Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO
Miroslav Skoric, m.skoric@eunet.yu
v2.5, 15 November 2000
This mini-HOWTO covers some ways on how to install both Linux and Win
dows NT on the same computer and how to boot either of them from
within LILO menu. There is also another mini-HOWTO "Linux+NT-Loader"
that covers how to boot either of them from within NT Loader menu.
1. INTRODUCTION
Bill Wohler wrote in v1.1 of The Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO:
"Due to hardware or software problems or user headroom, I pulled my
hair out for several days trying to get both NT and Linux happily
settled on my new HP Vectra PC at work."
I could say that was true in my case too, but you really have a way to
make both Linux and Windows NT co-existing on the same machine and to
switch from one of them to another.
"Under no circumstances run the Disk Administrator from NT 3.51 to
format partitions. It asks if it can write a signature "which will
cause absolutely no harm." When it did this, it hosed my partition
table until fixed by steps 3 and 7 below. Because of these problems,
I was limited to one FAT NT partition. Also remember that even if you
do get the Disk Administrator to work, you'll want at least one small
FAT partition to use as a staging area for exchanging files between
Linux and NT until Linux has an NTFS filesystem."
Well, NT's Disk Administrator is sufficient tool to check what
situation on your hard disk(s) you have, before and after you used an
utility called Partition Magic by Power Quest. This utility might be
needed to 'shrink' your NT (either NTFS or FAT) partition, in order to
get some free space for your further Linux' partitions. (After a
while, I recognized that 'shrinking' used partition might not be
needed. Actually, if you start from 'scratch', it might be the best
way to re-format your whole disk(s) using FDISK command. You should
make a DOS boot floppy diskete where DOS commands FDISK and FORMAT
have to be also copied. More details later...)
"I installed Linux first and then NT, but based on my experience, I
might now be able to install NT first and then Linux."
Of course you all are able to install Windows NT first and after that
Linux. We'll see how to do that and how to use LILO (Linux Loader) to
choose which operating system to boot. But, before that we'll see the
procedure that Bill Wohler, the previous maintainer of this mini-
HOWTO, has been using:
2. HOW TO INSTALL: LINUX FIRST , WINDOWS NT AFTER
1. Install a minimal Linux (hold off on installing the rest until you
win the Linux/NT battle). Do all your disk partitioning in Linux,
including your NT partition (make it FAT). I was not successful at
making more than one NT partition. I also made it the first
partition, but I don't know if that is essential or not.
2. Edit /etc/lilo.conf and use boot=/dev/sda (I was not successful at
installing LILO on the Linux partition--/dev/sda3 in my case) and run
"lilo". You'll have to use the editor ae. You'll live.
3. Save the MBR with this: dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1
Use a floppy. Trust me. Also do this each time you change the disk
partition table.
4. Install NT, part 1. When it goes to reboot halfway through the
process you'll boot into Linux.
5. Add NT stanza to /etc/lilo.conf, e.g.:
other=/dev/sda1
label=NT
table=/dev/sda
and run lilo. If lilo complains about this (I forget the message),
add the "linear" flag to /etc/lilo.conf near the "compact" keyword.
Furthermore, if your partition table is screwed up by NT you'll either
need to use "ignore-table" or follow the directions in Step 7. See
also "fix-table". The LILO HOWTO is your friend.
6. Reboot, select NT from LILO, and finish NT install. You'll need
the "Boot Disk XU, HP Vectra AIC 7880 Driver A.01.02" floppy to
install the ethernet drivers and the "XU/VT Drivers and Documentation"
CD (directory video/disk4 if I recall correctly) to install the video
drivers for the Matrox MGA Millennium.
7. Back to Linux, run fdisk and ensure you don't get "partition
doesn't end on cylinder boundary" on your Linux partitions. You'll
still have this error on the NT partition though, but this seems to be
OK.
/dev/sda1 1 1 322 329301 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys=(321, 39, 9) should be (321, 63, 32)
Cfdisk reports strangeness, but it seems OK:
Unusable 0.04*
/dev/sda1 Primary DOS 16-bit >=32Mb 321.59*
Unusable 0.39*
If you do get the cylinder boundary warning on your Linux partitions,
it is sufficient to use cfdisk to do something innocuous like changing
the boot sector.
If, however, NT has really screwed you over and cfdisk can't even run,
complaining that it cannot open /dev/sda, then you'll need to take
more extreme action. You'll need that MBR you saved previously.
