Re: Tiresome not-even-newbie question

[jwb@example.com (Jim Breen)]

>> Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 15:42:23 +0900
>> From: peter@example.com
>> 
>> What I've just bought is a Toshiba Portege [silly name!] 7220CTe.  It
>> now has a single WinY2K partition of a modest 2GB, plus 10GB of
>> inviting wilderness.  I'd rather like to have 4GB-worth of Linux -- and
>> leave the rest of the space for joint-use data files and [blush!] more
>> WinY2K stuff.  I have already learnt that I have to throttle down the
>> PCMCIA driver in order for cards to be readable.  Moreover,
>> http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~pb/T7140CT.html#S0750 gives the general
>> impression that this computer is bleeding-edge, even for people who
>> obviously know what they're doing -- and I of course do not.

The easiest way I have found to share files between the Win & Linux
environments is to use the Windblows partition. I use Win95 & 98, so
I can mount those partitions. I don't know about WinY2K. Years ago when
I had Win95-A on a FAT16 partition I ran a tool call "e2tools" which let
me read Linux ext2 partitions from within Windblows, but this never 
worked on a FAT32, in fact just starting the program corrupted the primary 
FAT table.

I considered a Porte'ge' as it's light & portable. I eventually went for
the bigger Satellite, partly because it had a bigger disk available, and
the CD was a DVD one.

I would *never* recommend a notebook installation as one's first Linux
experience; I think it would be like two shy virgins attempting
consummation - it may work out OK, or it may mean days of frustration.
Notebooks are tough in that they use odd hardware in odd ways. The
makers pay a lot of shekels to get all the Windblows drivers working
right, but the Linux brigade rely on talented amateurs to catch up
later. The commercial Linux packagers don't pay a lot of attention to
the problems of notebooks. For example, the the 4.0.x X-server that comes 
with RH7.0 still doesn't support the Savage S3 video chip in the later 
Toshibas.

My advice is to try out on a desktop - preferable a very standard one
with very common hardware. Most installations should run out-of-the-box.

HTH

Jim
-- 
Jim Breen  [jwb@example.com  http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/]
Visiting Professor, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of 
Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan
+81 3 5974 3880         [$B%8%`!&%V%j!<%s(B@$BEl5~30Bg(B]