New T41 / Pre-Desktop HPA / R&R / Linux!!

[Zirynx]

OK, first post here, so please be gentle with me!!

[I've re-read this post and it's quite long, for which I apologise.]

I hope this post is in the correct category, because it's as much about IBM's Thinkpad XP 'Hard Drive-based XP Restore' policy, Pre-Desktop Area, FAT32 & NTFS issues as it is about Linux. That said, I figure it is pre-dominantly the Linux users that will have encountered these hurdles, so here it is.

First, a little background (this will help you understand my thought process as this unfolds)...

I'm a Mac user. No apologies!! And no, I'm not 'switching' to XP, I just need to be more 'inclusive'!!

I've been using Macs in a production sense/media environment for years and they 'do exactly what it says on the tin' to quote a well-known phrase. With the introduction of OS X came my eventual introduction to the CLI, and that in turn led me to dabble with 'Yellow Dog Linux' on some old G3 PPC hardware, which in turn opened up the whole question of what 'proper-PC' linux, such as Red Hat (upon which YDL is based) was like. Coupled with that, my proprietory work apps (previously Mac exclusive) are slowly (but surely) gravitating towards XP which I suppose I have to become familiar with.

By comparison, I'm really enthused by Linux, though I think it's more to do with the conecpt than the reality. Either way, I want to learn!

It was also time to replace my sturdy, ultra-reliable original G3 Powerbook - but only because it won't run OS X!! Aside, this thing has never missed a beat or given me a single ounce of trouble since it's birth. Much as I think the Alu Powerbooks look great, I have to confess that I don't get on with them ergonomically.

All in all this combination of circumstances seemed the ideal justification for buying a Thinkpad, just about the only laptop appearing to be built as well as my trusty (but heavy ) G3.

So several days ago, a new T41 (TC13KUK) arrived!

Now if this had been a Mac, I'd have:

started up the machine,
run disk utility from the included Install/Recovery CD

and set up:

1 HFS+ partition for OS X
1 Unallocated partition for future *nix and/or *BSD use

followed by an appropriate OS X install and Software Update (OS and 'drivers' )

For the Thinkpad, I thought (in a similar way) I would...

Boot the machine, verify it's ok
Partition the drive as I needed it (1 for XP, 1 unallocated)
Install XP
Perform Windows Update
Update IBM drivers/apps as necessary
Deal with linux later when I get more time

Seems that at this stage, powering on the T41 is about the worst thing I could try to do with it!!

While waiting the day for the T41 to arrive, I read as much as my head could absorb about dual-booting XP with linux on a thinkpad, and of course, I got much more than I bargained for, all of which left me wondering whether I'd done the right thing

At first I was horrified to learn that there would be no Restore CDs, but then IBMs blurb brought me round to thinking that this whole Pre Desktop area was a 'good thing'. Now I'm somewhere between the two.

I have read much information (quite a lot of it from this forum - thank you all those contributors) about how to go about getting a new thinkpad setup in the way that I want to, such as:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=78

and though it has been very helpful, I am still a little confused about the 'best procedure'. Virtually all of what I've read describes the situation where the Thinkpad has already been switched on, and thus involves resizing the NTFS partition. It seems that some people have success with this, and some don't. Also, there are lots of utilities (Partition Magic etc) that people have used/are required that I don't just have to hand, given my Mac background.

New to Thinkpads, new to XP and relatively new to Linux I'm desperately being cautious about doing something wrong that will cut down my options..... such as switching the thing on and having XP convert the FAT32 partition to NTFS! No, I haven't even switched it on yet (hence the post to this forum for some gentle advice) and therefore am currently in as ideal a position as I could be to execute the 'preferred' dual-boot installation procedure, whatever that is!

I didn't really want to deal with linux immediately (I don't have the distros, partitioning tools etc), other than preparing an unallocated portion of disk space. I'd like to get XP up and running first (including updates) but don't want to compromise the linux install or battle unecessarily with drive format issues.

On top of all this, there is the 'Protected Area', and the drive space that it uses, to consider. Being new to XP, I like the concept of having a Pre-Desktop area that can be booted independantly of (the state of) XP, but I don't like the idea of carrying around restore images of XP on the hard drive 'just in case' when I could carry them on CD (once I get them from IBM).

Is it possible to have the Pre-Desktop Area functional without the OS restore images, or are they one and the same concept?

Once again, apologies for the long post, but hopefully, by explaining my situation fully, it will help somebody to point me (and likely others) as accurately as possible in the right direction.

Thanks in advance.

[bertrand]

Hello,

First post here also :)

I was also worried about the issue of resizing the NTFS partition and had almost decided to buy Partition Magic to do it. Then I discovered the "System Rescue CD" http://www.sysresccd.org/. This is a "live CD" specialized for system restoration etc...

It includes the software Qtparted which offers a nice interface for repartioning the hardrive. It uses ntfsresize to deal with NTFS partitions. I did just what you want to do, i.e reduced my NTFS partition and kept some free space which can then be used to install Linux on it.

In the end the process is:
1- Boot on the "System Rescue CD"
2- launch the default kernel
3- at prompt type "run_qtparted"
4- resize
5- reboot
et voila :)

--
Bertrand