Clear and restore the MBR (but not the signature) with:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/dev/sda bs=510 count=1
8. Install the rest of Linux. Easy, huh?
If you prefer to have NT write the MBR instead of LILO, you may have
to resort to the following to clear the MBR first:
· dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1 (in Linux) or perform a
low-level format with the SCSI utilities. I've heard that a low-
level format of an IDE disk is fatal, so don't do it.
· fdisk /mbr (you've obviously already created a DOS boot disk that
contains fdisk).
· delete NT partition and create it again in NT install.
· continue with NT install.
Epilogue: After first posting this message, I heard from several folks
that they had no problems with NT's Disk Administrator, and were able
to install either NT or Linux first without any problems. Hopefully,
you'll be in this camp, but if not, perhaps this campfire story will
be of some use.
Since the first edition of this mini-HOWTO, others have written
similar documents as well. Please be sure to consult them. If your
experience differs from any presented, then you should submit your own
mini-HOWTO or submit a revised version of this document to the HOWTO
maintainer (reference this sentence) and send a carbon copy to me as I
don't have the time to maintain this document. Someone should
eventually combine all of these documents into a single coherent
HOWTO.
Finally, I'm afraid this document details all I know about this
subject. I should point you to an appropriate Linux newsgroup for
further information. I use NT about one day a year. Under duress.
3. HOW TO INSTALL: WINDOWS NT FIRST , LINUX AFTER
3.1. If you have only one IDE hard disk
· First of all, I would suggest you to install a fresh copy of
Windows NT 4.0 on your hard disk. I suppose that you already made a
backup of your important data, so the NT installation shouldn't be
a problem. During the NT installation, setup is not going to ask
you where to place NT's boot loader, so it would be placed into the
MBR (Master Boot Record) of your hard disk. But, there is a
possibility for a previous content of the MBR to remain within the
MBR (especially any previous Lilo), so I would suggest you (before
installation of NT) to boot the computer with a DOS floppy diskette
having DOS version of FDISK. At the prompt a:\ just enter the
command: fdisk /mbr and restart the computer again (without that
floppy).
· After you have successfully installed your NT, you will see that it
uses the whole hard disk or a specific partition of the hard disk
(depending on what you decided during the setup process). So, it
is advisible to 'shrink' the partition where NT resides in order to
make some free space on the disk. Onto that free space you will
install your Linux. After you have your NT configured and running,
you have to boot your computer using a floppy diskette with
Partition Magic utility by Power Quest. It is a graphical tool able
to see all partitions on all hard disks you have. The best thing is
that you can make some changes with your partitions but not to
destroy your existing data. One of the available changes is to make
your existing partition(s) smaller, so to get some free space on
the disk(s) for other purposes. Although you are advised to make a
backup before you make any changes to the partitions, I usually
practise to 'shrink' NT's partition(s) before I install anything
else onto this NT (so, if needed, a repetitive NT re-installation
wouldn't be a problem). Well, Partition Magic (or any other
similar utility you are familiar with) will shrink your NT's
partition (either NTFS or FAT) to a smaller measure and place it to
either the beginning or to the end of the previous measure. It
means that you may choose to have your 'shrinked' NT partition at
the beginning or at the end of your disk (I usually choose NT to be
at the beginning, so the ending part of the disk will become a
'free space'). After the 'shrinkin' is finished, you may re-boot
your NT in order to check the new situation: you may use Windows
Explorer or Disk Administrator for that.
· As it was said in Introduction, it might not be needed always to
use such tools like Partition Magic. It is better to say that this
tool is of a great value in all those cases you have been running
Windows NT for a long time, so you don't want to start from
'scratch'. For example, you are fully satisfied with your beloved
NT and related applications. You are not likely to kill NT, but you
have recognized that you have enough unused space on NT's
partition(s) (i.e. NT's partition(s) might look not much
populated). That case, Partition Magic is your choice.
But, if you do start from the beginning, or you don't mind re-
formatting the disk, it might be suitable to get a blank floppy
diskette, make it to be DOS bootable and copy two DOS tools on it:
FDISK and FORMAT. So, restart your computer with such floppy and at
A:\ prompt enter fdisk. There you'll find several options that
allow re-partition of your hard disk(s). Now you could make a part
of the disk a FAT partition (where you'll later install your
beloved NT). The rest of space you'd better leave alone (i.e. do
not attempt making Linux partition(s) right now, using DOS's
version of FDISK). If you really want to make Linux-type partitions
now, you should look after Linux version of FDISK.
