My Little Installation Issues!

[bushie]

G'day all,

Well I have finally taken the plunge and installed Suse 9.3 on my system, but I have run into several issues that I can't resolve. It seems strange after working with DOS and Windows for 25 years to be going back to the newbie stage with an operating system, but I believe Linux is the future.

Here's the story. I have two 80Gb HDDs of which one is a portable USB device. I have set up a 10Gb partition on the fixed HDD which is where Linux is installed. I tried to set it all up on the portable, but all hell broke loose with GRUB errors and I couldn't boot to Windows from it. How it is set up now is working for booting either system.

My issues:

• First of all I cannot get access to the internet from Linux. I have a D-Link DSL 200 USB modem, but I can't find a device driver to work under SUSE for this modem.
  I want all my data files and any additional programmes I install to be placed on the portable USB drive as room will run out on the other drive. I can't seem to find how to do this.
  I have tried to create directories on the portable drive to store the documents from Office, but it keeps saying I'm not allowed to create directories?? Surely I don't have to login as root every time I want to install a programme or create a new directory.
  I'm not sure how to describe this one, but is it possible to boot both Windows and Linux and then "hot swap" between the systems? I've seen references to dual booting, but my installation simply comes up with the option to install one or the other.

Well I think I've demonstrated my ignorance sufficiently at this stage and I look forward to some enlightening replies.

Kind regards,

[smolloy]

Hi bushie, welcome! Well done on making the changeover!!! I can't answer all your questions, but I'll do my best.

First of all I cannot get access to the internet from Linux. I have a D-Link DSL 200 USB modem, but I can't find a device driver to work under SUSE for this modem.

Not sure about this one

I want all my data files and any additional programmes I install to be placed on the portable USB drive as room will run out on the other drive. I can't seem to find how to do this.

Linux doesn't install programs in quite the same way as windows. In windows you can install programs to any directory you want, but in linux programs have to be installed to very specific locations in the filesystem -- normally /usr, but in other places as well. One solution is to mount the USB drive as /usr (in other words /usr will not be on the main disc any more, and will be located on the new drive. This is possible, but you should be aware that having a critcial folder on a USB drive will slow your system down somewhat. If you want to go ahead with this I can help.

I have tried to create directories on the portable drive to store the documents from Office, but it keeps saying I'm not allowed to create directories?? Surely I don't have to login as root every time I want to install a programme or create a new directory.

True, you don't have to be root to write to the new directory. Go to the command line and do this,

su -
<your root password>
less /etc/fstab

Post the output here and we'll see how to continue.

I'm not sure how to describe this one, but is it possible to boot both Windows and Linux and then "hot swap" between the systems? I've seen references to dual booting, but my installation simply comes up with the option to install one or the other.

I don't think this one is possible, but maybe someone else can chime in??

I hope my answers made sense. Please write back to let us know how you're getting on, and to get any clarification

[bryansmith]

I'm not sure how to describe this one, but is it possible to boot both Windows and Linux and then "hot swap" between the systems? I've seen references to dual booting, but my installation simply comes up with the option to install one or the other.

The best I can come up with for something like this would be to run Suse or Windows under emulation with something like VMWare. I somehow get the feeling this will not be a good solution but I thought I could through that out there just in case .

Bryan

[farslayer]

D-L:ink USB Modem Driver..

http://eciadsl.flashtux.org/tutorial.php?lang=en



For accessing your external Hard drive as a regular user, you probably just need to add the appropriate entries to your /etc/fstab file so that normal users can access the drive.
something along the lines of:

/dev/sda1 /media/harddrive auto rw,users,auto 0 0

Of course you would need tu use the proper device and and mount point for your system...

[bushie]

Thank you to you all for your advice and input.

Given the responses, I think I will put this project on hold until I can upgrade a few things, like a much larger hard disk for example. I am also going to have to invest in a router and network card as the DSL 200 modem does not have Linux support. The alternative driver suggested by farslayer does not work for Suse as I have already investigated that one.

Looks like I'll just have to write a couple more web sites and then upgrade my whole system as it is now over 2 years old so that I will have all the room I need. For the type of things I am into, I most definitely need internet access so I can download and install programmes directly, apart from which I must be able to maintain client websites online. I want to do as much as possible in Linux so I am learning the system as I work.

Once again, many thanks for your speedy and helpful responses. I will be back!!

[plug_it_in]

I want all my data files and any additional programmes I install to be placed on the portable USB drive as room will run out on the other drive. I can't seem to find how to do this.

Well, if you still have room on your hard drive, you could resize it using QtParted, which you can find here or on the Knoppix Live CD. Then you will have more room for programs. Or just get a new internal hard drive I think I saw a 300 gig'er on digg's tech deals for 69.99 or something. great deal, but god knows i don't need more space.

[bushie]

Thanks for the info, but HDD space runs out at around $1 a gig here in Australia. I am going to have to buy the router as well, so I may as well do a total upgrade of my entire system.

Don't worry, I won't be giving up....the project is just on hold for a while.

[plug_it_in]

You don't have to buy it in Australia. Look on these sites for deals on computer stuff, and you probably won't have to pay $1.00/GB:

Newegg.com, Tiger Direct, or my personal favorite TechBargains.com

(On Techbargains look on the left and do a search for lowest price, that's the best IMO...