HD Install :: Newbie questions



I have a Dell latitude with 500mhz processor and 128mb RAM. It is currently running Windows XP and really struggles with this. It is only really used for internet and email so I thought about installing a lighter OS. I would have DSL as a stand alone OS installed on the HDD (well, I would possibly keep WinXP as well to start with). Having done some research it seems like DSL would suit me perfectly but I have a couple of questions:

1. I also looked into 'Puppy' but was put off when I read that you have to redo all of your settings every time you boot up. Is this the same for DSL and if so, what settings specifically? Would I have to reconfigure my email accounts every time I restart etc?

2. The laptop does not have a bootable CD or USB drive so how would I go about installing it?

3. If I were to keep Windows initially, would I be able to choose my OS at boot up?

4. Would I have to repartition my drive and if so, how would I go about doing this?

I am sorry if these questions have been asked before but I did have a browse and couldn't find any answers.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
Lynda
1. Uhh... I believe both distros support the saving of your settings.
2. Several methods are listed in the wiki
3. Yes
4. You probably would, but I'm just assuming your winxp installation in on one partition that takes up your whole hard drive.  There are some resizing software (partitionmagic - commercial, parted/qtparted - some livecds that have this) if you want to try keeping your winxp installation.
Many thanks for your help.

Lynda
Quote (Lynswin @ Oct. 04 2006,07:59)
I have a Dell latitude with 500mhz processor and 128mb RAM. It is currently running Windows XP and really struggles with this. It is only really used for internet and email so I thought about installing a lighter OS. I would have DSL as a stand alone OS installed on the HDD (well, I would possibly keep WinXP as well to start with). Having done some research it seems like DSL would suit me perfectly but I have a couple of questions:

1. I also looked into 'Puppy' but was put off when I read that you have to redo all of your settings every time you boot up. Is this the same for DSL and if so, what settings specifically? Would I have to reconfigure my email accounts every time I restart etc?

2. The laptop does not have a bootable CD or USB drive so how would I go about installing it?

3. If I were to keep Windows initially, would I be able to choose my OS at boot up?

4. Would I have to repartition my drive and if so, how would I go about doing this?

I am sorry if these questions have been asked before but I did have a browse and couldn't find any answers.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
Lynda

1.  I'm running an older Latitude (363.971mhz, according to DSL's stats) - Pentium II - 128MB RAM like you.  I tried to get PuppyLinux installed to the hard drive, for a couple of weeks.  I wanted to keep my Windows 2000 alive and switch back and forth.  I couldn't even get it to boot into Puppy using the CD!

2.  If you have a CD-ROM at all it should be bootable.  You just have to set it in the BIOS

3.  Yes - if you install GRUB or LILO - if I remember correctly you are asked if you want to install one of these during DSL installation.  I like GRUB.

4.  You will need to repartition at some point.  I just found a thread talking about using QParted to shrink your existing XP partition and use the remainder for linux!  Wish I would have found that before I blew my Win2k install away LOL

Easy Dual Boot Config thread

original here.