However, I then considered that my experiences might provide some encouragement for other timid souls out there on the net. So if you're teetering on the brink of getting a Dell Inspiron in order to run Linux, but have doubts about being able to deal with the problems, read on. If you're a seasoned Linux user just looking for the nitty-gritty, this page is probably not for you.
At first I thought I could leave this partition alone, having established that it occupied the first 35 cylinders, and tried installing Red Hat with manual partitioning, beginning at cylinder 36. This didn't work - it kept locking up when trying to format the file system. Eventually I decided to give up this approach and opted for a bog-standard, automatic-partitioning, workstation install. This time it worked, and when I ran fdisk /hda it confirmed that the 'invisible' partition was no more and that linux had claimed 100% of the hard drive. Bottom line: if you want to install Linux, that hidden partition has got to go.
Having zapped (without even trying) the factory-installed Hibernate partition, I turned my attention to Hendrik van Hees' page for an explanation of how to install a suitable replacement. This is quite straightforward, apart from one crucial point (which is stressed both by Hendrik van Hees and Marcel van der Goot): when you finally come to run the program to install the partition, ignore what it says about phdisk being the one for Inspiron - make sure you use mks2d.
Since the original partition had already been overwritten, I've no way of knowing what happens if you run mks2d with the original partition still there. Either way, you'll have to create some space suitable for a primary partition of the required size. Unlike phdisk, mks2d doesn't ask you how big you want the partition - it chooses a suitable size all by itself!
Why a DOS utility, written with Linux in mind should choose to create an OS/2 partition, I've no idea. Still, it works. You can put it into 'hibernate' by typing Fn-A, but you'll have to modify your lilo.conf file before you can successfully 'wake it up' again. Otherwise it'll do a normal reboot and complain like hell.
Now, LILO is something I'll probably never understand. It wasn't for ages that I realised that LILO and lilo are two different things, and that tweaking the lilo.conf file won't change anything until you've run lilo. I basically experimented by copying what Hendrik van Hees had done, and the best I can do is display my ammended lilo.conf file (which works on my machine) and let you draw your own conclusions.
At the time of writing, my hard drive looks like this:
Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1222 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 1 35 281106 84 OS/2 hidden C: drive /dev/hda2 * 36 38 24097+ 83 Linux /dev/hda3 39 1222 9510480 5 Extended /dev/hda5 39 1200 9333733+ 83 Linux /dev/hda6 1201 1222 176683+ 82 Linux swap
And my lilo.conf file is this:
boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map #install=/boot/boot.b prompt timeout=500 message=/boot/message linear default=linux image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.16-22 label=linux read-only root=/dev/hda5 # Up to here it's the original lilo.conf # I've just commented out the install line, since it's a default other = /dev/hda1 # Hibernate partition table=/dev/hda label=wakeup loader=/boot/os2_d.b
Don't worry about having to find and download os2_d.b - it should already be sitting in your /boot directory.
Going into hibernate causes the 'boot' flags to be swapped between the normal boot partition and the hidden one. If, however, the hidden partition is already set to 'bootable', it won't go into hibernate, and instead will report that there is already an unrestored memory dump there. When you reboot from the hidden partition, the boot flags are swapped back to normal. Does this mean you can only boot the hidden partition it it's set to 'bootable'?
Unfortunately, no. It'll boot quite happily, even if it's two months old. Also, booting the normal image when you should have booted the hidden partition will cause all kinds of problems. For one thing, the boot flags will never get reset unless you go into fdisk and do it yourself. Obviously a certain amount of care is needed here.
Still think you really need 'hibernate'?
The only problem I've noticed is that since I've installed all the gnome multimedia stuff, the speakers don't work when I start up in text-mode. This doesn't bother me that much (they were far too loud before and made me jump whenever I scrolled too far in less) but if anyone knows of a quick fix, I'd be interested.
