Who is interested in a dual boot (linux) guide?

I want to get an idea of how many people are interested in a dual boot setup guide (Or even a single boot) to use Linux.

My guide would be using the Linux Mint distro, which is based on Ubuntu, and has tons of "out of the box" goodies ready to rock with the toughbooks. Also, thanks to some help from stan.distortion, it would include touchscreen info to get that setup fairly fast.

I'll write up a guide, but depending on how wanted it is will determine how fast I get it done.

Keep in mind, Linux is complex, but free, so it may be frustrating (I'm still learning after 5 years of tampering), but can be rewarding.

 

just mint? i am interested in putting linux on one of my crappy machines, but i don't want mint. would you do it for any others?

 

Which distro would you like? If it's debian based, it'll be very similar (if not identical) to my setup. The reason I was gonna suggest Mint is because it's cutting edge and has alot of bang for the install on our Toughbooks.

 

Modly,
I am in - I just started playing with Linux as a dual boot a few weeks ago. I started with Freespire but ended up with PClinuxOS. I really like PCLinux but still a little quirky - has a really good interface for downloading programs (synaptic) and the grub menu is very clean. I am all about having a dual boot - I still need windows for a few programs - Quick books, PDF full program and a couple of others. I really like running Linux as on a second partition - much faster boot up and runs my wireless card at start up - I am not solid with PCLinux just what I am playing with for now. I would love to have one that would allow Touchscreen and ready to run. Anyway I digress - count me in - Thanks you Rock

 

Alright, sounds like I've got some interest then. I'll get started on the guide tomorrow.

 

Modly... Picoshark is working on a very detailed web based tutorial. Just wanted you to know. I feel the more the merrier when it comes to this and maybe it will deepen the interest and discussion.

Whatcha think?

 

Would be kind of neat ...

 

Hello all, I have been reading some of the discussions in this forum and thought I would show my interest in this topic. I have a toughbook CF-28 en route as we speak and this will be one of the first of many projects to tackle when i get some more free time. I just purchased a Toughbook online and can't wait to actually receive it! I was going to try a Slackware distro but if all the hard work is done already I will consider trying out the Debian version of MINT!
Then again this is LINEX after all, so I will probably try both, not sure which distro to start with, although I will probably try many different ones as time permits. I had Ubuntu on my current XP machine as a dual boot, I may also retry BACKTRACK now that I have a WIFI card that can actually be used with a lot of the tools! I look forward to seeing some screenshots of others setup once they get Linex running.

Got to go....checking the UPS tracking again! LOL

 

In that case, I'll wait a bit til he writes up his, and I'll post a few replies to Mint specific parts (Because making it dual boot is the same no matter which distro. Run the windows installer, partition the drive, install Windows, boot up from Linux CD, run the installer).

So I'll start making some notes tonight after work for configuration.

 

GRATEFUL!!!! Welcome to the forums! I know you have been lurking for a while. Glad to see you here.

When you get your Toughbook you will be glued here like the rest if us! I too want a dual boot machine. Whether it is Linux on a CD and XP on the hard drive or both are on the hard drive and I need to partition the hard drive. I'm dying to play around with it but I'd like to have something that is pretty much a one-stop-shop... Can you build a distro with XP and Office like components built into it? Or do I need to load each individual program like XP? Sorry for the stupid question but I have ZERO experience with Linux... I've always been a Windows man.

 

I'd be interested in learning more, and seeing how others work through the process. I've got dual boot now (w2k and Debian) on my 28, but except for getting a wireless card working, I haven't spent as much time as I wanted with the Linux side.

I'll say that for me and my toughbook, the Debian boot floppies recognized the internal network card, connect to my home network and loaded everything up from the web site with no problems at all. I expected a lot more work, but I guess the installers have really matured to make things easier for a simple install.

