Linux Format forums

[mortezart]

Hello

I am a new user:
> I installed Linux feedura( from disc LXFSO5B/04/06), on my laptop(sony modelPCG-K33 vaio)
> right now I am only with Linux fedora, without windows xp, I have
some important data on my windows xp,
> how do i remove linux and then install it correctly?

all the best
Morteza
my email: morteza@morteza.org

[Gordon]

Try making sure you have the following entry in the file

/boot/grub/menu.lst

[mortezart]

hello
I am using simply mepis3.4 now
where do i go to change the code?
could u please instruct me, step by step?
I am novice suer in linux?
last question: what distribution is better for laptops and dell pc?

[spottedcat]

In Fedora 5, the file /boot/grub/menu.lst is actually called /boot/grub/grub.conf. Different distros use one of the two filenames, mortezart, but they both do the same thing. My Sony Vaio also has windows on the second partition so Gordon's second code is probably the one you want. Also, near the beginning of the file you'll find a line which says 'hiddenmenu' (without the quotes). Add a hash mark in front so that it looks like:

[towy71]

mepis, annoyingly remembers what you last booted and boots that automatically, can't remember what bit you have to comment out to stop it doing that though
_________________
still looking for that door into summer

[spottedcat]

It's quite possible, Towy, that the hidden hda1 partition on a Sony Vaio is confusing the installer. That's what happened to me when I installed SuSE 10.1. Halfway through the install at the reboot stage it booted me back into Windows - no choice at all. 'Handy,' I thought. Fortunately I was able to repair the SuSE menu.lst (or is that grub.conf? ), and carry on as thought nothing untoward had happened.

Despair not, mortezart. Help is at hand!

[nelz]

[GMorgan]

I thought grub.conf was a Gentoo tool. It's used there in case you want to unmerge GRUB (why would you ever want to do that). This way the file is maintained and a emerge just symbolic links menu.lst to grub.conf. Anyway I managed dual boot alright with Mepis, never noticed any last boot nonsense going on though that maybe because I altered GRUB myself or something (indeed I tore it apart when trying to get Nvidia to work with my new kernel. Nvidia as standard but hard work if you try to change something).

Anyway I've had success with Ubuntu on Laptops but haven't tried much else to be honest.

[towy71]

[nelz]

grub.conf isn't a tool, just a file. GRUB originally used grub.conf then switched to menu.lst. Many distros still symlink one to the other. It only matters which you use if you have /boot/grub on a filesystem where GRUB can't handle symlinks, like FAT or ISO9660.
_________________
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (Albert Einstein)

[GMorgan]

My mistake then. With Gentoo storing all configurations in such files I assumed this was the same especially given the symlink.

[nelz]

All distros store configurations in files, although Lindows used to keep passwords in a post-it note on the side of the monitor
_________________
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (Albert Einstein)