OpenEuphoria

1. RE: [OFFTOPIC]

• Posted by tacitus <indorlaw at zdnetonebox.com> Mar 05, 2001
• 390 views

travis

i've done this many times, with many distros, always with heartbreak. i 
don't like windows either, but ......

here are a few of the hurdles that come to mind.
 
partitioning is the least of your worries. mandrake supplies a cut-down 
version of partition magic with its commercial release, which is 
easiest. there's excellent partitoning information and a freeware 
partitioner (and bootmanager and ghoster) at 
www.users.intercom.com/ranish/part/. if the gui of this utility were not 
horrendous, the commercial programs would be out of business. you may 
wish to use that instead of the standard linux fips and lilo.

tips on partitioning:-
1. always install windows first, because it insists on installing on the 
first drive and overwites earlier boot records. i presume this is the 
same with win me.
2. no need to uninstall windows before installing linux though. you can 
resize an existing windows partition using partition magic, fips or 
ranish by defragging first and creating a partition at the back of the 
drive, or simply by installing linux on a second drive.
3. if you use lilo as the bootmanager you install it in the master boot 
record. if you use a different boot manager, install lilo in the linux 
partition.
4. even if you don't use ranish, their help pages and tutorials on 
partitioning are worthwhile.

now some things to bear in mind about linux.
1. if you have an internal modem, it probably won't work in linux.
2. the video support is sketchy in my experience. the drivers tend to be 
generic, and may give only moderate performance, or poor resolutions. 
there are exceptions. unfortunately the uneven performance can be with 
older cards or chips or brand new supersonic ones. if you have an older 
compaq, for example, you may not be able to get graqphics modes at all.
3. the usb support is embryonic. the current stable kernel (2.4) 
apparently has better support, but i don't think that kernel has reached 
the commercial distros yet.
4. things like soundcards have a tendency simply not to work.

sorry to sound depressing, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. the 
reason i persist with linux is that i want it to work well, but so far 
no luck. 

cheers

tacitus

Travis Beaty wrote:
> Howdy y'all!
> ............
> Now then, this leaves me with the alternative of switching over to Linux 
> once 
> Windows ME takes on the rusty air of Win95.  So, I am now *very 
> seriously* 
> considering installing a version of Linux on my system.  But, in Travis' 
> 
> eternal battle to have his cake and eat it too, I do not want to get rid 
> of 
> Windows ME for fear that most of what I have in the way of code, (other 
> than 
> Euphoria of course) cannot be ported over.  So, I suppose this means a 
> "dual 
> partition."  That is something that I've never done before, and it 
> naturally 
> makes me quite nervous.
> 
> If anyone out there has done this, and can let me know what kind of 
> difficulties I'll encounter ... heck, if anybody out there could give me 
> a 
> clue as to how to go about doing it ... please give me a holler 
> privately.  
> It'll be a nice day, so I'll probably be hard at work and unable to 
> respond 
> until tonight, but any pointers would be appreciated.
> 
> And, Kat, I apologize for doubting your wisdom in these matters.
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Hunting,
> 
> Travis Beaty
> Claude, Texas.
>