1. What will be provided at the InstallFest? / What should I bring?
    
2. IMPORTANT: Backing up your data
    
3. Making a list of your hardware (highly recommended)
    
4. Defragmenting your hard drive (recommended)
    
5. Partitioning your hard drive (optional)

What will be provided at the InstallFest?
What should I bring?

LUG@GT will provide power cables, monitors, keyboards, mice, and installation CDs for a number of Linux distributions.

If you plan to have Linux installed on your system, here's what you should bring:

• Your computer (just the system itself, not the monitor, etc).
• A list of hardware in your system (see below).

IMPORTANT: Backing up your data

Although we will try to ensure that no data is lost during the installation and setup process, any major operation such as installing an operation always has the potential of wiping the contents of the hard drive.

· You are responsible for backing up all important data before arriving at the InstallFest.

LUG@GT cannot be held liable for the loss of data due to the absence of a backup.

Now that that's out of the way, what options are there for backing up your data? If you do not have access to a tape backup drive or CD burner to use for backing up, you may consider backing up to another computer across a network (such as a friend's system on the campus network). Other options are Internet sites such as Streamload, Xdrive, and WinAmp Locker.
(Note: LUG@GT does not endorse the use of these services. Use at your own risk).

Making a list of your hardware (highly recommended)

Although bringing a list of your hardware is optional, it is highly recommended since some hardware requires special setup in Linux, and the process tends to run much smoother when we know about it beforehand.

Windows 95/98 Instructions:

1. From the Start Menu, select "Settings -> Control Panel".
2. Double-click on the "System" icon in the Control Panel window.
3. In the "System Properties" window, click on the "Device Manager" tab. This is where all of the devices on your system are listed.
4. Copy down the exact names of the devices listed (you can ignore the "System Devices" section).

Windows 2000 Instructions:

1. Right-click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop, and select "Properties" from the menu.
2. Select the "Hardware" tab.
3. Click on the "Device Manager". This is where all of the devices on your system are listed.
4. Copy down the exact names of the devices listed (you can ignore the "System Devices" section).

Defragmenting your hard drive (recommended)

It's recommended that you defragment your hard drive before arriving at the InstallFest. In particular, we recommend you use the defragmentation utility supplied with Windows 95/98, rather than commercial utilities such as Norton Speed Disk. The goal of defragging the hard drive is to consolidate all of the free space on the drive to the end, making it far easier to repartition the disk (see below). Commercial utilities such as Speed Disk may intentionally move files to the end of the drive, possibly resulting in loss of data when repartitioning using free partitioning utilities such as FIPS.

The Windows 2000 defragmentation utility has many of the same problems as commercial utilities. If Windows 2000 is the only operating system on your computer and you don't plan on repartitioning your hard drive before the InstallFest, then you should be fine with using the normal Windows 2000 defragmentation utility.

We ask that hard drives be defragmented before the InstallFest due to the fact that defragmentation may take a long time, possibly hours.

Partitioning your hard drive (optional)

In order to install Linux, the available space on your hard drive must be divided up into "partitions" so that Linux can exist on the same hard drive as other operating systems.

Repartitioning your hard drive for Linux before arrival at the InstallFest is optional, and is recommended only if you know exactly what you're doing.