dead end, need help ! :)

[pleclair]

Hi there,

I'm kinda new to linux, my prior experience with linux dates back to 95-96, on a pentium 90, so it's been a while! But i figured that I should give it a try back. So here I am. But i found myself without any solution to my problem. I've got a few drives on my computer, and all are ntfs, and i've also got two stripped drives. One made up of 2 x 60 gigs, and the other one 3 x 80 gigs. I'm pretty sure that without too much hassle I could get them to work in linux at least read, but I found out that writing was a different matter. Is it still always impossible to write to a ntfs volume, and i don't even mention the strip (it's software based, with xp and dynamic volume), cause i guess that i'm outta luck there. But would there be a way to convert my ntfs volume to let say reisfer fs? Cause the thing is, I'm downloading with azureus, found out there was a client for linux, and that's what this computer is doing, downloading. So i figured it would be more stable on linux than xp.. cause i had to reboot every now and then because of the massive amount of connection that azureus generates. Anyway, hope that there is a solution beside reinstalling xp, cause i kinda like the way it is now!

Thanks a lot in advance

Pierre-Andre

[Endaar]

There's no way that Linux is going to be able to do anything with a software RAID array created by Windows.

I believe support for writing to NTFS is still in beta form - at least it was on Debian a few months ago when I last checked it out. It works, but there's no guarantees it's 100% reliable.

Your options at this point really depend on how XP is installed and what drives you need access to from both systems.

Endaar

[pleclair]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

Hmm, the computer i'm installing linux on will not have windows xp installed anymore. So i need complete access to all the drive.. The raid, i can always carry it over my other xp computer. It's not the best solution, but i can live with it.

But the other drives that aren't in raid, i'd like to convert them to reiser or ext2-3? Can it be done? I haven't found any tool that can convert ntfs or even fat to reiser.. am i wrong, or there is a tool that can do that? Or a possible workaround? The only one i've found so far is buy a drive big enough to copy all the stuff i've got on a single volume (which could be my software raid too) format the drive with the reiser fs and then move back all the stuff on the drive. It's quite a job tho. Lots of gigs to move. Anyway... if you have any more question regarding a possible answer, don't hesitate, i'll check the thread every once in a while.

Thanks a lot

Pierre-André

[Endaar]

I haven't come across anything that would do that sort of conversion, but I don't use Linux extensively. Even if software existed, I wouldn't want to attempt it without a backup of the data on the drives anyway.

Endaar

[pleclair]

Hmmm, then I might be out of luck then.. Might have to reinstall windows afterall. Sucks cause I had better results downloading from azureus on linux than on windows. More stable and faster. Anyway, thanks a lot for your time, and i'll keep you informed of the solution i'll be choosing. And as for the distro of linux, i've tried xandros which i find nice, and lindows. I would have liked to try lindows a bit more, but every time lindows booted, it ran the first time config wizard, everything goes fine by then, then i press on finish, the flash presentation fires up, and blam, it crashes every time. I tried everything i thought could help, but nothing worked. Note that there aren't much thing to try because I can't get into the OS long enough to change or try anything, so i tried removing card from the computer, changing bios settings, etc... The only thing I thought it could be the problem would be the video driver. I have an Sis Xabre 200 on that computer. And since flash is well, a graphical apps, i dunno.

But to be honest, linux somewhat disappointed me a bit, i know all of you are pro linux and against windows, but nothing has worked so far as windows worked. Yeah linux has made huge improvement since the time i first tried it (and even at the time, i figured how to make the internet works on my 9600 modem, and even access the linux box remotely using a modem connection, but over time i lost pretty much of the knowledge i had on linux.)

Anyway, if any distro would be serious at replacing windows, they could at least offer a flawless read write support for ntfs, or at least a tool to convert it to linux fs. And as for lindows hanging at first boot, i think it's really unthinkable. I figured heck, i'm gonna edit the startup items. Is there a way to bypass the boot to gui and boot on the console? Then i might be able to find the startup script and remove the flash presentation ?

I know it's now full of question, but i need some quick answer, but as of now, i flushed xp on that computer, so right now, it's pretty useless cause i got a 2 stripped disk on that one, plus two other drives. It's my storage computer.

Well, that's it for now, thanks again

P.A

[Endaar]

linux somewhat disappointed me a bit, i know all of you are pro linux and against windows

Hehe, I don't fall into that category, but I know what you mean.

If you're intent on sticking with Linux, I'd suggest you give SuSE a try. It's extremely well-polished and works well without too much manual configuration.

Endaar

[pleclair]

Really SuSE? Because i've looked a bit before trying xandros and lindows, and they seemed to me the most user friendly linux avail. But i might give SuSE a try... but SuSE isn't based on Debian right? And isn't Debian the best? Anyway, at this point i've got nothing to loose except some time. But basically, i want to convert my downloading station from XP to linux. I might try tonight to empty my 250 gigs and use it to backup all the data on each drive to format them to reiser. Because, yes, i really want to run linux on this one. I'm pretty sure i'll have less trouble, because azureus often stops downloading because of the number of connections it creates. And before going to sleep last nite i started a transfer with azureus and this morning every file was downloaded except one, that was still going, so i figure it would be much more reliable, and i like to fiddle with new things.

