Hard drives and Linux

Smike

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In the interest of saving valuble space on the already overworked JREF server, I have combined the two threads I was planning to start into one.

Thread 1:
I'm thinking of buying a new hard drive, probably around 40-80GB. Any advice? Brands? What's this about different connections? IDE? ATA? SATA?

Thread 2:
Spurred by the blatant propoganda spread around this forum, I am interested in installing Linux on a spare PC I have lying around. Could someone give me a link to a suitable version, with easy-to-understand instructions of how to install it, in large, friendly letters.

Don't even think about saving server space by not replying. ;)
 
Thread 1:
I'm thinking of buying a new hard drive, probably around 40-80GB. Any advice? Brands? What's this about different connections? IDE? ATA? SATA?
Click to expand...

I have no opinion: just don't buy anything MFM or RLL.

:P

Thread 2:
Spurred by the blatant propoganda spread around this forum, I am interested in installing Linux on a spare PC I have lying around. Could someone give me a link to a suitable version, with easy-to-understand instructions of how to install it, in large, friendly letters.
Click to expand...


You're going to get a ton of recommendations here.

Mine are:

1) Download Knoppix and try it out a little without installing anything. It's like a free chance to try out Linux without touching your hard drive. And it's one of the most useful CDs ever created.

2) Go for Ubuntu Linux. It is based on Debian, and they're good people. It's supposedly made to be easy to use.

3) Try Redhat and/or Suse. They are the two big commercial distributions and make a lot of money out of being easy to install. They, however, don't "get it" like the Debian people do.

4) Try Debian proper. Debian has a few different versions, named after characters from Toy Story. I'd recommend Sarge or Sid; Woody is a bit dated and you won't like it.

Personally, I use Sarge and Sid on my machines, stright from Debian, but I always keep a Knoppix CD handy for emergencies, and I've got my mom running Ubuntu Linux.

Good luck.

-Chris
 
scribble said:
1) Download Knoppix and try it out a little without installing anything. It's like a free chance to try out Linux without touching your hard drive.
Click to expand...

Got a link? Presumably I need to download a CD image file, then burn it.
 
Smike said:
Thread 1:
I'm thinking of buying a new hard drive, probably around 40-80GB. Any advice? Brands? What's this about different connections? IDE? ATA? SATA?
Click to expand...
ATA is just a new name for IDE. If your motherboard supports SATA, buy a SATA drive. SATA and ATA drives give basically the same performance, but SATA has a thin little data cable which doesn't get in the way of cooling like an IDE cable does.

If you wish to install Windows XP onto a new SATA drive, be aware that you must (temporarily) install a floppy drive in your machine so that you can install the SATA drivers for the main install.
 
Can you still buy 40GB? The price points I have seen make 120GB a good buy.

If you need new drivers to boot XP for an install onto a SATA drive, then that is a major PITA. Since the performance gain is marginal at present, ATA should do.
 
Try Debian proper. Debian has a few different versions, named after characters from Toy Story. I'd recommend Sarge or Sid; Woody is a bit dated and you won't like it.
Click to expand...
Is not Debian the one which asks one thousand mystifying questions about your hardware when installing?
Or maybe I am confusing it with Suse...

What's the state of the easy-to-install ones? There was Lindows and Mandrake, right?
 
Mandrake is still my linux of choice because it is easy to install and supports a wide range of hardware.

Red Hat and Suse are the ones that are making the biggest splash in the corporate arena and they are both fairly friendly to use. If you intend to really get to grips with linux, perhaps one these 2 might be the most 'future-proof' option.

Red Hat does a free version called Fedora, BTW.
 
You could probably find a dvd with a Linux distro on it. It's where I got SUSE 9.2. I like SUSE, it's easy to install and it covers about everything you could want (assuming you get a professional version, like I did when they were giving them away last year when they had 9.1 out). Knoppix is a good choice, you don't even need a hard drive from what I hear, just memory and a cd drive. Though you can't save to disk unless you install it to the drive.

Screeny of a default SUSE 9.2 in KDE
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/noogie/snapshot1.jpg

EDIT:
Oh yeah, if you get any recommendations for Slackware, steer clear. I went onto it not long after trying Red Hat (and hating it). Sure it's solid, but chances are you won't even get half your stuff working 'properly'.
 
