Gary:
Although I'm not a Linux expert, I have had some experience with
Mandrake. Here's my 2 cents worth:
1. Your CD-ROM setup could be a problem. Here are two sites that will be
of help:
        www.linux-mandrake.com
        mandrakeuser.org
Plan on spending a lot of time at both places. Linux-mandrake also
offers several un-moderated newslists. If you subscribe, bear in mind
that you can expect 70 to 100 messages a day, and they sometimes wander
way off topic. But there is a lot of good information there, and
responses are often posted within the hour.
2. Putting Linux on its own drive is a good idea. You avoid all of the
repartitioning hassles, and it simplifies administration. Don't bother
partitioning and formatting the second drive -- Linux will reformat it
as part of the installation. One important caveat, though: Early in the
installation procedure, you will be asked where Linux is to be
installed. Be very certain that it is pointing to hdb and NOT hda, or it
will overwrite your Windows installation.
3. I don't think that it makes any difference whether the second hard
drive is set up as primary slave, secondary master, or secondary slave.
The only rule is that windows must be on the primary master. If you had
both a CD-ROM and a CD-RW, then it might be advantageous to make the
CD-ROM the primary slave, the second HD the secondary master, and the
CD-RW the secondary slave to facilitate CD to CD operations.
4. Since Mandrake Linux includes a multitude of applications in addition
to the OS and utilities, your 1.7 gb drive may not be able to handle
everything. The installation program does a pretty good job of deciding
what to load and what to omit. My advice is to go with the defaults for
a start. You can also elect to install/decline whole families of
programs -- I never install databases, for example. Later, if you really
get hooked on Linux, you can replace the 1.7 drive with one of those
monster 30-40 gb drives.
5. The installation program will install grub, a program that takes care
of the dual booting. It does this by modifying the MBR on your primary
hard drive. Therefore, before you start to install Linux, be certain
that you have a copy of the Nospin boot disk (available on this site).
Add two files to it from your windows folder: format.com and edit.com.
Verify that it works before you even touch the Linux CD's. Then, if you
decide to reinstall, kill, or replace Linux, all that you have to do is
boot to the floppy, type format /mbr, and your system will boot straight
into windows.
6. Yes, tell your BIOS that you have a non-PNP operating system
installed. It won't affect your existing windows installation.
7. One last lookout: Modems seem to be the most common cause of newbie
problems. "Real" modems work, "winmodems" usually don't. There are a lot
of modems out there that cut costs by downloading the traditional modem
tasks to the CPU. They require special drivers to do this, and these
drivers won't work in Linux. While some workarounds have been developed,
many haven't. If you've got an external modem plugged into a com port,
there shouldn't be any problem. If you've got an ISA internal modem,
you're probably all right. (I had to rejumper my Zoom 2919 from PNP to
com 2 irq whatever.) If you've got a PCI or USB modem, be concerned. My
advice is to go to o2.net/~gromtkc/winmodem.html armed with as much
information about your modem as you have.
Enjoy Linux -- it's a different world
Carroll Grigsby

Gary Kaucher wrote:
>
> I'm looking forward to installing Mandrake Linux using the CD's that I got
> from the the Nospin Group.
>
> My computer has an AMD-133 CPU, 96 MB RAM, and currently just one 6 GB HDD
> installed as a master on the primary. The DOS partition on this HDD was set
> up as 100%, and Windows 98 has been installed undisturbed for some time
> now. I believe that my CD-ROM is connected to a SCSI connection on the
> sound card.
>
> Rather than repartitioning my existing HDD, and risk losing everything, I
> have decided to install a second HDD (1.7 GB), and install Linux on that.
> Before I install the new HDD I have a few questions:
>
> 1)Should I install the new HDD as master on the secondary, or slave on the
> primary?
>
> 2)How do I prepare the new HDD to accept Linux? Do I FDISK and FORMAT using
> existing Windows 98 commands, or should I go about it another way? Do I set
> the partition as active?
>
> 3)Will I have to totally revise my BIOS settings and remove PnP and
> automatic settings so Linux will work? If so, will this mess up my booting
> up Windows 98?
>
> 4)What are my options with respect to dual booting? Will I be able to dual
> boot if I have Windows 98 on my 6 GB HDD, and Linux Mandrake on my 1.7 GB HDD?
>
> Thanks for all the help.
>
> Gary

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