 

Mine is coming along nicely. Central USA just had an ice storm, I have only been to work once this week! I have 2400 frames recorded, it's an interactive Flash-based movie, and will be an XP/Debian dual-boot. I am adding circles and arrows (with 27 paragraphs on the back?), hope to be finished with it soon. I like sidux.com because it makes all those oddball wifi chipsets easier to use.

There's a ton of cool distros out now. I use Linux Mint, for my friends who want to play movies/wma (it comes with the win32codecs); I am coming up with a custom distro based on Ubuntu for work, I use Fedora daily at home, and Debian on my laptop. It's hard to find a bad one, these days.

 

hard to believe that there was an ice storm in the US and MI wasn't included in the suffering!

 

I recently got a copy of Ubuntu ( latest version ), but i'm not really sure how to get going with it, so any help in the form of a tutorial would be appreciated.

 

What exactly do you want to do? I suppose a small list of things that people want to do in an OS would be great, so that we don't just cover what I do with it, or what one other person does...

Toughbook, OpenOffice comes installed with Mint, so you can do word processing. It also comes with the atheros drivers installed too.

GPSDrive (GPS mapping software) is available easily through the package manager, so it's easy to install.

Firefox comes installed already.

Is there a type of application that you use on a daily basis that you want to use in Linux?

 

Modly,
I personally use PClinuxOS and would strongly recommend it. I'm sure you know it's Mandrake based, but I'd love to know what you did to get touchscreen working with yours. Maybe the glean of knowledge will prompt me to dump Windows off my 28 and be once again free from ..... Well, sounds like I'm preaching to the choir, I can't believe there's as many interested in Linux on one small forum.
Could you give a rundown of the process, albeit debian, maybe something will make sense to me.

 

Where's <stan.distortion> when you need him? I believe he has worked in getting the touchscreen working on cf-27's and -28's in Linux. He should have some worthwhile insights for this process.

 

Well, The key I believe is the kernel, which I know in 2.6.22 includes the touchscreen drivers. I'm not sure when they started adding them, But here is a quick guide to getting the touchscreen to work. I do credit stan.distortion for helping me get mine to work. I read through a ton of his work on another board, and he sent me some info to start me out.


EDIT! I've changed it enough that I"m just gonna link to my other thread's post about the touchscreen;
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2838077&postcount=9

 

For a 12" screen, use these parameters instead (These are courtesy of stan.distortion).

Code:

Option "MinX" "400"
Option "MaxX" "3850"
Option "MinY" "380"
Option "MaxY" "3780"

If it's spot on, then good for you and me.

The way to properly test calibration for the touchscreen is to touch it in the center, and see if the pointer is where you poked. Use a pointed object (Like a pen that can retract the inkball). If it's right under the pen, that's a good start. Start poking an inch apart to the left, and see if the pointer is still right under the pen, until you reach the edge. Keep a rough mental note of how far away it gets (It'll either start going too far to the left or right, or be right on). Now try the same thing but going to the right hand side of the screen.

Make notes of how far away it is.

Go back to the center, and go up towards the top of the screen in inch increments. Do the same for the bottom.

If you are dead on in all directions, disregard the rest of this post, and start using it.

If not, This is how you start getting it closer.

When you go to the left side of the screen, and the pointer is left of where you touch, you need to decrease the "MinX" number. If you're off by more than a quarter inch, drop the value by 50 (So if you're at 160, go to 110), but if less than that, go by 10 or 20. If the pointer is to the right of where you touch, increase the number.

Same thing goes for the opposite side of the screen, but you gotta change the "MaxX" value.

Save and restart X (Control-Alt-backspace), and repeat until it's centered on the X-axis.

For vertical, If it's pointing too high at the top of the screen, decrease "MinY", or if it's below the point, increase it. Then at the bottom, if you're pointing too low, Increase the "MaxY" value, etc.

