[NTLUG:Discuss] Long dual boot question

Wed Jul 10 00:24:45 CDT 2002

Wayne,

Go to 

http://www.xosl.org/ 

I have been using XOSL for the last 7 or 8 years without any difficulties or complaints. Install it as per the instructions, and then on reboot, 
point it to your various OSs. I have had 3 forms of Windows, 4 versions of Linux, along with 1 version each of BSD and DOS at the same time 
on the same machine. You will want to thank me, so do that by passing the word about XOSL and Linux.

First Saturday
http://www.sidewalksale.com/
 has had problems with crooks, but they have been quickly identified and their identities posted at the above website. While honest vendors 
and bargains are the norm, there have been some ripoffs. Saying that, I will say that I go as often as I need parts for a major upgrade or a 
new system build. Speaking of,,,, I may see you if you are  there next month.

As far as offering advice on Windows, I am sorry that I can not. I swore years ago that I would not assist a "man" ( i use that term for lack of a 
better term) like Bill Gates get any richer. My offering free support would only help him out.  I would say that a total reinstall of Windows may 
be your best option though.

At 7/9/02 9:51:00 AM, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I need some info about doing a dual boot with Linux and Windoze 98.  Let me 
>tell you what has happened to this computer I'm asking about.
>
>My wife doesn't see very well and needs the computer set to 640 x 480 
>screen resolution, whereas I like it at 1024 x 768 on my 15" monitor (I see 
>like a hawk).  I had screwed up and left the monitor set to the higher 
>resolution and my wife, unable to read the icons on the desktop very well, 
>went into the Accessibility options (it was a Windoze 98 OS, not sure which 
>version as it was loaded on it when we got this hand-me-down computer) and 
>set the option for higher visibility fonts with black on white high 
>contrast.  That was a bad mistake because it appeared to corrupt some files 
>on the computer.  Apparently, Windows doesn't like for you to use those 
>accessibility options in a higher screen resolution.  I have been unable to 
>fix it and it won't even boot up into Safe mode.  The dialog box pops up 
>saying you're in safe mode, I click ok on that an immediately an error box 
>saying Explorer has caused a general protection fault in an unknown module 
>(real helpful, huh?).  When I click on that ok button, the safe mode dialog 
>box comes back up and it gets stuck in a loop you can't get out of as each 
>dialog box comes back up after clicking ok.  The only thing to do is hit 
>control-alt-delete and reboot to a floppy.
>
>The filesystem would come up ok because I could see it from this computer 
>on my internal network, so I was able to copy all of the application 
>directories and applications to another computer, although being able to 
>get them to work again on a fresh install of Windows might be a challenge 
>unless I can just reinstall them from scratch.  The desktop was completely 
>unusable and would not completely boot up.  The bootlog didn't really show 
>any major problems either.
>
>This computer came from my mother-in-law's boss and he may have the 
>restoration discs for it (the computer came from CompUSA and is one of 
>their home brand jobs).  I have never been able to get the onboard sound 
>card to work on it as it appears that her boss had somehow removed the 
>drivers for it (have been unable to find any drivers for it)and it doesn't 
>have an add in sound card.
>
>Here is the skinny on the computer...
>
>Intel Celeron 466 Mhz
>256 Megs 130 Mhz RAM
>1 6 Gig hard drive, C:, no other drive currently, although I have plans to 
>add an 80 Gig HD to it.
>CD-RW drive (can't remember the brand, but it worked out of the box with 
>the existing CD-ROM drivers)
>PS-2 Mouse, PS-2 keyboard (although once I get it back up and running, my 
>wife uses a natural keyboard using a USB connection)
>
>Can't think of anything else pertinent, but here comes the dual boot 
>question.  First, if I'm going to load Linux (Red Had 7.3) and Windows on 
>this machine, which do I load first?  I've had to fdisk and format the 
>drive because it was just unrecoverable and plan to just reload it.  Should 
>I format the drive with Linux and set the partitions with it first, install 
>RH 7.3 and then  install Windows into the FAT32 partition?  And never 
>having done that, if it's done that way, then how does the Windows 
>installation CD see that partition?  Is there anything special I need to do 
>to get it to see it or does it see it automagically?
>
>Next, how would you set the partitions?  Windows and the applications that 
>were loaded on it were taking up about 3.5 gigs of space.  Is 2.5 gigs of 
>hard drive space enough to do a Linux install now with the ability to add a 
>LOT of space later once the new hard drive is installed?  Or should I just 
>go ahead and install Windows now and wait until I can get a new hard drive 
>for the space?  I eventually plan on using the current C: drive as the boot 
>drive for Linux and the only drive for Windows.
>
>Off the topic of the dual boot, a friend of mine went to the Saturday sale 
>in downtown Dallas and got some really good deals on a sound card, 256 Megs 
>mem for $30 and an 80 Gig WD drive for $70 (might have been somewhat 
>less).  What do you guys think of getting parts at that sale?
>
>Sorry that this was so long, but I've been fighting this problem for a week 
>now and my wife is both beating herself up for messing up the computer (it 
>was really my fault for leaving it in the higher resolution and I've told 
>her over and over that was so) and driving me nuts to get it fixed.
>
>Thanks in advance for your responses.
>
>Wayne
>
>
>
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