Installing Mandrake 9.0 on my system what can I expect?

[EndGame]

Subject pretty much says it, but, just wanting input on possible problems and what to look out for since my system is fairly "cutting edge"...................

P4 3.06
Asus P4S8X
4 X 80GB Seagate Barracuda
ATI 9700 Pro
Promise TX2 Ultra 133 Card
Audigy 2 S/C
Sony CD/DVD-RW
56X CD-ROM
Floppy
Onboard SiS NIC
Using dual 21" Samsung monitors
Dialup hardware modems (yes, in the boonies and no broadband here at home)

Just want to know what to expect and what, if any, drivers I should download and have ready beforehand AND where I can download them from. Linux will sit on it's own 80GB HD so partitioning is not a problem.

 

[NorthenLove]

Originally posted by: EndGame
Subject pretty much says it, but, just wanting input on possible problems and what to look out for since my system is fairly "cutting edge"...................

P4 3.06
Asus P4S8X
4 X 80GB Seagate Barracuda
ATI 9700 Pro
Promise TX2 Ultra 133 Card
Audigy 2 S/C
Sony CD/DVD-RW
56X CD-ROM
Floppy
Onboard SiS NIC
Using dual 21" Samsung monitors
Dialup hardware modems (yes, in the boonies and no broadband here at home)

Just want to know what to expect and what, if any, drivers I should download and have ready beforehand AND where I can download them from. Linux will sit on it's own 80GB HD so partitioning is not a problem.

Your going to need to install ATI's Linux drivers for hardware accelaration if you want to play games like UT2k3, Tribes 2 or Q3, etc... As for that Audigy 2 sound card well it is only semi-supported by OSS drivers if you use/have a LiveDrive to plug in headphones to get sound out of it. They are still working on getting Audgiy 2 cards fully supported via their drivers as soon as they can though. As far as I know ALSA does not have a any support for the Audgiy 2 cards at all and Creative does not have any drivers for you to download to use in Linux for that card either that I am aware of. If and when the OSS people put out drivers for the Audgiy 2 card I would purchase them if I were you. If you are seriously planning on using Linux in the future then I would get the OSS drivers. Their drivers are usually a lot better then ALSA drivers ( IMHO ) and they usually cover more properiatary stuff like add on's like the LiveDrive for example with their drivers. Currently I have a liscense which covers all SB Live cards and Audgiy 1 cards and accessories which I bought for $35 bucks about two and half years ago and their driver support for these cards just keeps on getting better and better with each release. Other then that the rest of your stuff should be fully supported by Mandrake and any other Linux distro in general providing that you truely correct on the fact that the modem you have is truely a hardware modem and not some falsely labled win-modem in disguse.


P.S. Oh one more thing the OSS license is good for a life time but it only covers the sound card(s) driver modules you initially bought it for. For example I can use my OSS license with latest OSS drivers with any model of a SB Live card or Audgiy 1 card out there but I would need to buy an upgrade ( which I recently did for $15 bucks ) to cover my AC'97 onboard sound card on my motherboard. That might sound like a rip but infact that AC'97 codec driver license also covers any other sound card(s)/motherboard that uses that praticular chip/codec or a variation of that chip/codec.

 

[EndGame]

Thnks! I'll look into a licsense.

I looked on ATI's site and their drivers listed for the 9700Pro do not seem to want to download period. Any other decent sites for drivers?

One more question also, I've used Linux before, but, on a seperate system. I am planning on setting this up on the same system I am using now with the four 80GB HD's. I also have XP Pro (for gaming surfing etc.), 2K (for sensitive data, bookeeping) and now Mandrake 9.0. Will the Linux bootloader accomodate and recognize XP and 2K as well and give me all three choices upon booting? If so, that's fine, if not, what is the best way to set up the boot menu and what is the best/easiest bootloader to use?

Thanks!

EDIT: Yes, the modems I use are both external hardware modems, I know this for a fact and purchased them with using linux in the future as a consideration.

 

[spyordie007]

Yes the bootloader installer will recognize both NT partitions and will have them listed (by default) as Windows_NT and Windows_NT_2 (If I remember correctly). The *hardest* part about setting up the bootloader will probably simply renaming the menu items to Windows_XP and Windows_2K , and I doubt that will be a problem for you.

-Spy

 

[spyordie007]

One thing I did just think to mention, getting the dual-display to work right is sometimes a PITA so be prepared to spend a little time playing with it to get it working.

-Spy

EDIT: grammer sux

 

[EndGame]

That's good news! I was hoping the Linux bootloader had been tweaked to recognize 2K and XP flawlessly. Had a problem with that and my promise controller on my last attempt but hopefully that has been solved.

As far as the dual monitor setup, that's a problem I am expecting and will figure that out in due time. My first concern is simply getting Linux up and running and all my hardware configured and running correctly with the right drivers!

 

[spyordie007]

It should work right, and if it doesnt you could just have a single Windows entry in the Linux bootloader and than have your boot.ini point to both Windows partitions.

If it doesnt recognize them correctly you can also boot into linux and add them to the bootloader (just specify drive, partition...)

Have fun!

-Spy

 

[civad]

Quote:
It should work right, and if it doesnt you could just have a single Windows entry in the Linux bootloader and than have your boot.ini point to both Windows partitions.

If it doesnt recognize them correctly you can also boot into linux and add them to the bootloader (just specify drive, partition...)

Have fun!

-Spy

Doing so would only increase the amount of time to boot the system: (depending op timeout limit set). Edit lilo instead.
e.g

other=/dev/hdx1
label=windows

other=/dev/hdx2
label=winXP

....

 

[NorthenLove]

Or he could just use a boot disk and not mess with his MBR at all. Anytime he needs to boot into Linux he can just pop in the boot disk floppy into his machine.