linux n00b-help!

[unrealhill]

i'm sure this has been covered many times, but i just don't know what to do and i'm really confused.

i am trying to dual boot suse linux 10.1. i have windows xp pro (80 gigs) and another 30 gigs which i've set aside for linux. i have no experience with running linux at all. i have tried installing linux already, but i couldn't boot back into windows. i've decied to just start over and now i'm just back with windows. can anyone point me over to a guide i can use or help me with installing it? i want to install this on one drive and be able to choose which OS i boot into each time i turn my laptop on.

my laptop is a dell inspiron, specs are:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz with 1 GB of RAM and a 120 GB hard drive.

thanks in advance, and i'll try to respond as quickly as i can. time for sleep over here and i still have school the next day.

[devils casper]

Hi unrealhill !

Welcome to LinuxForums !!

Dual Boot is default in ALL Linux distros. create Free/Unpartitioned space for Suse. dont format or partition it. just free space. installer will take care of partitioning and formatting.
during installation, select "unpartitioned/Free Space for install'. dont change anything in Boot Loader section.




casper

[scrarfussi]

i'm sure this has been covered many times, but i just don't know what to do and i'm really confused.

i am trying to dual boot suse linux 10.1. i have windows xp pro (80 gigs) and another 30 gigs which i've set aside for linux. i have no experience with running linux at all. i have tried installing linux already, but i couldn't boot back into windows. i've decied to just start over and now i'm just back with windows. can anyone point me over to a guide i can use or help me with installing it? i want to install this on one drive and be able to choose which OS i boot into each time i turn my laptop on.

my laptop is a dell inspiron, specs are:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz with 1 GB of RAM and a 120 GB hard drive.

thanks in advance, and i'll try to respond as quickly as i can. time for sleep over here and i still have school the next day.

i was kind of in the same boat as you when i started this may sound pretty dumb but all i did was click next next next and before i knew it i was dual booting tis only when i had to delete and reinstall that it all start making sense suse basically does
it for you goodluck

[unrealhill]

thanks for your help, i finally got it right and now i have a dual-booting system. is there anything out there that i can read about to help me get started about linux? i've been a windows user my whole life, and now i think its time for a change.

[unrealhill]

probably another dumb noob question, but how do you unzip a .exe file? i need to view the file contents to install my wi-fi card.

"The download from Dell comes in .EXE format, but you can simply use unzip FILENAME.EXE to unzip the contents of the file."

how do i do this?

[smolloy]

probably another dumb noob question, but how do you unzip a .exe file? i need to view the file contents to install my wi-fi card.

"The download from Dell comes in .EXE format, but you can simply use unzip FILENAME.EXE to unzip the contents of the file."

how do i do this?

It sounds like the download from dell is a driver for windows, which means it won't work on linux. If you're trying to get your wireless card working, and the manufacturer doesn't supply drivers for linux, then you should look into ndiswrapper. This will let you use windows wifi drivers on a linux system.

EDIT:: You should also think of starting a new thread in the wireless devices section, instead of continuing here.

[Juan Pablo]

cabextract may help

[HeyAZ]

With the Core 2 Duo: can presumably install x86-64 version of Suse 10.1 (64 bit) to utilize both the 32 bit cores. Or, can also choose the 32 bit x86 version.

If you did install the 64 bit, my understanding that SMT must be working for both cores to be at full throttle. To really be using the 64 bits, ie the very latest kernel version. Is this your experience, that both cores are being accessed? Any other issues with the 64 bit install? Also have a Dell 9400 C2D laptop and plan to install Suse 10.1 this week, with a cup a strong coffee.