Anyway, gonna keep you informed of the solution i'll adopt. I downloaded Xandros, Lindows, SuSE, slackware, Redhat, Mandrake, Libranet, and i think 1-2 other too. I think i might have liked lindows better then xandros, but can't be sure, haven't passed the first boot/screen.

P.A

[-=BuZzEd=-]

Originally posted by Endaar
Hehe, I don't fall into that category, but I know what you mean.

If you're intent on sticking with Linux, I'd suggest you give SuSE a try. It's extremely well-polished and works well without too much manual configuration.

Endaar

I agree. SuSE is definitely one of the more polished distros.

[pleclair]

Ok, I've decided what i'm gonna do. I've already reinstalled windows and replaced linux, but only temporary, i've created a 15 gigs partition for windows and the rest for linux will be available (it's a 80 gigs) and i'm gonna empty my 250 gigs on the remaining drives, then i'll boot into linux copy my 3 x 80 raid onto the 250g, then i'll break the raid create 3 80 gigs drive and copy my 2 x 60 raid onto the 3 empty 80s... it's gonna be a lot of work, but in the long run, it's worth it.. does it?

I've only got to pick up a good distro.. i thought i had suse, i'm downloading it as i write and i'll have it in 3 hrs, in the meantime, i'm gonna try mandrake, slackware, fedora and redhat

i also have yarrow linux, but on dvd, and no dvd-r near me at the moment, gonna buy one tomorrow..

is there any i shouldn't even try installing?

Thanks, and i'll be checking the thread while i install, so if you have any suggestion on either which distro or the work i've planned to do.. tell me!

P.A

[pleclair]

Ok, some more updates... I just installed Red Hat... not really convicing.. at first i thought it was the best i've seen and was going to keep it.. but i simply try to extract an archive, and everything freezes. Each time. I mean, is it just me, because i'm not meant to run linux, because i consider myself quite knowledgeable about computers, okay, maybe not so much in linux, but still, it's said on every distro that if you can put a cd in the cdrom, you'Re set to install linux.. yeah ... right... I just don't get it.. i'm gonna try some things, and if it doesn't stop making it... next... mandrake... hope to get better results.. but i'm confident.. redhat seems so much superior to both xandros and lindows.

I can remember that at the time i was using linux, it was redhat.. also tried slackware, but liked redhat better.. was lucky, i had an ati at the time, and X supported mainly ati.. so i could run X.. anyway...

Keep you updated...


P.A

[pleclair]

Well mandrake is installed and running... and up till now, everything works perfectly fine.. i might try suse tomorrow.. do you think it's really worth it? I mean the difference between suse and mandrake?

Thanks

P.A

[Endaar]

I've never used Mandrake, so I can't compare.

If you decide to try Suse, I'd suggest 8.2 instead of 9.0. While 9.0 has some nice stuff out of the proverbial box, it seems a bit buggier. I ended up installing 9.0 today after finding out that Solaris 9 wouldn't coexist with my perfectly fine SuSE 8.2 installation, and so far SuSE 9.0 is giving me some trouble with things that I had working in 8.2.

Overall, if Mandrake is working, stick with it.

Endaar

[pleclair]

Yeah, i think that's what i gonna do. Would you happen to have a few good quick links to get me started with linux? And a little question, let say i downloaded azureus for linux. It comes in a .tar.gz2 package. I extract the package, edit the script, run the script, it starts the program fine (it even started the trayicon thingy, which no other linux happened to do it so far, couldn't compile the thing, i had an idea that something was missing, but couldn't find out what) anyway.. but it's not like on windows, the program install itself, put itself in the start menu. So where should i put my program on linux, in my home directory inside a directory called programs? Or is there another way to do it? And as for linking the program to the menu or desktop, even create an icon? How is it done? Cause the program start by going to the console, in the program dir and do ./azureus this is also appliable to mozilla firefox. It comes in the same package, i extract the files, it creates a directory called firefox.. and i guess for all the programs.. I know rpm package installs itself, but what it's best to do with the others?

P.A

PS: I know this is off topic, but instead of creating another post, i was already replying, and since i got some attention here, i guess i could profit from the extra attention to have some answers to my basic questions!

Thanks, it's really nice to know that there are people to help in case like this.

[Endaar]

You need more of a Linux expert to answer those questions. I'm still struggling with many of the same issues myself.

Endaar

[pleclair]

Well, no problems A big thank you for the time you took already to reply, mandrake have been up and running all night, and downloading, everything's fine. My internet connection is still up and running. I even tried a game with winex3, tetron a tetris game.. it installed, started but couldn't see the blocks.. may be related to my gfx card.. being a cheapo sis.. it's not fully recognized by X. anyway...


Thanks again!

P.A