 

Hmmm... I do a little of everything. I pretty much need everything in Office. Word, Excel, PowerPoint... Photoshop would be nice. I used to use Firefox but didn't reinstall it on the last reformat. I also have a lot of little programs <freeware> like Allway Sync (Syncs my thumb drive and files on laptop) and Screen Grab Pro. Most of what I do is surf though. And... I guess I can't do everything on Linux that I can on XP... But then I'm sure there is stuff I can do on Linux that I can't do on XP!

I guess I'm looking for a system that will fly on a laptop where XP has performance issues. I hate the BSOD even though they are rare for me. I just am getting tired of Windows products in general. I hate spending money on a program that will be discontinued in another year and a half!

 

GIMP would handle many graphics projects you would throw at it, though Photoshop will always be better. (Useless tidbit, the guy that originally developed Photoshop did it while he lived about 1/2 mile from where I used to live at the time, here in Ann Arbor).

OpenOffice would work great for you as well.

I'm not sure of all the specifics on what Screen Grab can do, but just by the name I know there is a linux equivalent out there.

There are also many apps that will sync stuff for you as well.

I'll probably never move away from having a Mac as my primary computer, but I could easily replace windows because I'm not a gamer. Honestly, gaming is Windows only strong point...

 

I'm a huge fan of The Gimp. I used Photoshop for years (even paid for it once). Photoshop will always be the best for pro work, because The Gimp has poor/awkward CMYK output. The Gimp can do most everything else.

Modly, thanks (and to stan.distortion) for the good info on touchscreens. There are many mysteries to be mined from xorg.conf! My CF-28 doesn't have touchscreen, so I can't be of much use there. A comment on your instructions? Prefacing the command with 'sudo' is pretty much a Ubuntu thing (of which Mint is a variant). Ubuntu has root disabled by default, and your first user created is your 'admin' user. Before other distros can do it like that, they need to edit /etc/sudoers, preferably with the program visudo and add the appropriate settings for the appropriate user. Instead of that, it's easy enough for other distros to just enter su - then enter the root password, and everything else you posted should work fine.

 

Very true, but for calibration purposes (restarted X a good 40 times before I got it right), it worked best using sudo.

What I was doing, was logging back in, opening terminal, hit the "UP" key, enter, and it was already logged in with permissions, and didn't have to re-enter the password each time. Though, if somebody wants to test my calibration settings out and it works well, then we could change it.

Mint does enable root though, which I do like. It fixed all the things I disliked about Ubuntu.

 

I enable root as well in Ubuntu. I prefer KDE to Gnome, but that's not a biggie, there's always Kubuntu. Did you get Mint 4.0? I was lagging a bit behind, and just got it recently.

 

Yup, using Mint 4.0. I suppose it's what you're used to for the window manager, because I've used Gnome since I started tampering with LinuxPPC back in 2000, and never felt like switching.

 

Modly,

Good to see that you met stan.distortion. He and dtor did the coding work for the touch screen using the 2.6 Linux kernel.

Those who are interested can see what it took to get this done by reading about it here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...p;highlight=touchscreen&highlight=touchscreen

If you want to get the touchscreen working on the 2.4 kernel (Slackware), my quick guide for it is here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...linux-solved-and-working.-530918/#post2664436

Once I got the CF-28 touchscreen working under Linux with the 2.4 kernel and showed that it could be done they pretty much took it from there and worked towards getting a 2.6 kernel solution. Bear in mind that some fundamental changes were made in the 2.6 kernel. This made their work very difficult as the whole I/O structure had changed. I think dtor's patch code went official in the 2.6.22 kernel. Late reports indicate that things are now working out of the box with some of the latest distros.

I think that you should all try Linux on your ToughBooks. There are several motivating reasons for doing so.

Besides, why should any of you guys miss out on all of the fun...

