Help ... I've managed to hold of an old HD and

[Mic Q]

After lots of hunting (and still hunting hard for additional HD and RAM) I've finally managed to get hold of a old 750M harddisk and added onto my existing pc (loaded with winME).

Now, i can make use of this HD to learn something about Linux without risking my existing HD which has too much info to risk.


Can anyone advise what is the best way to try out Linux with this small HD.
I was hoping in getting a dual boot (win ME and Linux)using this harddisk.

How should I :

1.) allocate the partition (or too small to partition at all :oops: ) for /, /home, /swap

2.) Do a Poor Man Installed of Knoppix? Can I do a dual boot with that?

3.) Install a minimum setup of other Linux ? How? What?


Many thanks in advance for your advise
Mic Q

[eon]

Damn Small Linux http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
Is designed for older hardware it is debian/knoppix based. Check out their forum for partitioning and other set up info.
http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=5;t=2734

I don't have any personal experiance with it but feather linux http://featherlinux.berlios.de/ might also be of interest.

Good luck and you might want to search http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/search.php?s=
if you have other installation questions. I think that they might have a DSL forum there too.

[CrashedAgain]

You should be able to do a PoorMan Install on the 750M HD. Procedure is to boot 'knoppix toHD=/dev/hd(whatever knoppix calls your new HD--should be hdb I think)" & see if it will go. You can then (in fact you can do it now running from the CD) set up a persistent home on your 'main' HD. See the docs in the navigation bar above; there is a How To on persistent home, poormans install and also see 'Remastering from a HD Install' which has some info on a poormans install.
You will get a more complete system from the Knoppix poormans than from Damn Small or other small Linux distros simply because Knoppix is a complete system with a lot of apps built in but compressed whereas the others are stripped down uncompressed systems.

[Mic Q]

Hi CrashAgain, I had written down a step by step install for PoorManInstall that i think I will be going through, any thing to add or correct? THANKS!!!


Start Knoppix
- All of the devices are write protected by default, unprotect hda (main HD 40GB) and hbb (Old HD 750Mb)

set persistent home on 'main' HD (hda)
- using tools from the Knoppix3.6 which is now running
- can i set the PH into a pre-create folder by WinME?

Shut down

knoppix tohd=/dev/hdb
- restart with cheatcode above to create PoorManInstall

Shut down

knoppix fromhd=/dev/hdb
- restart with cheatcode above and remove CD after booting fro other uses.
- hbd will not be able to be use for other files (e.g. PH or Myconfig) because Knoppix will force hdb to read-only status.

Change and update and save configuration
- deselect and do not save the 'personal configuration' data

Shut down

knoppix26 home=/dev/hda myconfig=/dev/hda fromhd=/dev/hdb
-- restart with cheatcode above and remove CD after booting for other uses, like burning.

http://klik.berlios.de/
- go online and install Klik and enjoy.


PS - Spread the news if this trial if the outcome is good :-) , I had already burn a couple of Knoppix to circulate among friends.

[CrashedAgain]

Hi CrashAgain, I had written down a step by step install for PoorManInstall that i think I will be going through, any thing to add or correct? THANKS!!!


Start Knoppix
- All of the devices are write protected by default, unprotect hda (main HD 40GB) and hbb (Old HD 750Mb)

set persistent home on 'main' HD (hda)
- using tools from the Knoppix3.6 which is now running
- can i set the PH into a pre-create folder by WinME?

Shut down

knoppix tohd=/dev/hdb
- restart with cheatcode above to create PoorManInstall

Shut down

knoppix fromhd=/dev/hdb
- restart with cheatcode above and remove CD after booting fro other uses.
- hbd will not be able to be use for other files (e.g. PH or Myconfig) because Knoppix will force hdb to read-only status.

Change and update and save configuration
- deselect and do not save the 'personal configuration' data

Shut down

knoppix26 home=/dev/hda myconfig=/dev/hda fromhd=/dev/hdb
-- restart with cheatcode above and remove CD after booting for other uses, like burning.

http://klik.berlios.de/
- go online and install Klik and enjoy.


PS - Spread the news if this trial if the outcome is good :-) , I had already burn a couple of Knoppix to circulate among friends.

I think all of this looks good except
"- can i set the PH into a pre-create folder by WinME?"
No, don't use winME to pre-create the folder. When you run the 'create persistent home' from the Knoppix configure menu it will ask whether to use the whole drive,(say "'no") then it will ask how big you want the pH file to be then it will go ahead and create it. Allow a fair bit of space ...200 Meg or so unless you are tight for space on the HD.

for your step: knoppix fromhd=/dev/hdb
- restart with cheatcode above and remove CD after booting fro other uses.
You could already do knoppix fromhd=/dev/hdb home=scan since you have already created a PH.
- hbd will not be able to be use for other files (e.g. PH or Myconfig) because Knoppix will force hdb to read-only status.
This is correct. There won't be any room on the drive anyway. In fact it's just possible Knoppix will think 750 M is not enough space & will refuse to install the PH.

You should be able to set up lilo to boot without the CD once the PH is installed.