half ass

i'm sick of windows and now i wanna try linux. but because of my addiction to windows, i'll "dual boot", making a half ass dive into linux. does it matter which windows i have,(i don't think so, but just to be safe you know) like is it better to have windows 98 se, windows me, or win2000 with linux?

In terms of booting up there is no difference. The only difficulties I can think of is if you want to use files on your Windows partitions. If you want to mount your Windows partitions from Linux then I suggest you use a Fat32 filesystem. NTFS can be a pain.

Blah, Blah Blahh, Blahh, blahh blah blahh, blah blah.

Linux uses Ext2 as the old standard. It also works with ReiserFS, SGI developed XFS, IBM developed JFS, and the new Ext3. Probably others too, but I don't know about them. Linux can also read and write Fat32 partitions just fine, but it doens't work with NTFS partitions. I think there may be some way to get it to work, but it's probably not real stable.

All versions of Windows since Win95 can run on Fat32, but only NT, 2k, and XP will work with NTFS.

so from what i've read in this forum, SuSe is the one for newbies like me?
should i install windows 98 or ME along with a linux?

thanks

I dont see how theres any problem with nt or 2k, all that happens is from LILO you choose "dos" or whatever you called it, you will then get the normal 2k/nt boot screen.
Personally, I find it easier to use something such as partition magic to create a linux ext2 and linux swap partitions, then run the linux install and tell it to install on the newly made partitions.


Next time you wave - use all your fingers

hey.

most of the current linux distributions will set up dual boot for you when you install them. You make some space on your hd (defrag, then "fips" - a fat partition resizer) then boot the cd, and away you go.

i don't want to start a "my distro is better than your" thing, but i think mandrake 8 is pretty slick for newbies.

the whole linux-nt/2k/98 whatever thing is covered in the how-tos at linuxdoc.org, but basically, if you install nt/2k _after_ linux it'll overwrite the linux-installed boot sector (good idea to make a boot floppy :-).

Linux can read ntfs ok, but writing is still a bit suss (i think). fat32 is fine, and 98 + linux is real easy to get running.

There's no problem with NT or 2k, it's just that it's easier with 9x. By the way, I think the easier way is to just let 2k have the first boot loader, and have it load 2k or Linux, and then go to LILO. I dunno, call me a MS shill, but I like 2k's boot loader more than LILO. (By the way, don't call me an MS shill, I pirate all their stuff).

"If you teach a child to read, then he or her will be able to pass a literacy test" - George W.