· So far so good. Next step is to install your Linux. Case you are
familiar with RedHat distribution (I hope with other distros is the
same or similar), you start by putting your installation CD in the
drive and re-boot the computer). Well, when you are about to choose
what type of installation it will be (Gnome or KDE Workstation,
Custom, etc.) you may choose whatever you planned before, but I
would suggest to install a Workstation at first. This is good
because Linux setup will find automatically the free space on the
(first) hard disk, make all partitions needed for Linux, format
them properly, make majority of options by default so you won't
have much pain during the setup (later, if you want, you may either
add missing components or re-install RedHat Linux as Custom over
the existing linux partitions). Lilo should go to the MBR.
· Don't forget to make Linux boot floppy diskette. You'll never know
when you may need it. If something goes wrong with the MBR, and you
don't have boot floppy, your Linux might become not accessible, so
you might have to re-install it again.
· After it looks that Linux installation is finished, you are going
to re-start the computer and there you will only see Lilo with only
one entry to boot: Linux (or maybe more than one Linux entry, in
case your hardware is multi-processor one or so). But, don't panic!
Your Windows NT is still there - where you had installed it before
Linux. You should become some familiar with Linux as soon as
possible, in order to be able to find and edit your new
/etc/lilo.conf file. When you open this file for the first time,
you'll see that there is only one (or more) Linux entry. Well, you
should know the exact position (read: a partition) where Windows NT
has been installed, so you could add an appropriate entry into
/etc/lilo.conf file. After you make those changes, restart Lilo
with a command: /sbin/lilo and, after the next re-boot, you will
have both 'linux' and 'nt' (or 'dos' or similar) entries under Lilo
menu.
· My added NT entry is:
other=/dev/hda1
label=nt
So, the whole /etc/lilo.conf looks like this:
boot=/dev/hda
timeout=50
prompt
default=linux
vga=normal
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
label=linux
root=/dev/hda3
other=/dev/hda1
label=nt
· Some more explanations regarding details from my /etc/lilo.conf
file: After I have installed Windows NT, I assigned the letter C:
to that drive. Beside that, I wanted to have another NTFS partition
in order to store and backup important files, case I have to re-
install NT on C: for some reason in the future. That's why I've
made another NT partition, that has been assigned as D: disk. Both
NTFS partitions are approximatelly 3 GB each and Linux setup found
them as /dev/hda1 and /dev/hda2 partitions. The rest free space on
the disk was cca 2 GB, where I have made the /root partition of
near 1.9 GB and /swapp part of cca 100 MB (/dev/hda3 and /dev/hda4
respectively). Lilo went to the MBR and all has been running fine.
For your information, I wanted to make these linux partitions that
time. Later, I found that it was not needed, so now I let Linux
setup to make partitions from the free space in a way it likes to
do that. I trust it :-)
3.2. If you have more than one (SCSI) hard disk
Notice: Folks, you see, at my place, one of computers has several SCSI
disks. That's why I put the word 'SCSI' in parentheses. There I have
several SCSI controllers, SCSI CD ROM drive and SCSI Tape drive. So,
it doesn't mean that *you* will be using SCSI parts at all. You'd
rather handle more than one IDE disks, but I hope that install process
shouldn't change too much, if any.
· First of all, I would suggest you to install a fresh copy of
Windows NT 4.0 on your first hard disk. I suppose that you already
made a backup of your important data, so the NT installation
shouldn't be a problem. You can easily copy your data on your
second hard disk or so. During the NT installation, setup is not
going to ask you where to place NT's boot loader, so it would be
placed into the MBR (Master Boot Record) of your first hard disk.
But, there is a possibility for a previous content of the MBR to
remain within the MBR (especially any previous Lilo), so I would
suggest you (before installation of NT) to boot the computer with a
DOS floppy diskette having DOS version of FDISK. At the prompt a:\
just enter the command: fdisk /mbr and restart the computer again
(without that floppy). If you want to be sure about your machine is
'clean', you may also delete any existing partition(s) on your
other disks, during the Windows NT Setup in case you have *not*
made any backup on other disks.
