Installing opensuse 12.1 on new computer, what drivers, repositories, etc do I need?

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I’m going to be installing opensuse 12.1 on this computer: Newegg.com - Acer AX1470-UR30P (PT.SHFP2.001) Desktop PC A4-Series APU A4-3400(2.7Hz) 4GB DDR3 500GB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD6410D Graphics Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit I’m wondering what drivers (e.g. for graphics card), repositories or other things I’ll need to do manually to properly install it. The relevant specs are:


Processor: AMD Dual-Core A4-3400 2.7GHz, 64 bit Dual Core Processor (A4 series APU)

Ram: 4gb ddr3

16X DVD±R/RW SuperMulti Drive

Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6410D Graphics (integrated)

High-Def Audio with 5.1-Channel Surround Sound Support
2

I’m pretty sure you should know, that most of this just works out of the box

I’d be more concerned about the partitioning on it.

You can always bypass the onboard graphics, as it has a PCI express slot for a card.

3

I did figure that most works or of the box, but I just wanted to be sure. What do you recommend for partitioning?

Also, why would I bypass the onboard graphics? Is that not a good card?

Thanks!

4

It has windows on it, so it may already have 4 primary partitions.
Or are you wiping it or adding a HD?

Try the onboard, it may be fine.
At least you have an option to add a card if needed.

5

Before you do anything, make certain that you can restore the Win. 7 before you try to install OS 12.1; Translation: are restore disks included with your purchase?

6

Speaking with some experience IIRC

7

On 2011-12-23 17:46, 6tr6tr wrote:
> Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6410D Graphics (integrated)

Review procedures for installation of proprietary drivers. :slight_smile:

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

8

Yes; You are correct!

9

IMHO good advice. You could boot to a liveCD and backup the MBR. Then copy the MBR backup to a memory stick.

So before installing GNU/Linux, but when booting to a GNU/Linux LiveCD, if confident and accurate in your typing, and assuming only one hard drive (with no USB drives plugged in) the MBR can be backed up with root permissions with the command:


dd if=/dev/sda of=my-windows7-mbr-backup-440 bs=440 count=1

then copy that file ‘my-windows7-mbr-backup-440’ to a USB memory stick. Keep that memory stick with the backup file, in case you ever need to restore MS-Windows boot manager.

Then be careful during the install NOT to overwrite a complete MS-Windows partition.

Speaking of which, do not forget to defrag your MS-Windows before installing GNU/Linux.

10

Wow, I had no idea I would need to keep windows around. I was planning to just blow it away and put opensuse on there alone. Is that a real risk? Why?

11

Whether one desires to keep windows is a personal choice. I like having 2 different OS on my PCs as it enables me to debug problems easier, in terms of deciding if a problem is hardware or software. I also find for BIOS updates, it is easier to install such an update if one has MS-Windows. Typically I boot my MS-Windows partition once every 3-6 months,and normally that boot is pretty painful. BUT I still keep it around in a small partition.

But consider this, … what if your openSUSE install fails for some reason? … would you not want to be able to go back to the previous functional OS (windows in this case)? IMHO its safer to get openSUSE working the way one wants, and ONLY after openSUSE GNU/Linux is tuned exactly the way one wants, should one ‘blow away’ the OTHER OS.

12

I’d just blow it away too
It’s not a problem

13

If one has no use for windows and the computer does not have a proprietary UEFI+GPT BIOS/HD combination, then blowing the Win. 7 away is not a problem, and perhaps desirable (No one here is ecstatic about Windows). The Win 7 restore disk though could be used to create a Windows VM under OS 12.1, assuming the processor has the capability to do 64 bit VM’s. And with this setup, your computer is 100% functional for all uses.

14

How do I know if it has a proprietary uefi+got bios/hd combo?

15

hmmm, what about the fact that windows will be first on the he in terms of partitions? Does it mater where I install opensuse and swap? What about if it all works fine and I want to blow away windows? Will I be able to combine the windows partition to others?

16

It doesn’t matter where windows is
No it doesn’t matter where you install swap but it could matter how far openSUSE is down the HD.

Test a Live CD
My guess is it will work well ( I looked at the spec )
Then just let SUSE use the whole HD for it’s installation
This step: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/12.1_install/06_partition_suggestion.jpg
Then the top option here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/12.1_install/07_partition_create.jpg

17

I typically do not ‘blow away’ windows. On the occasion where I have (after having successfully installed GNU/Linux) what I did was

  • before removing the MS-Windows partitions, ensure that openSUSE was NOT looking for them in the fstab configuration file (easy to do in openSUSE with the openSUSE YaST configuration tool)
  • removed any openSUSE reference to boot to the MS-Windows partitions in the openSUSE grub boot manager (again using the YaST configuration tool)
  • combined the MS-Windows partitions into one and reformatted them to a GNU/Linux file format ext3 (again using the YaST partition configuration tool)
  • created a blank directory /home/oldcpu/data with a file manager
  • after rebooting with no MS-Windows, I then used the YaST configuration tool and mounted the ex-MS-Windows directories under /home/oldcpu/data

There are of course many other ways to do this.

18

First, thank you to you and caf for your help!

Can you explain a bit more about why you keep windows around? is opensuse that likely to have problems that will require me to drop back to windows? how will windows’ drivers help if i have problems with opensuse?

19

The friends here are just being cautious for you.
Blow away windows and it’s gone. Because you hardly ever get install disk, just recovery partition. Though you should be able to make recovery disks with windows. So even if you wipe the HD you can still recover to the original windows setup.

Myself. I wouldn’t use windows. So it would go.
But testing a Linux Live CD will give you a feel for how Linux will work. My gut feeling is openSUSE will run well.

I do many installs of Linux in a week and it’s some time since I came up against a real issue. And that was a unit that was pretty much all SIS rigged. Heap of you know what.
Windows drivers do not help with openSUSE

20

Thank you, this makes me feel much better. What I’m going to do is fire up Windows once (it’ll hurt but, whatever) and create a recovery CD (there’s instructions in the computer box). Then I’m going to blow it away and install openSUSE 12.1. If, for whatever reason, openSUSE just won’t work despite help on the forums (I doubt it), I’ll move to Linux Mint, then Ubuntu, then Fedora and then if all of them fail, reinstalling Windows and returning the computer.

Just out of curiosity, what is SIS?