Need help getting started with linux

Alex Snow alex_snow at gmx.net
Mon Apr 1 16:25:11 EST 2002


Hi, Justin!
I made a bootdisk to boot windows me, wich I also use, into dos.  It uses
the freedos operating system and works quite wel  to boot zipspeak.  If you
email me, I'll tell ware it can be obtained.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Saqib Shaikh" <ss at saqibshaikh.com>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 5:23 AM
Subject: Re: Need help getting started with linux


> Dear Justin,
>
> My name is Saqib Shaikh. I am the author of the Zipspeak distribution. I
> also run Windows ME and actually created Zipspeak under that operating
> system.
>
> If you contact me off-list I would be more than happy to help you, but
> briefly under Windows ME you can't boot into DOS - you are correct.
However
> I thought I also included that for Windows ME you can create a WinME boot
> disk, and then place certain files on that disk and therefore load
Zipspeak.
> There are also two other ways of doing it under WinME - namely installing
> Lilo or another boot loader or modifying your config.sys to act as a boot
> loader.
>
> This probably sounds really complicated to you, so email me and I'll help
> you. I seriously think Zipspeak will be the quickest way to get up and
> running.
>
> Saqib Shaikh
> Email ss at sjaqibshaikh.com
> Web site www.saqibshaikh.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Justin Ekis" <JEkis at sbcglobal.net>
> To: <Speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 9:21 AM
> Subject: Need help getting started with linux
>
>
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > Ok, I'm very new to linux  and I've got a ton of questions. Here goes.
> > Well, I'm ready to try installing linux. I'm kind of nervous because
I've
> > been using windows since windows95 came out and it will be a big change.
I
> > would like to set up the system so that if linux proves not to be for me
I
> > can go back to windows without having to reinstall it.
> > I've heard that you can create a partition for linux separate from
> windows.
> > This sounds great, but how do you tell the system not to boot to
windows?
> > Also the idea of buying a $50.00 or $60.00 partition program I'm only
> going
> > to use once and then forget about isn't very appealing. Are there any
free
> > partition utilities out there?
> >
> > To help me get started I decided on the zipspeak distribution as my
first
> > taste of linux. It sounded so easy to use because if I understood
> correctly
> > the readme says you can run it from the same drive as windows with no
> > partition needed.
> > I'm having lots of trouble though. I'm using windows ME right now and I
> > don't think it has a way to boot to the dos prompt.
> > The file says to restart the computer and press F8 for the boot menu and
> > choose the command prompt option and run the linux batch file from
there.
> I
> > read somewhere that windows ME doesn't support dos like that any longer.
> If
> > it does I can't find the option for it in the boot menu, but then again
> it's
> > kind of hard to navigate around that menu without speech.
> > I know you can still run things in a dos window but that certainly won't
> > work for linux. I wouldn't think one opporating system would do very
good
> > running under another. Lol.
> > Can I not do it that way with my version of windows?
> >
> > Sorry for asking so many questions on just my first day on the list.
> > Unfortunatly I get the feeling I'll have a lot more before I'm done with
> the
> > conversion to linux.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any help.
> >
> > Justin Ekis
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>
>
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