· After you have successfully installed your NT, you will see that it
uses the whole hard disk or a specific partition of the hard disk
(depending on what you decided during the setup process). So, it
is advisible to 'shrink' the partition where NT resides in order to
make some free space on the disk. Onto that free space you will
install your Linux. Well, you may also think of using other disk(s)
you have for Linux (so did I). That case, you would start your
linux installation and tried to use, for example, /dev/sdb (or sdc,
or sdd, or else in case of SCSI system) or /dev/hdb (or hdc, or
hdd, or else in case of IDE system). Looked that Linux installation
accepted whatever I chose, but somehow after all was finished, when
I did that, LILO was not able to do anything. Actually, it always
stopped after 'LI' so it was not possible to start Linux at all.
Finally, after pulling my hair out, I decided to make it all on the
first disk. So, after I had NT configured and running, I had to
boot my computer using a floppy diskette with Partition Magic
utility by Power Quest. It is a graphical tool able to see all
partitions on all hard disks you have. The best thing is that you
can make some changes with your partitions but not to destroy your
existing data. One of the available changes is to make your
existing partition(s) smaller, so you can get some free space on
the disk(s) for other purposes. Although you are advised to make a
backup before you make any changes with your partitions, I usually
practise to 'shrink' NT's partition before I install anything but
NT itself (so, if needed, a repetitive re-installation wouldn't be
a problem). Well, Partition Magic (or any other similar utility
you are familiar with) will shrink your NT's partition (either NTFS
or FAT) to a smaller measure and place it to either the beginning
or to the end of the previous measure. It means that you may choose
to have your 'shrinked' NT partition at the beginning or at the end
of your disk. I usually choose NT to be at the beginning, so the
ending part of the disk will become a 'free space'. I discovered
some problems if the 'free space' is made at the beginning of disk
(later we'll talk about). So, after the NT in order to check the
new situation: you may use Windows Explorer or Disk Administrator
for that. You will also note how NT can 'see' all (other) disks you
have in your machine (either partitioned or as 'free space' areas).
· Once again, as it was said earlier, it might not be needed always
to use such tools like Partition Magic. It is better to say that
this tool is of a great value in all those cases you have been
running Windows NT for a long time, so you don't want to start from
'scratch'. For example, you are fully satisfied with your beloved
NT and related applications. You are not likely to kill NT, but you
have recognized that you have enough unused space on NT's
partition(s) (i.e. NT's partition(s) might look not much
populated). That case, Partition Magic is your choice.
But, if you do start from the beginning, or you don't mind re-
formatting the disk(s), it might be suitable to get a blank floppy
diskette, make it to be DOS bootable and copy two DOS tools on it:
FDISK and FORMAT. So, restart your computer with such floppy and at
A:\ prompt enter fdisk. There you'll find several options that
allow re-partition of your hard disk(s). Now you could make a part
of the disk a FAT partition (where you'll later install your
beloved NT). The rest of space you'd better leave alone (i.e. do
not attempt making Linux partition(s) right now, using DOS's
version of FDISK). If you really want to make Linux-type partitions
now, you should look after Linux version of FDISK.
· So far so good. Next step is to install your Linux. Case you are
familiar with RedHat distribution (I hope with other distros is the
same or similar), you start by putting your installation CD in the
drive and re-boot the computer). Well, when you are about to choose
what type of installation it will be (Gnome or KDE Workstation,
Custom, etc.) you may choose whatever you planned before, but I
would suggest to install a Workstation at first. This is good
because Linux setup will find automatically the free space on the
first hard disk, make all partitions needed for Linux, format them
properly, make majority of options by default so you won't have
much pain during the setup (later, if you want, you may either add
missing components or re-install Linux as Custom over the existing
linux partitions). Lilo should go to the MBR of your first disk.
· After it looks that Linux installation is finished, you are going
to re-start the computer and there you will only see Lilo with one
Linux entry to boot (or maybe more than one Linux entry, in case
your hardware is multi-processor one). But, don't panic! Your
Windows NT is still there where you had installed it before Linux.
You should become some familiar with Linux as soon as possible, in
order to be able to find and edit your new /etc/lilo.conf file.
When you open this file for the first time, you'll see that there
is only one (or more) Linux entry. Well, you should know the exact
position (read: a partition) where Windows NT has been installed,
so you could add an appropriate entry into /etc/lilo.conf file.
After you do that, restart Lilo and, after the next re-boot, you
will have both 'linux' and 'nt' entries under Lilo menu.
