[luau] Bizarre request

[Bill]

Karen,

I have had good results using the gdisk utility (like fdisk). Search for it
on google and download it to a bootable floppy (98) and wipe away.

Bill

----- Original Message -----
From: "Karen Lofstrom" <lofstrom at lava.net>
To: <luau at videl.ics.hawaii.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 11:11 PM
Subject: [luau] Bizarre request


>
> I've gotten in WAY over my head in an attempt to cobble together a working
> system unit out of bits and pieces. Combining 5-year-old and new
> components is tricky :( This would be fine if it were for me, but it's not
> -- it's for some poor neighbors who have contributed some money and time
> towards my efforts. So I feel that I owe them a working system. The only
> way I can see to do it, now, is to give them the Linux box that my brother
> gave me. It's an old AT-form-factor PII computer that was no longer worth
> upgrading. As soon as I get a job -- if I ever get a job -- I can assemble
> my own Linux box. And make do with just my recently upgraded Windoze box
> until then.
>
> Of course it would be nice to just hand them a Linux box, but I don't
> think they could handle it (the parents have eighth-grade educations).
> Plus they want to go online with AOL, play popular games, etc. So I've got
> to figure out a way to remove the SUSE OS and reformat the HD to Windoze.
> I'm stuck. Windoze fdisk won't remove Linux partitions, and an attempt at
> Linux fdisk from the command line, as root, failed. I can't get the system
> to remove itself!
>
> I faced a problem like this a few years ago, but I was able to back out
> with a Red Hat installation diskette.  I don't have it now; I gave my
> whole Red Hat set to a poor Chinese student. So what CAN I do to wipe the
> system clean? I have a SUSE boot disk but it just reverts to the regular
> HD boot.
>
> I know that removing Linux and installing MS is heresy. Revile me if you
> must, but help me revamp my Linux box so I can give it away.
>
> --
> Karen Lofstrom
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