Kinda curious about this myself.....couple questions:

- Which of these are free?

- What's a typical amt of HD space needed?

- Can I install on the same PC if my HD is partitioned?
 
bigred said:
Kinda curious about this myself.....couple questions:

- Which of these are free?

- What's a typical amt of HD space needed?

- Can I install on the same PC if my HD is partitioned?
Click to expand...

I think Suse is charged-for. Not sure if you can simply copy a Suse CD and help yourself. Most others are free.

For my money Fedora Core 3 is the best. I tried Ubuntu and really suffered with all kinds of little "quirky" problems.
I will hand it to Debian (Ubuntu is based on Debian) - they have the best software installer going. That alone makes Ubunutu worth-while for a first-timer to Linux.

Typical space.. Oh, I think you could happily get away with a full install in a 5 or 10gig segment. This includes loads of free software, not just the O/S.

You can install into any partition - the installers will usually ask you which one. You must, however, be careful about the Master Boot Record (MBR) on your harddrive. This is the first 512 bytes (or is it 1024 bytes?) of your drive. This is where a thing called a "Loader" program lives. This is what asks you which O/S you want to boot when you start the pc. If you already have Windows installed you are going to have to tread carefully to not destroy access to Windows. Lots of help on Google.


Good luck!
 
Donn said:
If you already have Windows installed you are going to have to tread carefully to not destroy access to Windows. Lots of help on Google.


Good luck! [/B]
Click to expand...

Quick Guide:

(Assuming Debian)

1) Partition your hard drive -- set up X amount of space as a Windows partition. Save 10gb(ish) for Linux. Install Windows on the new partition.

IF YOUR DRIVE IS ALREADY PARTITIONED:

1) Get Knoppix CD. Boot Knoppix. Select "QTParted" from the Utilities menu. Resize the existing Windows paritition, making ~10gb free space for Linux.

2) Get Debian Sarge ISO #1. There are about 17 ISOs in a full Sarge distribution. Skip them, just get the 1st one. You can install the rest off the 'net.

3) Make sure your Windows install is still working just fine.

4) Put in the Debian CD, Reboot.

5) Install Debian...
a) When it asks you to partition, make a new empty partition for Debian -- use ext3 as the partition type. For the best of all worlds, also create a swap partition, and optionally a boot partition. DON'T delete or modify your existing parittion -- that's where Windows is and messing with it now will ruin your Windows install.
b) When it asks you which bootloader to use (if it does) you want GRUB. When GRUB asks you where to install (/boot or MBR) pick to install in the MBR. IT's okay; GRUB knows how to handle your windows partition.

Everything else will basically take care of itself...
 
An additional note on partitioning:

1) Linux's fdisk will allow you to create more than 4 primary partitions, but doing so will cause problems. If you are going to have 4 or more partitions, make a logical parititon and create the rest of your stuff in that.
2) If you want to be able to easily share data between Windows and Linux, either install Windows itself on a FAT32 file system, or create another partition as FAT32 for sharing files. You don't want to have to fsck with trying to write to NTFS from linux.

-Chris
 
Donn said:
Typical space.. Oh, I think you could happily get away with a full install in a 5 or 10gig segment. This includes loads of free software, not just the O/S.
Click to expand...
Ouch. Er how much w/o the freebies?
 
Thanks for the help so far.

I've downloaded knoppix, and messed around with it for a bit. Looks pretty cool. I'll have to try using it a bit more seriously before I get a full version though.
 
Also magazines like "Linux Format" are in most big newsagents (~£5-£6). They normally have a free linux distribution on the CDs/DVD if you don't have a fast web connection.

They *normally* guide you through what to do as well.

I've installed Mandrake Linux 9.2 and 10.1 and Fedora core 2.

Mandrake 10.1 was the easiest to install for myself.

But please back up anything important if you don't know what your doing before hand.

Also since going over to Linux my windows partion is almost never used. I've booted it twice since the new year. Linux s good.
 
bigred said:
Ouch. Er how much w/o the freebies?
Click to expand...
Pretty much as much or little as you want. DamnSmallLinux fits on under 50MB and gives you a working graphical environment, web browser etc.

If you're willing to sacrifice a graphical environment you can get it down even lower than that.
 
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