· My added NT entry is:
other=/dev/sda1
label=nt
So, the whole /etc/lilo.conf looks like this:
boot=/dev/sda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
default=linux
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20smp
label=linux-mp
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20smp.img
read-only
root=/dev/sda6
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.12-20
label=linux-up
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img
read-only
root=/dev/sda6
other=/dev/hda1
label=nt
· Some more explanation, regarding details from my /etc/lilo.conf
file: After I have installed Windows NT on the first disk, I
assigned the letter C: to that drive. After I made enough free
space after the NTFS partition, I let Linux setup to handle further
partitioning. Although Linux should support as far as four primary
partitions per disk, it seems that Linux setup is likely to make an
extended partition, whenever it recognizes that there is already a
primary partition on the disk. Considering that those 'virtual'
primary partitions would be numbered from /dev/sda1 to /dev/sda4
(including an extended one, of course), the extended one should
become /dev/sda4. Following that idea, the first one logical
partition within the extended one was numbered as /dev/sda5 (in my
case, it was the /boot partition that physically was the first from
the beginning of the first hard disk). So, the /root and /swapp
partitions are /dev/sda6 and /dev/sda7 respectively. You may see a
line "root=/dev/sda6" telling you that. Once again, Lilo went to
the MBR and all has been running fine.
· Well, you may ask me: Ok, but what in a case I have several hard
disks installed in the machine? Good question. You see, I myself
have four SCSI disks and, of course, I tried to install Linux on
the 2nd one, next the 3rd and, finally, on the 4th disk. Whatever I
did (Linux setup haven't complained at all), when I was about to
finish the installation and after performing the final automatic
re-boot, my Lilo would stop after 'LI' so the computer had to be
re-started. Finally, I realized that there must be a problem with
disks that are too "far" from the MBR that is located at the
beginning of the first hard disk. That's why I suggest you to make
them all (both NT and Linux) on your first disk. After having all
of them running ok, there is no problem to make other disks visible
(and usable) by both operating system. I hope your first disk is
large enough to carry both operating systems (NT needs at least cca
150 MB for itself, Linux depends on what you want to get: Gnome or
KDE Workstations are about 580 MB, but the Custom wants more than
1.4 GB). That means the first hard disk of cca 2.4 GB should fit.
· You may also ask me: Ok, but, could I 'shrink' my NT partition in a
way the 'free space' is made at the beginning of the disk? Well, I
remember I tried to do so and to install, at first, Gnome
Workstation (395 packages, 570 MB) there. During the setup,
everything looked fine, but neither Lilo was not installed, nor the
boot floppy was made. You bet, Linux was not functional. Then I
tried to install KDE Workstation (377 packages, 582 MB) on the same
place. Once again, everything looked fine, but neither Lilo was not
installed, nor the boot floppy was made. Investigating that, I
studied the structure of all existing partitions. I was surprised
when recognized that new born logical partitions (within the new
born extended one) were numbered as if they were physically
positioned after the NT partition! In the other words, there I have
got a 'funny' order: /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6, /dev/sda7 and, finally,
/dev/sda1. Looked like the system was a bit confused. So I
considered that it is advisible to make the 'free space' after
already existing NT partition(s).
· Regarding two similar Linux images (differ in 'smp'). It is a
server hardware with a multi-processor support. The "inteligent"
setup has inspected the hardware and offered me to have both
'multi' and 'uni' processor functionality. Nevertheless, I still
have only one CPU there.
4. FURTHER INFORMATION
4.1. Copyright
Copyright is a source of much and continuous debate on the LDP mailing
list. For more in depth information please consult the Manifesto at
the LinuxDoc site. The purpose of having a
license is to allow appropriate distribution. You can use any license
that meets the Manifesto. What follows is a boilerplate licence.
Copyright (c) 2000 by Miroslav "Misko" Skoric.
Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in
any format. It's requested that corrections and/or comments be
fowarded to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work
and distribute it provided that you:
· Send your derivative work (in the most suitable format such as
sgml) to the LDP (Linux Documentation Project) or the like for
posting on the Internet. If not the LDP, then let the LDP know
where it is available.
· License the derivative work with this same license or use GPL.
Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the license
used.
· Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors.
If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation,
it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current
maintainer.
4.2. Disclaimer
Use the information in this document at your own risk. I disavow any
potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the
concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely
at your own risk.
All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted
otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as
affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as
endorsements.
You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before
major installation and backups at regular intervals.
4.3. News
This is not the first release of this mini-HOWTO. I hope to improve it
whenever possible. Beside that, there are other documents that may
help you to install more than one operating system on the same
computer. You may look for them at the same location where you get
Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO.