James

 

Modly you're a damn genius,
Your quick and dirty prompted me to wipe out WinXP and install Linux. My fingerprints are worn off and my eyes feel like they're gonna' bleed, but I've got it working. Your numbers were pretty close but to get the ball rolling I hacked my Xorg.conf apart and co-mingled the important parts with the one Here .
Now if I can get my touchpad to speed up and quit centering on the screen when activated I'll be set, but for now all is well.
Thanks again, and Thanks stan.distortion for getting modly going in the right direction.

 

Mega-Man,
I have been using PCLinuxOS for the last two years, if there's anything that I can help you with PM me, or post somewhere. I'd be glad to help you out.

 

Modly, I'm a little hesitant to ask but is your guide offer open to those who know nothing, and I mean zero interaction with Linux? If yes, it'd be interesting to see how a 28 will handle without Windoze for once.

I'm a total noob but willing to learn.

 

I think if you have the ability to install windows, you can install Linux.

I've decided that I'll write my own guide that does what I think works great, and Picoshark can write his (Which I will almost guarantee will be more complete and informative).

I'm getting a new toughbook next week so I can take all the photos during my install on that.

Keep in mind, this guide will assume you know how to install windows, because I won't get into that other than partitioning the drive via the Windows installer.

 

What would the command line be in Sidux? gedit does not work.

 

You'll have to use emacs or pico. I've got no skill with emacs (Never used it), but pico is something I can use, but very primitive.

Just note with pico, control-O saves, control-X exits. Use control-W to find.

 

I don't know if sidux comes with the program Midnight Commander, but if it's available I would recommend it to anyone using ANY Linux. Midnight Commander (terminal command: mc) is a dual pane ncurses based (semi-graphical/oldschool dos-like graphics)
filemanager. very intuitive, built in editor, can look into and extract from archives, and best of all, available if X won't start.
Anyone trying out, or experienced with Linux should have a look at Midnight Commander, I install this program first thing into any Linux I'm trying out, it just makes navigation, editing and and file management extremely quick and easy. In fact I use it more than I do any filemanager whether in X or not.

Just thought I'd share this with anyone who is interested.

PS. to use it just type 'mc' (no punctuation) in a terminal, or a Konsole window.

or to use the editor type 'mcedit' , or 'mcedit /path/to file' to open a particular file.

 

I'm a huge fan of MC as well. FTP/shell links, untar, easy copy/move, lots of things. Something I learned after using it for years, was that the insert key is how you tag multiple files/directories for copying/moving.

 

Stupid question. I'm used to permissions/security in Windows. I did try the edit for the touchscreen Sidux and I cannot save the file. Am I supposed to log in as administrator somehow first? I figured out how to copy the file with the su password from the terminal window, but when I exit that to go to mc and try to save, it says I can't save it? Little confused here. I tried to login to another Sidux session using "administrator" and the password I assigned, but that won't allow a login. Did I set something up wrong in my profile? I checked the fine manual, but could not find any references to account permissions. I would think that as the only user on the machine I would have admin rights with read/write capability, No?

 

I'm not sure why it won't give you permissions. Either running sudo, or su should give you the ability to edit the file.

I'll try nabbing the Sidux installer, and testing it out on my new book before installing Mint. (New book still hasn't arrived yet... sniffle)

 

You had to provide two passwords during the install, one for root (administrator) and one for your regular user. The Fine Manual gives instructions on how to execute system commands from a terminal window.

The time-honored *nix method is to enter su (super user) on a command line, you are prompted for the root password, and you can then execute system commands (or edit system files). A better variation is append a dash after it, so that it puts you inside the root user environment like this: su -

The problem with this, is that you can usually only run command line programs (some, like Fedora don't have this problem). Sidux expands on this, using sux (I still append a dash out of habit). This will let you then also run graphical programs (using the X server) if you want by typing their names in. Some of the programs (the control panel) have an option that you discovered to run in Administrator Mode. An example of why sux can be important is in Kpackage. It is definitely a system tool. Often people used to log the user out, and log back in as root to make system changes. Sidux won't let you log in directly as root (a good idea). To make system changes, enter sux in a terminal window, then just type kpackage and you can run the GUI administrative program. Some programs will prompt you for a root password initially if you try to run them as an unprivileged user.

