[conspire] Preparing dual-boot system

[hirohama at gmail.com]

On Jan 30, 2008 8:59 AM, Daniel Gimpelevich wrote:
>
> On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:23:23 -0800, hirohama wrote:
>
> > Status report:
> >
> > Larger disk appears to function fine. I'm not sure about the smaller
> > one. I got a new CM power supply (500W) that ought to rule out power
> > problems. I'll test the smaller drive when the power supply is
> > installed.
> >
> > Can anyone help with this request?
> >  http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/wan/555384203.html
> >
> > Thanks for your help!
>
> Since it was the larger disk that kept failing to take a filesystem, and
> it appears fine with good power, I would expect things to work now.

Either 1. the disks were not installed securely enough, so the older,
smaller disk's shaking would disturb the larger disk, or 2. the power
quality caused the larger disk to work unreliably. The larger disk
appears to read, write, seek normally with the smaller disk
disconnected and the original power supply. The smaller disk with the
original power supply has terrible performance, but I'm wondering if
it might be due to being the master drive without the proper master or
cable select jumper--I was short a jumper and didn't think to move the
jumper from the larger disk to the smaller--I bought some jumpers, so
I'll test the smaller drive with proper jumpers and a (possibly)
better power tonight.

> You
> were not previously clear that you were interested in installing TWO
> separate systems, one Debian and one for a novice, hence my previous
> puzzlement over the choice of Debian for a novice.

Last Saturday, I wasn't planing to install Linux on multiple systems.
But a friend of mine has installed Fedora for extended family members
on their machines, and he seems to indicate that they are not unhappy.
The P3/800 system will be given to a friend who said he didn't have a
preference for OS. Since I would be relied upon to provide support, I
quickly came to the conclusion that I want to avoid frustrations by
avoiding Windows.

This person is in his mid-20's and is relatively comfortable with
computers. He's interested in using e-mail and web-browsing for access
to podcasts and video clips over an ethernet link to the net. I don't
know enough about the different Linux distros to know which might be
best. Do some distros have better support for remote technical
support?

> The next local
> installfest of any kind is apparently this Saturday, albeit by Santa Cruz:
> http://www.cabrillo.edu/associations/clug/events.html
> Are you looking for something sooner than that?

Saturday in Santa Cruz could work for me if someone could help me
commute to and from the event with a monitor and two system boxes. Or,
alternatively, borrowing some disks before or during the weekend would
be appreciated.