[dwaynea515]

I have an 80 GB drive and I would like to know is there a way to make it a dual boot drive and install Linux on the second drive. I am running XP Home now on C drive and there is nothing on D drive. I know nothing about Linux and would like to learn so that is why I am thinking about doing this

[bassetman]

I'm not going to be able to help you a lot, but I think both OS's have to be on the same HD to have dual boot, as I think only one drive can be the boot drive.
You can use something like LILO but that's about as far as I can take you.

[dwaynea515]

Thanks Bassetman for the quick reply but from what I am reading I am not near tech savvy enough to go throiugh this operation, so maybe I will try to learn a little more bout Linux before I try it

[bassetman]

There are some good tutorials out there from what I have seen.

[codejockey]

The short answer to your question is "yes" -- you can certainly install Linux on a second drive and also have a multi-boot machine. This is true whether your "second drive" is a real, physical disk or simply a partition (D:, E:, etc.). Many Linux distributions (such as Mandrake, SuSe and Red Hat, for example) handle the details of partitioning/formatting for you, and are smart enough to recognize and preserve any operating systems you may already have installed. You can also try a distribution such as knoppix, that will run completely from your CD-ROM, which avoids all the (potential) problems with partitioning, formatting, removing, etc.

Hope this helps.

[dwaynea515]

can someone give me a link for a quick tutorial most of what I have been able to find assumes that I know a little about linux and I have never seen a linux screen and learning is the main thing about this

[bassetman]

Here is one site with a bunch of tutorials
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/

[Whiteskin]

You could also try just making a small (like 10-20mb) partition on your main (c drive, to use a /boot partion, then have all the other partions under the other drive. Linux is quite smart enough to spread itself over as many drives as you can fit into your box.

[B3gbie]

I've just done it with no previous knowledge of Linux. Mandrake was what I used and it's all dead simple, everything is taken care of, you just decide on where you live and what sort of mouse you're using (actually, this is autodetected, so you just agree) etc.

Don't be scared, go for it. Wish I'd done it years ago.

[bassetman]

I installed Redmond/Lycros with some help, and I like it. I just wish I had more time to play with it. I lost my LAN connection.

[Whiteskin]

Installing linux is ridiculously simple if you do even the tinyest amount of reading.