I would suggest sux in a terminal window, and then you can modify and save system files.

 

First of all, let me apologize as I have apparently spread this over two threads. I will try to keep it all here from now on.

It appears what I am doing wrong is that I am logging into super user from the terminal and then running the editor from the desktop when I should be logging into super user and then running the editor from the terminal via:
mcedit /etc/x11/xorg.conf

Does this sound correct? I would think that just running the editor from the desktop using that gui would have produced the same results but since doing that does not give me permission to save, maybe it HAS to be executed from a terminal after logging in to su?

Sorry if all the questions are noob, but Unix/Linux is very new to me. I am very adept with PC's running Windows (all platforms) and with PC Hardware. Laptops and Unix/Linux is all new to me. I fully understand how to execute commands from the terminal, I am still learning all the codes though. I have made a small cheat sheet that keeps growing even today. I run into problems when some command doesnt work the way my windows brain perceives it should work which is why I ask for clarification. I am desperately trying to 'retrain my brain'. We use a unix server with a dosshell at work that also will run windows in the background. Getting more familiar with unix will sure help me at work when we run into problems there. So far I am having alot of fun learning new things.

 

Yes Doobi,
That's correct. If you want to use an editor in the 'X' environment (such as kwrite, or kate, or Ooo writer) then open an xterm, or konsole terminal window, then type sux and the password for root, you'll notice the command prompt change from yourusername@machinename --> root@machinename. Then execute any command such as mcedit....., kwrite, or whatever. Even konqueror will run in xwindows as root. One thing to remember is that in that terminal, once you execute a command it takes over the root login until you close the program that you executed. Until then you won't be able to type a new command in that terminal, but as soon as you close that program (kwrite, Ooo writer, or whatever) you'll have that terminal to execute another.

I'm not familiar with how sux works, but in PCLinuxOS the su command that brings up the root account will stay active in the terminal until you type exit as the command. Sux may differ and only allow one command to be executed, someone please clarify.

 

You can (in Sidux) also start your command with & appended, and that terminal window is free to do something else (or be closed). Example:

Code:

# kpackage &

This is not universal, in some distros you have to keep that terminal window open. If you close it, the app you started will die.

Keep in mind that any of the 'official' admin apps that you can reach from the menu will usually prompt you for the root password, and you can run it from the menu. If you are starting an editor to edit system files, you have to be sure to sux first.

 

I have sort of a dumb question. Does anyone know what the minimum specs for a laptop so Linux will run fast? I mean like faster than XP runs on the CF-28 with an 800Mhz processor and 512MB of RAM.

I was thinking about buying a cheap 400Mhz CF-34 for my wife to replace the Sony Vaio that is TU with a broken screen. (I can't find a replacement screen)

Any ideas?

 

I think if you disable Comfiz, it'll be plenty fast with just a 400MHz processor.

The big slowdown really is all the gravy you add on to make linux look extra pretty.

 

I don't know how fast XP on a CF-28 is, so I do not really know. I have run Sidux on a Gateway laptop 450 w/384 meg of ram, and I considered it very usable. Sidux will install in a couple of gig of storage easily (more is better). Most varieties of Linux have lessor hardware requirements than Windows.

There are several things you can do to lighten up the requirements. Linux has the choice of using several window managers (which is the GUI that you see and use), where Windows basically has one (perhaps two, if you consider the Classic Mode). KDE and Gnome are the two big ones. KDE (Sidux uses KDE) vaguely Windows-like, has a task bar, and a start button. Gnome is more Mac-like. Both are fine, just different. There are also other much lighter window managers you can use to help performance (all are easily available in Sidux, and easy to switch between them). Fluxbox is very light, and I use it in a desktop here all the time. It is different, because there is no task bar, you right-click on the desktop to get the menus. Your wife might not like that. Icewm is another good light one, and Windows converts like it, because it is perhaps the most Windows-like one there is.

