Before I begin I would like to say that I’ve already read the sticky thread called: NEWBIES - Suse-11.0 Pre installation
I have recently obtained an old quite old computer and I want to Install OpenSuse on it (never installed a OS before). The computer already have Windows XP installed and I want to keep it. I have some questions
1.When do I use liveCD and when do I use DVD as Installation medium. What should I use?
Can some one explain this ISO image thing?
Am I supposed to make an extra partion before I try to install Linux or do I make one during the installation?
Hi
What are the specifications of the computer, have you checked against
the system requirements?
Use the DVD and either install Gnome or KDE3
to start with KDE4 on the DVD has issues, if you want to try it out
better to install after your system is running.
See here; Optical disc image - Wikipedia you can burn this
image to a DVD so it will be bootable. Also burn at the slowest
possible speed and check the md5sum.
No, just make sure you have defragged the drive from windows
before you attempt your install so it can resize your windows partition.
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 14:12, 1 user, load average: 0.29, 0.17, 0.11
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.80
Welcome to the forum! As we are all like you here, volunteers and openSUSE/Linux users don’t always expect an answer within the hour…
Generally you use the LiveCD to look at what a distro does on a system, if you like the OS then you can install. A liveCD can also be useful for troubleshooting a crashed system. Usually I don’t install from a live CD but use the DVD (unless the system does not have a DVD reader). The DVD contains all the needed packages and gives you much more options during the install.
ISO’s are like zipped files, or better - like an image of a hard disk. You can burn a new CD and put the iso file on the CD like you would with normal files… that won’t do you much good.
You need to burn the iso as image (most burning programs know what to do when you open the iso file with it), this way the CD get’s ’ pressed ’ so that things like booting and the correct layout are in place.
If you want to keep XP, yes! During the setup you can shrink your XP partition (given you still have enough free space on the drive). DO MAKE A BACKUP of the important files before attempting this. When the XP partition is shrunk you can add new partitions (you need at least two - one for swap (no bigger than 2 GB needed!) and one for your system - known as the root (/) partition.
It’s good practice to make a third partition that contains the /home mount point - if you don’t know what that is …leave it for now until you’ve gotten more feel about what Linux is
So create a swap partition somewhere between 1 and 2GB, a root (/), make it at least 8 GB… and a home partition of 5 or more GB.
Hope that gives some info.
Oh… and also have a look here : Concepts - openSUSE
to get some more basics.
Hi
Not a lot, an iso is just an archive(zip file) which mirrors the
DVD. What ever application your using to burn the DVD, make sure you
use ‘create from an iso image’ option.
Either use a download manager or bittorrent to download the image and
check the md5sum (http://www.md5summer.org/) matches the one from
openSUSE.
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 14:49, 1 user, load average: 0.06, 0.08, 0.04
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.80
Yes, the installation setup gives you the option to shrink partitions.
As far as listening to advice, always consider what it is YOU want to accomplish & check if the given advice is fitting.
As added advice : take your time and don’t just rush into installing on a system where you have other OS’es installed on.
Not saying it will go wrong… but it is good to over think it before jumping in.
