[AbvAvgUser]

My PC Config:
Pentium IV 1.5 MHz, 845 Motherboard, 40 GB Hard Disk, 128 MB RAM, AGP 32 MB Display Card, 17" Samsung Monitor, DLink 33.6 KBPS External Modem, UMAX Astra 2500 Scanner, Plextor 16x10x40 CD-RW.

I want to install Win98SE as well as Red Hat Linux 9.

Questions:
- What is the best way to install the both?
- What is the best way to partition the hard disk? If I make only 2 partitions, then minimum file size of each file in Windows partition will be too large. I want to make best possible use of my hard disk space.

Note:
- I have no knowledge about Linux whatsoever.
- I know how to do a low level format (using ZTest) and make paritions (primary and extended) using FDisk under DOS.

Any tips and guidance will be highly appreciated. Thanks.

[AbvAvgUser]

I guess no one has any answer to my questions. Let me just rephrase them.

If I partition my 40GB Hard Disk into 4 - C, D, E, F - can I install Win98SE in C and RedHat 9 in D?

Can I use E and/or F to store my common data like MP3, web pages, etc.?

[codejockey]

Let me see if I can help out a bit ...

In general, you should install Windoze before Linux, regardless of Windoze version or Linux distribution. The reason for this is that Windoze assumes it will be the only O/S installed, and overwrites the MBR that may have been written by Linux (or another O/S) -- with the result that you can no longer boot Linux after you install Windoze (unless you were smart enough to make a boot floppy during Linux installation).

As far as your specific questions go, yes, you can install Win98SE in C and RedHat in D (but note that D will become a Linux filesystem, not a Windoze filesystem). You can use E and F to store whatever you like -- but if the filesystem type is NTFS (not likely if you're installing Win98SE), RedHat will not be able to access it directly since they do not support NTFS out of the box (however, there are workarounds, and other Linux distributions do not have this problem).

Hope this helps.

[AbvAvgUser]

Thanks for your valuable input and tips. Yes, you are right. I need to install Win"doze" before I install Linux. Actually, in the past, I have installed Linux 4-5 times on my system, but it never worked. Like Windows it used to hang.

Ultimately I found out that the problem was with my CD-ROM. Now I use my CD-RW for the purpose.

I will make 4 partitions. First one a primary partition and then other partitions in the extended partition. I am just some what confuserd. Guess will have to resort to the best known method of finding out things - trial and error