Install success! (longish post)

[melgil88]

I read in here most of the day yesterday trying to find out what to
watch out for when installing Core 2.  I saw nothing but much wailing
and gnashing of teeth so I figured I'd share my success with this
list...maybe it will tip the scales for somebody. 

I've missed running Linux on the desktop for a long time now...I haven't
run it since Redhat 6.  I first started messing with Linux with Redhat
4, so I have a long history of liking torture :p.  Surprise, surprise!
No torture this time...here's my install success story.

I have a moderate home-built PC, about 2 years old.  It's not the
bleeding edge, but works fine for me.

AMD K6 CPU 1.2GHz
Asus A7A266 mobo
Phillips CD RW
DVD drive (don't remember manufacturer)
384 MB ram
Creative Nvidia 36MB video card
hda (C:\): Western digital 40 GB IDE ST340823A
hdd (F:\): Maxtor 6GB IDE 90640D4
hda has Windows XP Home edition, Service Pack 1
hdd: This is where I installed Core 2. Was Windows formatted, had crap
on it.  Poor thing was used as a doorstop at the job and sounds like an
electric can opener so I have no idea how long it will last.  

Downloaded .iso files 
Used Nero demo to burn to discs..4 of them plus the Recovery disc.

I did all my preparation. Folks, if you're a Linux newbie and want to
dual-boot, READ ALL THE DOCS YOU CAN!  I know it's a pain, it feels like
a waste of time, but DO IT. PREPARE for disaster, 'cause you never know.
If you've got a fresh machine with nothing on it, then IMHO there's
nothing to lose and it can be fun to see just how far Redhat has come
with doing what I call a 'dummy' install.  Put the install disk in and
see how easy/hard it is, if it's intuitive or not.

Back to my experience: I printed out reams of posts from here with the
fixes for the dreaded Geometry problem.  Printed some stuff for grub
too. I read the bugzilla posts for the Asus problem but there's no fix
for it so I didn't bother to print anything. Downloaded recovery disks
for WinXP, dug out my installation disc for it also.

I went into my BIOS to check for the LBA thing but couldn't find it
anywhere.

Started install, picked the Personal install...got the Geometry problem
popup.  I quit the install, followed the instructions from
fedora-devel-list (posted May 25 by Jack Aboutboul) to get
heads/cylinders/sectors info and restarted the install with the
parameters. 

After all that I *still* got that damn popup saying I had the wrong
geometry :|.  I sat for 10 minutes debating.  I pressed 'Ignore'. 
Install went through, rebooted...got the menu with both OS's on it!  I
hurried to boot to Win, got it!  Awesome!  Reboot, started
Fedora...perfect!  I'm happy as a pig in slop.  Both OS's work fine,
plus!  Bonus!  There was absolutely *no* setup required for my cable
modem and service (Optimum Online, NY).  Wasn't it always a trial to get
cable working with Linux?  It worked outta the box, no hassles. 

The mouse wheel works!  Wow!

It seems the more I prepare for disaster (I spent literally all day
yesterday preparing, plus I made backups last week) the less I need all
the stuff I gathered.  

I successfully installed amsn thanks to someone's post somewhere about
all the tcl/tk packages I had to install first.  Thanks whoever you are,
you saved me from dependency hell. 

I have no idea if the speakers work; I've seen people are having
problems with sound and playing CD/DVD's. I plugged the speakers in
wrong when I added the 2nd harddisk, so I'll fool with it today.

The boot is awfully slow, I have to find out how to speed it up some. 

Fonts are atrocious. Blegh.

I'm sure I'll come up against other problems, but for now I consider my
Fedora install a raging success.