Hi to everyone.

I have recently decided to take the plunge and explore the world of linux, to this end I have acquired a copy of Mandriva. I am looking to install this on my desktop, with the aim of dual booting it at least to begin with to see whether I can get along with it or not. I have played with a live cd of PCLinuxOS, and enjoyed the experience which lead me to taking the plunge. I do have a couple of questions that I am hoping someone might be able to answer/advise me on before I go ahead with the installation.

My PC Specs are
1.66ghz AMD processor
512 MB Ram
ATI Radeon 9200 SE Video Card
120 GB Hard Drive
30 GB Hard Drive - Currently partioned into a 10 gb with windows installed on it, and a 20gb spare partition.

1) I have read a lot about various distro's and have seen posted a lot that linux reads fat32 and not NTFS, is this true, or will Mandriva read NTFS so I don't have to format my partions to FAT32.

2) What sort of partioning scheme would people recommend for a start up installation?

3) What sort of Anti-virus/Firewalls programs run on linux, and what would people recommend I should install?

Thanks in advance for any and all help/advice given.

Darke Stryke,

At the moment, you are correct, windows can read fat32. We can also read ntfs though. However we can only write to fat32 (well, to a degree ntfs as well, but you don't want that mess mixed in with your first install). As far as the partitioning scheme, it depends how much hard space you want to give to linux and windows respectively. You will need (well, not need - but definitely want) to create a partition about of 1 gig with no filesystem. Your install will use this like extra memory. As far as firewalls, it comes built in, it's called iptables, and Mandriva should have a graphical configuration tool. Anti-virus? Welcome to linux - I've never actually heard of a person getting infected with a linux virus. There just aren't any out there.

Oh, for the linux partitions, don't put fat32 on them. Mandriva will put on one of its own. If it gives you the option to pick which kind, go with one called ext3. With a quick download, you can read it in windows, and it is the default linux filesystem. You'll get much better performance out of it than fat32.

Linux will read both fat 32 and NTFS, but writes fat32 only. Well, that is not entirely true. Linux will now write NTFS, but the functionality is relatively new, so I recommend caution. You will be best served to add a small fat 32 partition for the purpose of putting files created or modified in Linux which you want to read in Windows.

In addition to the small fat 32 partition, I suggest at the least a 1 to 2 Gb. partition to be mounted at /home, a 512 to 1 Gb. partition for swap, and as much space as you want (or can spare) for a partition to be mounted at '/' (the root directory) under which the remaining file system will be installed. If you intend to use your Mandriva Linux system to do mp3, movie files, or other disk space intensive work, you may want significantly more space for your /home partition. You really only need about 5 or 6 Gb. for the "/" (root) partition, 1 Gb. or less (can be as small as 256 Mb.) for the swap partition, and the rest could be set aside for the /home partition.

Mandriva comes with mandi-ifw as the firewall package. You can set it up in the summary screen near the end of the Mandriva Installation.

I use rkhunter to check for root kits, but Linux is not in danger of virus infections. Linux users who run antivirus software are protecting Windows computers with which they may come in contact. If you want to run antivirus software on your Linux installation (could be useful if the Windows installation becomes infected) Mandriva comes with clamav (clam antivirus) which can scan not only your Linux partitions, but also the Windows partitions etc.

HTH,

So just to make sure I have this right.

I set up a 5-6GB partion for the /(root)
1GB for Swap
say 4GB for the /home
and that could leave me about 9gb for a fat32 file store for both systems.

If thats correct then I'll be having a go at my first installation this weekend. And will post my results next week.

So thanks for everyone's help and advice.. and I'm looking foward to experiencing Linux.



Darke Stryke

Re: the partitioning issue:

If it was me, I'd just choose the 'use the available free space' option that's presented and let the installation make it's own partitions.

It WONT interfere with your Windows partition.

Ok. Thanks to everyone's advice and help I have managed to install mandriva, and am now plodding my way through it, learning bits and pieces as I go. I have another question I would like to ask. When installing it, it installed itself onto my main windows partion. Is it possible to install it onto the spare 20gb partioning of my main hard drive, so that I can set it up as a seperate partion for linux, and retiain the 10gb one for my windows installation... at least until i decide to go one way or the other.

Once again thanks in advance for any help.

Darke Stryke

Edit - Just to say I managed to work it out, and seem to have things set up as I would like.

DS