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Dual Boot with Fedora 2 and Win2K
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Posted by: Brett
Hi everyone, I have a question for anyone who knows linux.
My computer uses Win2K on the primary HD (120gig) and I just installed Fedora 2 on the second HD (10gig). When I re-booted I didn't get the option to load windows, only linux.
I am in a real bind here, I cannot even see my primary HD from linux and I cannot use a boot disk to get to DOS. My computer is stuck in Fedora and I don't have any linux knowledge.
Can someone please spend some time and outline what I need to do to recover my system. I really want to learn about linux as I have heard good things about stability and performance, but this experience could turn me off. I'm sure there is a simple answer I just don't know it.
Posted by: Boggy B
I read something about this in Linux Format. Apparently there's some bug with Fedora when dual booting with Windows, but that's all i can remember. 
Your best bet, is to switch the boot device priority in BIOS to the 120gb, if it wasn't already, and make the 10gb a slave. If that's the way it already is, or it doesn't work, install Grub, which is a linux bootloader. However you'll have to figure out how it's installed yourself, i'm a Linux newbie myself. It may be part of the FC2 Cd's, and it may even be already installed, or you may have to install it manually. There's plenty of tutorials out there.
Another option, is re-install Fedora Core 2 and when you get to the bit about the bootloader, (Grub) add the Windows hard-drive to the list. It's a simple matter of choosing which hard-drive it's on, and giving it a name.
The reason that you can't see your windows drive in Linux, is because that Linux cannot read NTFS file systems by default. Similarly, you will not be able to see your Linux drive in Windows.
If Fedora Core is your first Linux OS, i'd recommend trying a live CD distro first (This means that the OS will boot entirely from the CD, without modifying any hard drives). If you've got a decent connection and can download a 700mb file, get Knoppix. If you're on a slower connection, get the 180mb Slax.
Both of these are Live distros that have a user friendly interface and a KDE Desktop environment.
As for permanant installs, Mandrake is argueably the most user friendly of them all, but really, it's no good if you want to learn Linux. It's just about the same as Windows in the end. I'd reccommend Fedora to be your first Permanant Linux install, but the thing is, when it comes to Linux, if you ask 10 questions, you'll get 150 different answers. You'll have to make up your own mind.
EDIT: I found the magazine, the warning section is as follows:
 Quote:
Warning
We have recently become aware of a problem that may affect dual-booting with Fedora Core 2 and Windows. This can cause Windows to fail to boot after installing Fedora Core 2. While it looks serious, the fix is fairly simple and detailed in the box Potential problem for dual boot on page 49.
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It keeps going with some tips on avioding the bug, which is too late for us.
Here's "The cure" on page 49, the stuff in brackets is stuff added by me.
Quote:
(In Fedora Core 2) Open a terminal and typeto become root, then type the following (Enter or Return between lines)
Code:
sfdisk -d /dev/sda
egrep -v '^(Warning|DOS)'
sfdisk --no-reread -H255 /dev/hda
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After a little bit more crapping on over what that actually does, it references the following link for more information: http://lwn.net/Articles/86835/
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
You should be able to add the Windows drive by editing your bootloader. You're either using Lilo or Grub so it will be different depending on which you use.
As for your NTFS drive, it is probably readable already in Fedora. Check the /usr/mnt directory. If there's a windows icon in there, click on it to see if you can read from your NTFS hard drive. If it doesn't show up, then you'll have to edit the fstab file.
The above steps can be tricky to do from the command line. It's probably possible to do it in Fedora from within the GUI, but I am not familiar with it. Here's some links to get you started onto some good help.
1. Lilo how-to
2. Grub how-to
3. FSTAB how-to
I also recommend you goto www.linuxquestions.org and post in the Fedora forum. It's a great place to get help and also the experienced Fedora users can help point you to easier fixes if they are available.
Linux is a great OS, but you have to be willing to read and learn about it to make it worthwhile. And it is worth the time you put into it.
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Boggy B
As for permanant installs, Mandrake is argueably the most user friendly of them all, but really, it's no good if you want to learn Linux.
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I think Mandrake is a great distro to learn Linux with. Probably the best place to start. Even though it has great, easy to use GUI setups and utilites, it's still Linux under the hood and comes with all the command-line stuff. If you want to tinker, you have a working system to do it on. I have compiled and installed all sorts of things from source, solved dependancy problems, learned to use vim, installed fluxbox. You aren't limited in any way. The main difference is you have some good GUI tools to fall back on.
Yeah there are more in-depth ways to learn Linux, but for a newbie, it's the best place to start. I probably would have had more trouble doing a stage one Gentoo install if I hadn't been familiar with Linux from my Mandrake experience. Even with a lot of experience, I still use it because it saves a lot of time and is just so easy to install and get everything running with.
Posted by: Brett
Thanks for the replies, I'll give some of the suggestions a go. I guess I'm forced to learn now...
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
You might try Mandrake. It's the best new user friendly distro.
Also, the time spent learning Linux is worth it. All the free software the comes with it would have cost me about 800$ to buy the equivelent software for the Windows OS. And in some cases it's better. K3b is the best CD burning utility period. And RipperX is awsome for ripping CD's to mp3 or Ogg vorbis.
Never having to bother with virus scanners and spyware removing software is also a big plus as well.
Posted by: Boggy B
Quote:
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I think Mandrake is a great distro to learn Linux with. Probably the best place to start. Even though it has great, easy to use GUI setups and utilites, it's still Linux under the hood and comes with all the command-line stuff.
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Well, truth be told, i didn't stay with Mandrake for very long, probably about a week before i switched to Fedora, then a week later i got rid of that too. I did next to no Command line stuff in that time, because it's usually easier to use the GUI for doing the basic stuff, that us tinkerers do.
It's only now, that i'm using Xebian and the Red Hat proxy at work, that i am using the command line.
Anyway, as i said, in the end it all falls down to you. You can't get straight answers on matters like this. Especially with Linux, which is made to be open ended.
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
Well said.
I think that's what keeps it from being more competitive in the desktop market. Even though it's great for people that like to tinker or learn their operating system, it only takes an example such as the problem above to keep someone away from Linux for good. Most people just don't care about tinkering with the OS. They just want something that works.
Posted by: Brett
ok, I found the problem.
I am using a logitech internet keyboard, this only works when the computer is fully loaded, when I plugged an old ps2 keyboard in it worked fine. I said it was something simple didn't I?!
Anyway thanks everyone for your help and interest in this matter.
Posted by: Boggy B
That being that case, sorry about making it more complicated than it should have been.
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
I had the same problem with that keyboard. But it was with Windows 2000. 
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