HDD PARTITIONING AND LINUX INSTALLATION

Fedora Core 1

The strategy for HDD partitioning will depend on whether you want to dual-boot Window XP and Linux, or run with Linux only. The features of this laptop are quite well-supported by Fedora Core 1: the only "problematic" hardware being the Infrared port. With all the excellent Open Source applications now available under Linux, there is really no need to install Windows, unless your PC is connected to a Corporate "Microsoft standardized" network where Linux clients are not allowed...

How to set up a dual-boot Linux/XP system

If you really must have Windoze XP or 2000, there is a very simple way of cloning the ghost image from the Toshiba recovery disk, without dedicating the whole 38 GBytes of your hard disk to Bill Gates. The following steps will, however, destroy all the data on it, so please make a backup of your important files before starting any of this.

  1. Insert the Toshiba "Product Recovery DVD-ROM" and switch the computer off then on, while holding down <Ctrl><c> until you hear "beeps". This will force the machine to boot from DVD-ROM.
  2. When you get the RECOVERY UTILITY splash screen, hit <Ctrl><c> again: it will ask if you want to "Terminate batch job?" - hit <Y> and you should get a DOS prompt. Type CLS to clear the screen, CD TOOLS then FDISK to start the disk partitioning utility.
  3. Enable large disk support, delete all partitions, and create a new FAT32 partition of 14503 MBytes. (Unfortunately, you cannot make the Windoze partition any smaller than this if you want to use the Toshiba ghost image. It still leaves you with a whopping 23 GB for Linux, which should be enough for most people...).
  4. Make the new 14.5 GB partition active, and escape from FDISK. Switch off.
  5. Switch on again, holding <Ctrl><c> as usual. When you get the RECOVERY UTILITY splash screen, select Option 1 (XP) or 2 (2000), it does not matter which. At the next screen, select Option 1 (Start Installation).
  6. The Recovery Utility will then offer to reformat your entire hard disk - Option 1 (NOT A GOOD IDEA) - so please select Option 2 (Expert Mode).
  7. When in Expert Mode, select (using the right arrow key) Local -> Disk -> From Image (Enter). You will see the available ghost images: S6K1ENP1.GHO (XP) and S6K1ENK1.GHO (2000). Choose whichever takes your fancy, press OK, and the utility will then offer to create a primary partition of 38 GB (aaagh!). You surely will not want this, so manually SET a new size of 14503 MB, OK, PROCEED = YES.
  8. At some stage, it will ask you for a "Recovery CD #2" which you don't have. Just keep the DVD ROM in the drive and press OK.
  9. When finished, reboot your computer from HDD and check that Windows XP (or 2000) starts up correctly.
  10. Now you can install a serious operating system... Insert Fedora Core 1 Install CD #1, and reboot, holding <Ctrl><c>, then proceed with the installation. Unless you want something special, I would recommend that you select the "Automatic partitioning" and "Remove all Linux partitions" options, when prompted. This will leave your 14503 MB for DOS on hda1, and will create a 99 MB /boot partition on hda2, with 21.7 GB allocated to the / (root partition). /swap is on an extended partition, hda5.
  11. Very important: If you want to avoid problems with Windoze trying to take control of your system again, please use the suggested boot loader (GRUB) and not LILO. GRUB has the unique advantage of being able to "spoof" MBR details, so that Windoze believes it is the only operating system on the planet. Let it believe that if it wants; it saves a lot of trouble!
  12. Please also read the general comments on Linux installation, below.

How to set up a Linux-only system

Start the procedure from Step 10, above. The only differences will be no Windoze (hooray!) and the size of the / root partition, which will be about 36 GB.

Now, some general comments about the installation process.


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