This mini-HOWTO would be improved from time to time. If you think that
the HOWTO on your Linux installation CD is some out-of-date, you may
check for newest release on the Internet. It could be found within the
main Linux Documentation Project homepage.
4.4. Credits
This version of Linux+WinNT mini-HOWTO is based on:
The Linux+WindowsNT mini-HOWTO
by Bill Wohler, wohler@newt.com
v1.1, 19 February 1997
Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my email address:
m.skoric@eunet.yu.
4.5. HOWTO
These are intended as the primary starting points to get the
background information as well as show you how to solve a specific
problem. Some relevant HOWTOs are Bootdisk, Installation, SCSI and
UMSDOS. The main site for these is the LDP archive
at Metalab (formerly known as Sunsite).
4.6. Mini-HOWTO
These are the smaller free text relatives to the HOWTOs. Some
relevant mini-HOWTOs are Backup-With-MSDOS, Diskless, LILO, Large
Disk, Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2, Linux+OS2+DOS, Linux+Win95, Linux+WinNT,
Linux+NT-Loader, NFS-Root, Win95+Win+Linux, ZIP Drive . You can find
these at the same place as the HOWTOs, usually in a sub directory
called mini. Note that these are scheduled to be converted into SGML
and become proper HOWTOs in the near future.
4.7. Local Resources
In most distributions of Linux there is a document directory
installed, have a look in the /usr/doc directory. where most packages
store their main documentation and README files etc. Also you will
here find the HOWTO archive ( /usr/doc/HOWTO) of ready formatted
HOWTOs and also the mini-HOWTO archive ( /usr/doc/HOWTO/mini
) of plain text documents.
Many of the configuration files mentioned earlier can be found in the
/etc directory. In particular you will want to work with the
/etc/fstab file that sets up the mounting of partitions and possibly
also /etc/mdtab file that is used for the md system to set up RAID.
The kernel source in /usr/src/linux is, of
course, the ultimate documentation. In other words, use the source,
Luke. It should also be pointed out that the kernel comes not only
with source code which is even commented (well, partially at least)
but also an informative documentation directory
. If you are about to ask any
questions about the kernel you should read this first, it will save
you and many others a lot of time and possibly embarrassment.
Also have a look in your system log file ( /var/log/messages) to see
what is going on and in particular how the booting went if too much
scrolled off your screen. Using tail -f /var/log/messages in a
separate window or screen will give you a continuous update of what is
going on in your system.
You can also take advantage of the /proc file system that is a window
into the inner workings of your system. Use cat rather than more to
view the files as they are reported as being zero length. Reports are
that less works well here.
4.8. Web Pages
There is a huge number of informative web pages out there and by their
very nature they change quickly so don't be too surprised if these
links become quickly outdated.
A good starting point is of course the Linux Documentation Project
home page, an information central for
documentation, project pages and much, much more.
Please let me know if you have any other leads that can be of
interest.
5. GETTING HELP
In the end you might find yourself unable to solve your problems and
need help from someone else. The most efficient way is either to ask
someone local or in your nearest Linux user group, search the web for
the nearest one.
Another possibility is to ask on Usenet News in one of the many, many
newsgroups available. The problem is that these have such a high
volume and noise (called low signal-to-noise ratio) that your question
can easily fall through unanswered.
No matter where you ask it is important to ask well or you will not be
taken seriously. Saying just my disk does not work is not going to
help you and instead the noise level is increased even further and if
you are lucky someone will ask you to clarify.
Instead describe your problems in some detail that will enable people
to help you. The problem could lie somewhere you did not expect.
Therefore you are advised to list up the following information on your
system:
Hardware
· Processor
· DMA
· IRQ
· Chip set (LX, BX etc)
· Bus (ISA, VESA, PCI etc)
· Expansion cards used (Disk controllers, video, IO etc)
Software
· BIOS (On motherboard and possibly SCSI host adapters)
· LILO, if used
· Linux kernel version as well as possible modifications and
patches
· Kernel parameters, if any
· Software that shows the error (with version number or date)
Peripherals
· Type of disk drives with manufacturer name, version and type
· Other relevant peripherals connected to the same busses
Remember that booting text is logged to /var/log/messages which can
answer most of the questions above. Obviously if the drives fail you
might not be able to get the log saved to disk but you can at least
scroll back up the screen using the SHIFT and PAGE UP keys. It may
also be useful to include part of this in your request for help but do
not go overboard, keep it brief as a complete log file dumped to
Usenet News is more than a little annoying.