Linux & Win 98

[Lloyd]

I would like to install mandrake 8.1 on a second hard drive, with 98 on my "main" drive. What options do I have as far as which one to boot to? Would I have to go into the bios each time I boot to change the sequence? Or is there a better way? For the record, my main drive is a 28 gig with about 25 gigs free, the second drive is a 7.8 gig. Thanks for any suggestions.

[zipulrich]

Easiest way that I know of (I don't run Linux) is a third-party app, such as Power Quest's Partition Magic (http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/pm7details.html), which includes 'Boot Magic'. Allows you to dual-boot, with your choice of which OS to boot to.

[smurfy]

Well, depending on your Linux distro, you should also have LILO (Linux boot loader) which will give you option to dual boot.
But I agree a specialist boot manager that is not O/S dependant is best.
I use XOSL (which includes Ranish partition manager) because it's free.
But Partition Magic is better.

[Lloyd]

Thanks for the replys, I'm looking into XOSL. I do have partition magic ver. 2.0 on a couple of floppys, don't think that'll help much, as it appears to be 5 versions behind what's out now. I have to admit, I guess I always thought of partition magic as just a utility to partition a disk, never thought (or knew) about uses for duel booting, etc. I'll investigate further, and see which way to go.

[Dreameater606]

There is a way to duel boot using dos and a linux kernal loader

The AUTOEXEC.BAT must have

@echo off
goto %config%

:Win98
goto end

:Linux
C:\LOADLIN\LOADLIN.EXE C:\LOADLIN\IMAGE root=/dev/hda3 ro

:end



And the CONFIG.SYS must have

[menu]
menuitem=Win98, Windows 98
menuitem=Linux, Linux
menudefault=Win98,20

[Win98]

[Linux]


You also need a copy of loadlin and a copy of the linux Kernal

This method seemed to work for me as using a boot program like Lilo stoped the first hdd running windows 98 when the 2nd hdd was removed

[Lloyd]

So, in other words, I don't need to have something like xosl to duel boot? I'm still trying to figure out xosl, it is quite confusing. This will work with 98 on my main drive, and linux on the second?

[Dreameater606]

nah you dont need xosl or partition magic or anything like that

you can get loadlin from
www.angelfire.com/de3/dazza/programs/loadlin.zip (http://www.angelfire.com/de3/dazza/programs/loadlin.zip)

There is some text files in the zip file as well to help u out

[Lloyd]

Sorry it took so long to get back here...... I did install linux on my second drive, using lilo as the boot manager.Thanks to all for the responses & tips, I'll keep them all in mind, as it doesn't hurt to know about multiple ways to an end. Thanks, and sorry again for taking so long, I understand the need to post back with results, it helps everyone. (It's helped me out enough!)

[Lloyd]

P.S. It did install fine, and everything works just as expected. Now I'm just working on figuring out Linux!

[Dreameater606]

Check and see what happens if u disconnect the second hard drive and start your computer

I had problems when i did this