Dual Boot with Windows XP?

[apota]

I'm new to Linux and I haven't installed VL yet.  Will it give me an option during installation to setup a Dual Boot?  How does that work?  Will it resize my exisiting Windows Partition?  Thanks for your help and time!

[stretchedthin]

There are a umber of tutorials you may find helpful here, including an example of how to set up a windows dual boot with vl.
http://www.opensourcebistro.com/Tutorial/VL60/01.Installation/page

[apota]

OK, I'll check it out. Thanks!

[stretchedthin]

I tried that but the videos are missing.

http://www.opensourcebistro.com/Tutorial/VL60/01.Installation/MSdualboot/MSdualboot.htm

What browser are you trying to watch this in? Is is Flash capable? Link you provided above worked fine for me in Firefox and Seamonkey on VL6.0 Std.

[apota]

Yeah, I got it working. I just started using IE 64-bit and I didn't know it didn't have flash installed. I figured it out.  That's why I deleted that post. 

[apota]

OK, I read it.  I guess I'm going with Windows 2K instead of XP.  I don't think that will be a problem since it's a really old computer. I do still have some questions. I created a 20GB partition for 2K and a 20GB partition for VL SOHO.  I guess VL needs either 2 or 3 partitions, a Swap which needs to be 2x the memory size, so since I have 512K RAM I need to make it 1GB.  Then can I make a 2nd 19GB partition that will be the Home and Root partition, or do I need to make 2 seperate ones like it shows in the demo?  I don't know what they partitions are for, so I don't know what size to make those partitions. It doesn't say in the Demo.  All I can see is the sizes he made them, 8.38GB for root and 11.58GB for home. I don't know how he came up with those sizes.  He says he could have chosen to just leave it as a root partition.  Does that mean that you don't need the home partition?  I want to install VL SOHO on a PIII 1Ghz with 512MB of RAM.  Will it run fast and not slow?  Thanks again!

[newt]

The choice of 2, 3, or more partitions is highly personal. I typically do 3 partitions (swap, /, /home), however starting with just 2 partitions (swap, /) is perfectly fine and normal.  In fact, often times when starting with linux it's easier to reinstall the system 100% than it is to try to fix system issues or manage a separate /home partition. But really, it just comes down to personal choice.  I would recommend 2 partitions for VL (swap and /).  Just so you know, if other partitions are not specified (i.e. /home) then they simply fall within the root partition (/).

Swap size is also very personal. I've found that I've never had need for a swap partition greater than 512mb on an older laptop (amd 1500+ with 512mb ram), however if you plan on audio/video processing or heavy photo processing then a larger swap would be preferential.

To sum up, my recommendation would be:
Windows 2000, NTFS, 20GB
VectorLinux, ext3/reiserfs/xfs, 19.5GB
swap, 512mb

[apota]

Well, I'm installing it right now.  I did a ext3 partition like you suggested, but you said to do both reiserfs & xfs but it just seems to let you do one or the other, but not both.  So, I chose reiserfs.

The only other question is the wireless adapter.  I assume it won't be a problem it detecting and installing the video and audio drivers, but what about my Linksys WMP54GS?  Linksys doesn't seem to carry the Linux drivers. I'm hoping VL will detect it and install the drivers.  What do I do if it doesn't?  Thanks!

The choice of 2, 3, or more partitions is highly personal. I typically do 3 partitions (swap, /, /home), however starting with just 2 partitions (swap, /) is perfectly fine and normal.  In fact, often times when starting with linux it's easier to reinstall the system 100% than it is to try to fix system issues or manage a separate /home partition. But really, it just comes down to personal choice.  I would recommend 2 partitions for VL (swap and /).  Just so you know, if other partitions are not specified (i.e. /home) then they simply fall within the root partition (/).

Swap size is also very personal. I've found that I've never had need for a swap partition greater than 512mb on an older laptop (amd 1500+ with 512mb ram), however if you plan on audio/video processing or heavy photo processing then a larger swap would be preferential.

To sum up, my recommendation would be:
Windows 2000, NTFS, 20GB
VectorLinux, ext3/reiserfs/xfs, 19.5GB
swap, 512mb

[apota]

What's the difference between choosing Grub and Lilo?  The tutorial must be old because it doesn't even show you that you have an option between the too!  Thanks..

[apota]

OK, I've finished installing it and I still have some issues and questions:

1) How do I get my Linksys WMP54GS wireless network adapter to work? How do I install it and configure it?

2) How do I install a printer?

3) I seem to remember in some other versions of Linux that it had an online catalog of software programs. You just chose from a catagory and it listed thousands of software programs and you can choose which ones you wanted and it would download them and install them for you.  I can't find that on here.

4) I'm having problems with the desktop. The left side is going off the screen and I can't see it.  Is there a way I can move the desktop over?  There is a gap on the left side of the screen. I did a temporary fix by changing the resolution to a lower one so I can see the whole screen, but when I restart the computer it goes back to the old resolution. How can I fix this? 

[nightflier]

Congratulations on a successful installation. 

At this point, it is best to address future issues in separate threads, in the appropriate sections of the forum. Include information about your hardware, what version of Vector you are using, and a description of your problem.

I'll take a stab at some of your questions:
1) Open a terminal (command line window), enter "su" and press enter, then supply your root password. Next, enter "VLwifi" and follow the prompts. You will probably need to accept use of ndiswrapper.

2) Not sure what version of VL you are using, so the universal answer is to open http://localhost:631/admin/ in your browser.

3) The program you want is the package manager gslapt. Look for it on the menu under "System".

4) To center your image, you can tweak your display by using the buttons on the monitor itself. I guess it's a tube type CRT?

Grub/LILO: They are different flavors of boot loaders. Using the default is usually the safest and easiest. Free software is evolving rapidly, and unfortunately, documentation tends to lag behind. One quickly learns to use internet search to find answers.