>Hello all, > >Well, I've partitioned my harddrive with Partition Magic. >And I am currently downloading Mandrake GNU/Linux, because of >everyone's advice. > >NOW I know this is for DEBIAN GNU/Linux BUT I have to ask in here >(because I don't want to be added to yet another mailing list) and I >figure someone might know seeings how everyone kept telling me to get >Mandrake GNU/Linux. > > >Does anyone know how to create a dual boot system with Mandrake >GNU/Linux and Windows XP, with Windows XP being the system that boots >up as the default OS making it so the computer will AUTOMATICALLY run >Windows XP unless I tell it to run Mandrake? > >ALSO > >Is Debian software (such as abbiword) compatible with Mandrake >GNU/Linux and vice versa? > >in fact is ALL Linux software compatible with the different OS's of >Linux? > >Thanks once again for helping me with my questions. > >John
I have a solution that is a bit tricky, but it should work with any distribution. I installed windows XP on hda1 and the linux root partition on hda6 (I have no special /boot partition). my /etc/lilo.conf has these lines : boot=/dev/hda6 root=/dev/hda6 boot must be /dev/hda6 and NOT /dev/hda (MBR), because XP booting code is already installed on /dev/hda. then update your lilo booting code in /dev/hda6 (just type lilo at the command prompt). Then, put a floppy on your floppy drive, mount it (assume /floppy) and execute dd if=/dev/hda6 bs=512 count=1 of=/floppy/linux.lnx this will create a small file on you floppy. Unmout the floppy and reboot under XP. Copy the file a:\linux.lnx on c:\ Edit the file c:\boot.ini (this is a hidden file) and add at the end of the file ..... fastdetect C:\Linux.lnx="Mandrake or what you want" then reboot and that's it. I found also this information here : http://www.mandrakeuser.org/docs/install/i3boot.html Fabian