There are a lot of things you can do to lessen memory requirements. Linux usually has four desktops (another new concept, coming from Windows). Cutting this down to two or one (from the Control Panel) will lessen mem requirements. Someone new to Linux doesn't usually use more than one anyway. KDE has a lot of eyecandy crap turned on, that wastes memory. The bouncing animated mouse cursor while a program loads is useless in my opinion (it's called Busy Curser, under Launch Feedback in Control Panel, that wasn't very intuitive for me to figure out).

There are distributions made to run on minimal hardware, Damn Small Linux will run on a 486 with 16 meg of ram. It's a liveCD, and I carry one with me constantly. It's very useful to be able to boot dead Windows machines, and copy data from them. Damn Small Linux has a choice to install to HD from it's menus. DSL uses the Fluxbox window manager, so your wife may not like it because it's so different. DSL also has a much more limited amount of software that can be installed, while the more mainstream distros have thousands and thousands of things you can just pick from a list. Puppy Linux is another very popular minimal distro.

I used Mandrake/Mandriva for years, it is very friendly and at one time was cutting edge on it's apps. It has gotten more bloated over the years as far as hardware requirements.

I use Fedora daily at home in a terminal server. One server in the basement, and I have empy boxes scattered around the home network that have no hard drive, no CD, they all boot to the network. No matter what location you log in, I have my same desktop/email/etc every time I log in. I'm on a Pentium 166 with 32 meg of ram right now, but it's just a keyboard/video/mouse for the server in the basement. My wife is a non-techie, and she has actually come to prefer Fedora, "Why can't I get xxxxxx at work like we do here?". I use a stripped down Slackware on a Pentium 75 with 16 meg of ram here for a router/gateway/firewall. I use Debian Etch on another machine that is only for recording music. Ubuntu/Mint is the basis for a custom distro that I am coming up with for use at my work. I use Sidux for security testing, wardriving and my desktop at work.

So, there really is no best one. They all have their strengths. Sidux is very customizable, I would recommend trying it, and strip out some of the extra stuff that may slow it down on minimal hardware.

Edit: I was writing all this while Modly replied. Modly, I use Compiz on my work laptop, and it is indeed impressive, but eats a lot of horsepower.

 

WOW... Pico... Thanks for all the general descriptions. I want to learn it first and then I'll load a small laptop and give it to her to use. All she really needs is something that works like IE7 (Firefox is close enough.) and maybe a Word doc or two. She can use the desktop for anything heavy duty where she needs the programs that she is used to.

 

I've been writing up the Linux Mint dual boot guide.

I gotta do some finishing touches, and get my photos edited a bit, but tomorrow afternoon it should be posted and ready to go.

 

Thanks to both of you for doing all this work! WE really appreciate it!

 

Puppy Linux is a great choice for low-end / older systems. It runs from cd, or can be installed. While running from cd it gives the option to save data to a partition, or usb stick, or a cd-rw/dvd-rw.

 

My G5 crashed again, and my write-up and photos are on that...

So a slight delay on posting that.

 

I've been following along in the background, and applaud what all of you have done to help the rest of us learn more about linux. But even in this little group, I see the problem that has kept me out of linux so far: which distro to use?? there's so many of them. Each has its sterengths and weaknesses. and they're changing over time.. some evolve one way, some another.

This has got to be the reason why people still use MS windows. If linux development were not so fragmented, I don't see any reason why MS would continue to exist.

 

Well, the reason so many distros exist, is because everybody has a different idea of the perfect OS. Some want the latest and greatest things, others want speed, some want a blend, and some want specific tools only (BackTrack comes to mind, being for network security only, nothing else).

Once you find a distro you like though, you'll usually like it for a long time, or until somebody else makes a better one