[lug] suggestions needed

[Pedersen, Michael J]

Actually, your timing on this question couldn't be better if you had tried.
I just worked on a dual-boot Caldera/Win98 system this past weekend, and was
so concerned about the results that I removed Linux off the machine.
 
I'll do three things here: 1) Explain how to get the Caldera multi-boot
working.  2) Explain why I didn't like Caldera (as best as I can remember,
at least). 3) Recommend another distro, and again why.
 
1) Getting it working.
 
a) You'll need to run a thorough scandisk, followed by a defrag, on the
drive you are going to install Caldera on.
b) Run Partition Magic, and split the partition
c) Get into your linux partition, and print out your current /etc/lilo.conf
as you will need it later
d) Run the Caldera install program
e) Follow it through until you get to the point about setting up your disks.
Choose expert mode at this point
f) You will need to go to the new partition on your second hard drive, which
should be /dev/hdb2 (from the description you've given).
g) Edit the partition.
    i) Set the type to Linux
    ii) Set the mount point to /
h) Make sure that the only partition which is supposed to be formatted is
this new partition (/dev/hdb2)
i) Finish the process per the onscreen instructions
j) At some point, you will be asked where to install the boot-loader.
Install it in the MBR (while not a popular choice, I don't know the paths
needed to let you install it in the first sector of the new partition).
After you reboot, you will be carried into the Caldera linux system.  Log in
as root, and edit your /etc/lilo.conf to add in the entries for your other
OSes on the system. You should obtain these entries from your printed
/etc/lilo.conf.  Each entry will be a section which starts with a "label="
line. In addition, edit the first entry in this /etc/lilo.conf to change the
label to something like "caldera".  Change the default line to point back to
your windows partition again. Exit your editor, and run /sbin/lilo
 
You will now have a system which can boot into caldera by typing "caldera"
at the prompt, redhat by typing "linux", or windows by default.  Some
caveats on this method, though:
 
A) Don't cross mount your linux partitions.  In other words, don't mount
your redhat partitions when caldera's running, and vice-versa. While this
won't provide problems directly, it will allow you to accidentally install
(or remove) a library from the other side which you didn't want to do.
B) Only use lilo in one of the versions of linux, don't use both versions of
linux to control lilo. Your MBR will go crazy on you for doing this
(figuratively speaking). It would, however, be very easy to screw up the MBR
beyond repair (I would think) by using the lilo programs from both versions
of linux. I may be wrong, but I would be wary of this.
 
2) Why I didn't like Caldera
 
When you look at a house, or a car, or most anything physical, you can give
a comment on the quality of it.  For instance, you might look at a house and
say that's a beautiful house.  But, even as you look at it, and admit that
it is beautiful, you get the feeling that there's something wrong with it
(no, not evil, just structurally unsound). That was the very first thing I
noticed as I looked at Caldera.  Absolutely beautiful install, easy to get
running, but something wrong. I still can't say exactly what it was, but it
felt like a bad configuration.
 
Now for the actual complaints:
* During the install, I was able to select exactly one screen resolution.
Afterwards, when I wanted to change it, I had to basically trash the current
xconfig and start over.
* It's based on RedHat, which is not (in itself) a bad thing. But I had
problems installing other RPMs, and eventually had to give up on it. Wine,
after I installed that RPM, simply segfault'ed.  Wouldn't even start.
* Trying to find some of the standard config utilities from RedHat, I got
quite annoyed.  It turns out that all of those tools were tossed out in
favor of the "Caldera Open Administration System". Of course, with only a CD
image, I had to stumble across that by accident.
* Another problem which I never did solve was that kppp wouldn't get the
right local address after dial-up, always insisting on using the ethernet
card's address.
* Config files were scattered from here to kingdom come.  Some were in /etc,
some were in /usr/lib.  Finding them was actually a problem.
 
Those are the problems that I recall, and at least one of them was of my own
making.  All in all, I wouldn't use Caldera again, personally. I just
couldn't shake the feeling that there was something structurally wrong with
it, and didn't have the time to dig through to find out if I was right or
not.
 
3) Recommendation
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I personally use (and recommend)
Debian. Two drawbacks to Debian: Slow release cycle, and dselect. It's been
theorized that when the next version of Debian comes out, the Debian kernel
will be 2.2, and the mainstream release will be 2.4 (or better).  Debian
stays behind for a reason, though: Stability. By using programs which are
several months old, they help to guarantee that there are no known bugs
which could affect the system.  Naturally, this doesn't prevent bugs from
happening, but it does make for more stable systems. dselect is the package
selection tool.  I'm no Debian expert, but I'm finally comfortable
installing with dselect.  But, you've got to use the profiles, or you'll be
picking individual packages for days (speaking from personal experience
here).
 
Advantages? Two command updating of every program on your system.  In
addition, I have yet to hear anybody complain about the technical merits of
Debian.  Ease of install, yes.  But never about the technical qualities.  Go
to http://www.cheapbytes.com <http://www.cheapbytes.com>  and order a Debian
CD set.  Once you're past the install, you'll start to get along with it.
 
Try it.  But don't try Caldera.
 
My $.02 worth :)

-----Original Message-----
From: Aalok Jain [ mailto:sonu at softhome.net <mailto:sonu at softhome.net> ]
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 11:17 PM
To: lug boulder
Subject: [lug] suggestions needed



I have 2 4.3GB hard Drives installed on my machine.
The partitions are as follows :
First Hard Drive
1GB - Win95   - primary hard drive           
3GB - Linux RH6.1 -  primary hard drive
Second Hardrive
4GB full 
 
Now i boot thru LILO and i have kept win95 as my default
i can go to linux by typing Linux at the LILO prompt.
Everythings works fine.
 
Problem : 
I like to install Caldea 2.3 Open Linux on my Second Hard Drive
I have made 2GB Free Space for it.
Please anyone can guide me in creating the partition out of the 4GB
and help me installing the Caldera without removal and crash of previous
linux and windows.
Caldera has partition magic and boot loader given already but there hasnt
been ny examples give for 
more than one linux installation
 
Suggestion and Comments needed inorder to solve the problem.
 
Aalok