[fac73]

hi all

a lifetime windows user, i am purchasing an emac in the next month or so to use as my main machine
i need a new machine anyways really and am sick of windows. i use a g5 in my current job and thats just cemented my decision to switch, but an emac will do for my first indulgence.

so anyway, that leaves me (or will do) with an unused pc and i'd like to have some fun in the meantime, see what i can do/learn/break (or not)

basically, what i would like to do, is totally wipe this drive (40gb) and have windows 2000, windows xp, and linux on it - is this even possible? (and maybe win98 if i can find a disc)

as a newbie to linux, which version would anyone recommend? obviously i've read a few sites which all give their $0.02 but i'd like some personal opinions.

if i can have all 3/4 OS's on it, how should i approach this?

where should i start with linux? what should i know about what i can or cannot run on it?

specs: (pity me)
pentium III
800 mhz
128mb ram
40gb hd

all advice/opinions very welcome

[lynch]

basically, what i would like to do, is totally wipe this drive (40gb) and have windows 2000, windows xp, and linux on it - is this even possible? (and maybe win98 if i can find a disc)

Yes, you can do this. Just be sure to install in this order:

• Win98
• Win2k
• XP
• And Linux last because the windows will wipe out the Linux bootloader if you install it before windows..

And be sure to disable Plug and Play in the BIOS and install the Linux bootloader to the MBR.
As far as which Linux, I can only say that I've used Mandrake or SuSE. About 7 or 8 versions of each. Try the Knoppix live-on-CD distro to see if you can use that box and you could install Knoppix to the hard drive if you wanted to.
HTH
lynch

[fac73]

thanks for the reply

i'm told red hat is one of the easiest versions to use as a newbie, hopefully it cant go too far wrong so i'll give that a go

and i think i'll abandon the idea of win98, i cant find a disc anywhere so i probably threw it out :-/

i have win2k and win xp on this machine already, so i guess i just install linux as per installation docs?

and if THAT goes well maybe i'll find a copy of win98 to play some more

[lynch]

Yes, Red Hat is also an easy one to install.
If you have w2k or xp I dont see much need for 98 other than legacy apps.
Don't know what docs you're using but, if you start with an empty drive it's easy enough. When you install w2k and XP leave the remaining space as free unallocated space and the Red Hat installer will give you the option to install to the free space while preserving the 2 win OSs.
HTH
lynch

[comprookie20]

I started with knoppix then went to red hat,but because red hat is droping support I went ahead and paid 35$ for suse 9 and liked it.Then I got brave and tried slack,I got it installed but it was real buggy,I messed up something,not slack,now I'm back to suse because we get along,it is real easy with yast 2.I have windows xp but never use it.Get Belark advisor and print the results,you will spend so much time on the linux side you may only need xp.david

[srhoades]

Red Hat is a good way to start. It is how i started. My one recommendation would be, once you start getting comfortable with Red Hat, ditch it. Three reasons why I say this. First, Red Hat is bloatware, it can run slow compared to other distros. Second, Red Hat if fairly propietary as far a linux goes. Lots of little configuring guis and such that is home only to Red Hat. Third, because of all the configuring guis, you beging to lean on the gui, whereas all the power in linux is the command line.
After using Red Hat for about a year and half off and on, I switched to slackware when Red Hat switched to the Fedora project. I learned more in two months of using Slacking than all the time I spent in Red Hat.
Ultimatly though do what you feel comfortable with. If you just want something to work and that is it, then Red Hat would be fine for you. I wanted something where I had a little more control which is I why I switched to slackware. Was there a learning curve? You bet. But it was worth it to me.