, Bruno, ThunderRiver:Thanks for the high marks. I am attending a 3-day workshop with all the technology coordinators in my district. I am one of two teachers there. It is all I can do to keep from telling everyone all about Linux. It's kind of like a kid walking around, just bursting at the seams - I've got a secret and you don't know it. Now, I just have to keep the forum a secret. I can't let anyone know there is a place where people will take you by the hand and walk you through what you need to learn, step by step. It would ruin the mystique of it all! A big thanks to everyone for your patience and tolerance of me! __________________________The New Linux kid in town! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 Here you can read that an install of 9.1 can even make a pro nervous ! ( Joe Barr from LinuxWorld got his Mandrake 9.1 PowerPack ) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 22, 2003 Author Share Posted May 22, 2003 It sure looked familiar up to a certain point. I am glad I was not trying to go from another variety. There is a lot to be said for using a new hard drive and keeping it totally separate! I guess I was luckier than I thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted May 22, 2003 Share Posted May 22, 2003 You only needed the new drive because you did not have enough space on the first one, people with large drives have no problems keeping the 2 OS seperate. Mandrake but also other distro´s know very well that people would want to dualboot and do not want their windows partition messed up due to an experiment.The advatage you have is; the day you want to get writ of windows you can just take out that old drive :( ( or transfer it into an other machine. ) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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