New to Linux, starting out with Mandrake 9

[GeminiID]

Hello All,
Yes, I'm a complete Linux newbie and have no idea what to do.
I have numerous questions and would appreciate any advice. Currently I'm running Windows 2000 Pro on a Windows network setup at my house with one other Windows 2000 Pro machine that has a satellite modem, so I run it as proxy for my laptop to access internet.

The one really bad thing I noticed when I upgraded to Windows 2000 is that for some reason I can't watch DVDs anymore. Using WinDVD or PowerDVD, I've tried both, I put my dvd in the drive and start up the software and it crashed. Basically I'm tired of this and want to know how Linux handles DVD playing and is the any software for burning & ripping dvds???

Also, for reference, my laptop specs are:
NEC Versa SX w/ hot swappable drives
366 mhz Pentium II
6.0 GB HD
Toshiba DVD drive, reads all other forms of cds also
3.5 floppy/superdisk combo (Versabay)
2mb video
audio is unkown, Ess maestro something or another (big headache otherwise)
1 usb port

I would really like to set it up to dual boot Windows 2k or Xp & Mandrake 9. I've got Partition Magic 7 ( I think)
I tried to Partition my HD the other day and screwed it up, I wiped everything clean and did a fresh install of Win98 to start over again.
If anyone has used PM7 and has suggestions please let me know. Questions on partitioning also. I read that Linux boot has to be under 1024 cylinder, if a drive is partitioned does it start over in couting the cylinders at the beginning of the new partition?

Not to make this topic too long, I'll go ahead and post this.

Thanks in advance for any help

G-ID

[trommaster]

The one really bad thing I noticed when I upgraded to Windows 2000 is that for some reason I can't watch DVDs anymore. Using WinDVD or PowerDVD, I've tried both, I put my dvd in the drive and start up the software and it crashed. Basically I'm tired of this and want to know how Linux handles DVD playing and is the any software for burning & ripping dvds???

Linux works with dvds fine. I think you can also rip them. one of the media players, xine is so freat that it can render a divX movie on a very low spec machine, which is cool

Also, for reference, my laptop specs are:
NEC Versa SX w/ hot swappable drives
366 mhz Pentium II

xine should run fine on this.
check out http://xine.sf.net for more info

6.0 GB HD
Toshiba DVD drive, reads all other forms of cds also
3.5 floppy/superdisk combo (Versabay)
2mb video

do you know a vendor/model name?

audio is unkown, Ess maestro something or another (big headache otherwise)

the alsa project has drivers for ess maestro, see
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/

I would really like to set it up to dual boot Windows 2k or Xp & Mandrake 9. I've got Partition Magic 7 ( I think)
I tried to Partition my HD the other day and screwed it up, I wiped everything clean and did a fresh install of Win98 to start over again.
If anyone has used PM7 and has suggestions please let me know. Questions on partitioning also. I read that Linux boot has to be under 1024 cylinder, if a drive is partitioned does it start over in couting the cylinders at the beginning of the new partition?

Most linux install programs have good partition tools that can shrink a windows partition and retain the data. Mandrake is one of them.
If you install the Boot loader (probally LiLo) in the 'MBR' of the hard disk, it should have no problems loading up.

Thanks in advance for any help

You're welcome!
Good Luck

Alastair

[JimH]

Also, for reference, my laptop specs are:
NEC Versa SX w/ hot swappable drives
366 mhz Pentium II
6.0 GB HD
Toshiba DVD drive, reads all other forms of cds also
3.5 floppy/superdisk combo (Versabay)
2mb video
audio is unkown, Ess maestro something or another (big headache otherwise)
1 usb port

How much memory does this thing have? It looks like it might be underpowered for KDE or Gnome.

Jim H

[GeminiID]

In reply to the memory question:

About three months ago I put 256 Mb in it and I noticed a huge difference performance wise, compared to the 64 Mb it came with.

Windows 2000 ran a whole lot smoother, and even some games I had installed ran great.

Anyhow, I figure 256 Mbs of memory was pretty darn good for a laptop.

BTW: My video card is made by Trident, Cyber 9338 or somewhere around those numbers. I've tried to get some updated drivers but it's near impossible.

[JimH]

Well 256mb of memory will be fine, but with the processor speed you will probably still have to use a lightweight window manager. Something like blackbox, fluxbox, windowmaker, icewm, etc... I don't know what Mandrake comes with "out of the box".

Jim H

[GeminiID]

In Reply to #4 Reply.

Pardon, being a newbie and all, but what is and why would I need a "lightweight window manager"?

Quoting from mandrake.com the specified requirements to run Mandrake 9 are

Processor: an x586-class or above processor is required. This includes Intel Pentium I/II/III/IV, AMD K6/II/III, AMD Duron, AMD Athlon/XP/MP. Multi-processor machines are supported.
Memory: at least 64 MB is required; 128 MB is recommended.
Hard disks: IDE and SCSI hard disks are supported. Most SCSI and RAID controllers are supported.
Hard disk size: At least 100MB is required, 1GB is recommended.
USB and USB 2.0: most USB devices are supported.
CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives and burners: Most IDE and SCSI models are supported.
Graphic cards: Most ISA, PCI and AGP cards are supported, including 3D hardware acceleration.
Network adapters: Most ISA, PCI and USB network cards are supported. Most modems (except "WinModems"), RNIS and DSL devices are supported.
Printers: Most Inkjet and Laser printers are supported. Most "WinPrinters" are not supported.
Sound Cards: All SoundBlaster-compatible soundcards are supported.
Laptops: Most laptops are supported.
Misc.: Numerous TV cards, graphics tablets, scanners, webcams, digital cameras and FireWire devices are supported.

This is just for reference I suppose, I'm not being argumentative just curious to learn all I can about Linux before I load it on my Laptop.

Thanks for your help so far.

G-ID

[trommaster]

mandrake will install on your system, but because the cpu is quite old, the latest version of KDE (v 3) will probally run slowly on the computer.
KDE is the set of progrmas to run a graphical interface. There are other ones that take up alot less space and sare really quick.

[GeminiID]

Well, I think I see your point.

If KDE might run slower, what do you think GNOME would do?

Is there a noticibly big difference between the two?

I started the installation of Mandrake the other day and it gives you a choice to run KDE or GNOME or both I suppose, when you get to the "which programs to install" screen.

Also, on another topic, I basically quite the installation because I wasn't too comfortable with the partitioning part of it. I've got Windows 2000 already installed on the 6 Gigabyte hard drive, and I want Linux to occupy roughly 2.5 to 3 Gigabytes.

I know this might be asking alot, but could someone explain how to do this with the partition when installing Mandrake. It looks a little confusing and I'd rather not mess up.

Thanks a bunch for all the help so far,

G-ID

[trommaster]

you can basicly install anything you want.
it should fit in the 3 gb.
a good idea is to install everyrthing, then do another install when you are more skilled and just install what you know you want

[protosniper]

I know this might be asking alot, but could someone explain how to do this with the partition when installing Mandrake. It looks a little confusing and I'd rather not mess up.

If I'm not mistaken, Win2000 runs on the NTFS file system and Mandrake 9.0 is still FAT32. The simplest way to resize your NTFS partition is to use a partition utility like BootIT NG (it's free) to give you enough empty space to install your Linux partition. After that, just run the Mandrake installation CD and follow the instructions. To help with the instatllation, you can use the Wizard to automatically configure your free space into a Linux partition.

Before any partition adjustments, make sure you run defrag on your harddrive.

PS. IMO, GNome is rougher on the processor than KDE. Your best bet (spacewise) is to install IceWM or Blackbox as your graphical desktop.