I am having some basic trouble installing Linux. I want to install Linux on my secondary blank hard drive which is 9 GB hopefull should be enough. The problem is I all ready have a Windows OS on my Primary Master. The other Hard Drive I want to install it on is my Secondary Master. When I try to install it it starts by running the processes then for no reason it says system Haulted. Does that mean I can not have Windows at all if I want to install Linux? I really do not want to reformat my computer to redo everytrhing. The linux I am TRYING to install is slackware 10.2 recomended to me by GX1_Man. If someone can tell me the basics on how to install it with a OS on one hard drive and to install Linux on the other hard drive I would appreciate it. Also does it mater if the hard drive is FAT32 or NTFS? I do not think a 9GB hard drive need to be NTFS

Do you have to have the second hard drive as secondary master as opposed to primary slave?

In any case, once the Slackware boots, type cfdisk and press enter which will get you to the partitioning utility. Don't forget to save changes to disk when done. Whether is starts as FAT32 or NTFS or blank is irrelevant.

There is a great guide here: http://slackware.com/install/
#4 and 5 are what you want


And a wonderful support forum here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?f=14

and the basic info is here:
http://slackware.com/

Remember you wanted to learn. Don't give up too soon or think it's too hard. There is a learning curve but you can do it!

Slackware is not the easiest, but you will learn Linux and it runs on virtually all hardware well.. Maybe the free download of Xandros is the way if you scare easily.

Feel free to post here or PM me.
http://www.xandros.com/products/products.html
Everything seems to be partion correctly it is label fat 32. Yes it is secondary master My Computer is currently layed out as:

Primary Master: Maxtor 12GB (fat32)
Primary Slave: CD RW
Secondary Master: Western Digital 9GB (fat32)
Secondary Slave 44x CD

When I run from the CD at setup it does the detecting then immideltley stops with System Haulted! Which means I have to reset. I did start off with CD as my boot sequence. I just hit Enter when it ask me to install is there a command that I have to use to direct to my second hard drive? The primary master currently contains Windows 98 SE

I did read that site but I can't continue if it is halted at setup. Do I have to partion the hard drive from there first? Using there commands? Im not good with commands the only commands I know are exit, sfc, Ipconfig, winipcfg <- for Windows 98
By system halted do you mean "froze up" or you just couldn't continue as is you needed anoher command?

Setup does not do it yet. You may need to login with username: root and password :system halted as in number lock wont work and neither does hitting ctrl +alt+delete doesnt ask for a user name or password.... it halts on detecting system hardware....

...
....
....
system halted!Let's go back to your drive arrangement on those channels. Have you tried running both hard drives on Primary and both CD drives on secondary? Most people do.So you want the hard drives to be set up as

Primary master: Maxtor 13gb
Primary Slave: Western Digitall
Secondary Master: CDRW
Secondary Slvae: CD


Ok.. I figure out why the system haulted. Apparently my 44x CD might be going bad. I had to wait to let it spin down before I can hit ener to continue setup. Apparently it wont uncompress unless I let it spin down... weird.... Now all I have to do is directed to the correct drive. I think I might reset the jumpers on the drives seeing as how I ran cfdisk and it only detected my 13gb hard drive but in the setup screen it sees my Western Digital... Oh well I will try setting up both hard drives as primary. I usually keeps the hard drives on master to prevent confusion But if it will get to work then I will be happy. I am going to set the jumper things at night seeing its the computer im using that I plan to add linux to You can leave it that way if you want but read here:

Starting fdisk

When you start fdisk you need to specify the device to use. By default it will try to open /dev/hda, but in some cases this is not the correct device to use. Just specify the device name after typing fdisk on the command line. For example:


fdisk /dev/hdb
This will tell fdisk to open the primary slave IDE hard disk. Notice that you do not specify a partition number on the device name.

An alternative to fdisk is cfdisk, which provides a menu-based setup program for the partition setup (DOS USERS comfortable with DOS's fdisk may find this program easier). Just run cfdisk at the prompt instead of fdisk.

Here is the whole page:

http://www.slackware.com/install/partitions.php
I now cant seem to get it to partion... Being lousy with commands I use cfdisk so I can have some sort of interface to partion my hard drive. Apparently when I delete the partion and add a new partion the default size of the hard drive I think ok.. Im all set... is there any other step I should do. After I partion my hard drive I hit CTR+ Alt+delete to restart the computer with the new partion.. When I ran setup it is telling me I need a Linux partion... Linux Partion?.... so then I DECIDED to go into regular fdisk and reading from that site i use d to delete my current partion then n to add a new partion as for spliting up partions on the last part I do not understand that... shouldn't I just keep it as one partion?.... Did I do something wrong to not partion the hard drive?


http://www.slackware.com/install/partitions.phpOk I think I got it to install it says fullinstallation 3+GB I think that is good.... I have no idea if I partioned it correctly or installed it correctly... It said installation Complete! exit and hit Ctrl +Alt+Delete to restart... I did that.... Is it suppose to give me along black screen with a _ .... Ok i'll wait (30minutes later)..... Ok I think I did something wrong.... If they made installation as easy as windows then more people will be using Linux then Windows... I think that is why people keep away from linux... I had no idea about command lines etc... So that is why I kept away from linux... I really hope I get the hang of installation real soon. At least I got it to partion... well thats what it says anyway...You need to set up a Linux partition (most of the space) and a swap partition (256 meg is enough for your system). The type for the swap partition is 82. You must then make the Linux partition bootable. Don't forget to write the changes to disk before you exit. THis sounds like what you were missing int hefirst part.

I think you should download and install the Xandros OC edition - free via bittorrent at www.xandros.com It is a much simpler version especially to install. 4 mouse clicks is it. It is a more Windows friendly distribution as opposed to Slackware which is a nuts and bolts "you will learn"affair.

The last thing you want to do is get scared off. Learn the easy way and move into greater hands on tinkering. No command line anything with Xandros,unless you want to. If for some reason you can'tget it, PM me an address and I will send you a copy,but it's a SIMPLE download.

DON'T GIVE UP NOW !!!!!