On 31/10/2007 11:59 PM, Geoff Shang wrote:
A message like the one you posted is very daunting to answer and you're
likely to see it either go unanswered altogether or only get answers to
some questions. But I will try my best to cover them all.
Thanks and sorry about all the questions.
Daniel Dalton wrote:
>> What is required to setup a dual booting system?
Most if not all Linux installers will give you the opportunity to
partition a drive, so there is no need to do this before starting the
install. However, if there is a partitioning tool that you're used to,
you may choose to use it instead if you'd prefer. such a tool probably
can not make the required filesystems for the partitions, but this can
be done by the installer.
So the debian installer's partitioner can handle the windows file
system? (ntfs one)?
A Linux installation manual I read once said that there are probably as
many partitioning schemes as there are system administrators. But you
will need at the very least a root partition and a swap partition. You
can use a swap file but this is inefficient and not recommended. Swap
is often twice the size of the available RAM, though if you have a lot
of RAM then a smaller size may be enough. You may also want further
partitions for things like /home, /var or /usr.
So how many partitions should I create as a beginner to linux?
Linux will install a boot loader, and it is this which allows you to
choose which OS to boot. Note that the boot loader will need to be in
the first partition of your first drive, even if this is the Windows
partition, as the system needs to find it when it boots.
Oh ok. So can the installer do that for me?
Is there any chance of breaking something?
Absolutely! Most installers will usually warn you if you are going to
break something, but it is definitely possible to do so be sure to pay
attention. Usually though this is nothing that can't be solved by again
booting your boot CD. Using this to fix problems can take a bit of
advanced knowledge though so it's best to pay attention when you first
do it.
Ok and if I am getting help from linux guys on irc I should be ok? Is
partitioning the most risky part?
Will my system always be bootable?
NOt if you mess up the partitioning, the boot loader configuration or
your kernel. But as I say, if you really get stuck you can always boot
your install CD and get into the system that way and fix whatever you
Oh ok so if the system got wiped I could just run the debian installer
again from the cd?
broke. It's generally a good idea to have an alternate way to boot your
system anyway, in case of hardware trouble or in case you mess things up.
What do you mean exactly?
And how hard is it to get it working.
If you use an official release of a distribution and you don't have
exotic hardware, providing the installer runs in the first place it
should be relatively easy to get a working system.
ok
What distro should I use?
I was thinking debian or fedora. I tried the ubuntu livecd but don't
think I need a gui.
Distribution really is a personal choice. The Debian users will
advocate Debian. The fedora users will advocate Fedora. If you don't
want a GUI then you probably don't need Ubuntu. You can use Ubuntu
without the GUI, but a Debian install (Ubuntu is based on Debian) is
more straight forward if you don't want to use a GuI.
Is it possible to test debian on a livecd?
So is debian a good choice?
Personally I believe it is the best choice, but I have been using Debian
for nearly 9 years as my primary operating system so I would say that.
It is certainly not a poor choice.
Ok good.
How hard is it to patch speakup in to the debian kernal? And how hard
is it to dual boot debian with windows?
It is no more difficult to dual boot Debian with Windows than it is to
dual boot any other Linux variant. As for Speakup, there are packages
for using Speakup under Debian and it is in fact possible to install
Debian using Speakup.
Should I use speakup for the installation? Or can I use brltty? I don't
have a hardware synth.
And what would I need to do to get brltty working with debian?
Just install the brltty package and configure it for your display.
oh ok. Because I typed sudo brltty from a terminal on the ubuntu livecd
and it just printed BRLTTY linux braille driver software. Or something
like that. Then exited. Is that what should have happened?
BTW Does debian use apt-get install?
Yes. If you are familiar with Apt then you should probably go with Debian.
I think I will.
And can I just choose to install the debian console? (No gui?)
Yes you can.
good
If you have a hardware synth that works with Speakup, you can install
Debian Etch using the net install ISO available at
http://people.debian.org/~shane/netinst-speakup/
The only warning I have is that when I installed with it, I found
myself in a position where no kernels were defined in the boot loader so
Linux wouldn't boot. I wrote to the maintainer about this but I see
the ISO image is still the same one I used. The message I got back
seemed to suggest that mine was somewhat of an isolated case.
I don't have a hardware synth. Does this mean I will need sighted help
for installing?
Best of luck,
Thank you very much for your help. This is all great info.
I'll go and do a bit of research and see what I can find.
Thanks.
--
Daniel Dalton
http://members.iinet.net.au/~ddalton/
daniel.dalton47@xxxxxxxxx
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