How do you install XP and Linux on the same box?

[Cris]

About 6 months ago I bought an off the shelf Compaq PC. After putting in a few extra cards, more memory and another drive this is my baseline configuration:

2.4 Pentium, 1gig ddr, NIC, modem, Nvidia video, USB's, serial and parallel ports.

One (1) 120 gig 5400rpm drive, portioned into a Compaq specific OS load (107 gig) and a second (4 gig) partition that allows you to restore the computer to its "factory defaults".

One (1) 80 gig 7200 rpm data/backup disk (old school, BEBO, Back up early, Backup often)

I also have a second box (PC) I access via PCanywhere that works as another backup for critical data, I want to leave it alone, for now.

The question is, what is the best way to configure the Compaq to a dual boot with XP Professional and Linux.

Since I really am not concerned with restoring to factory defaults (though the 4 gig partition is backed up on the second box) I plan on blowing away the C Drive and installing the new OS's from scratch.

Any advice on partition creation, boot menu, order of creation, etcetera would be appreciated. Also it has been 15 years since I installed UNIX so any tips on LINUX installation would be helpful.

[Steven Edwards]

Cris, there's a good introduction/installation guide (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-install.xml) over at the Gentoo site that explains the different partitions that you'll need for Linux.

-Steven

[Steven Edwards]

...and one more, Cris. TechTV has an article about setting up a dual-boot system with Linux and XP (http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/linux/story/0,24330,3397093,00.html).

-Steven

[Cris]

Thanks Steven. Do you recommend Gentoo Linux over other flavors of UNIX? I will probablr d/l it.

UNIX (Gentoo Linux) with Mozilla looks like it will be a stable web platform and more secure then Windows will ever be.

When "Hacker" was a compliment UNIX was the platform. Now a "Hacker" is associated with Windows and is deragatory. IroniC, huh?

Whats the difference between plain Linux, Red Hat or Mandrake?

Which is the easiest to get Drivers for?

[Steven Edwards]

The different flavors of Linux [Red Hat/Mandrake/Gentoo/etc] are basically just different default configurations of the same thing. I like Gentoo because it has a portage tree like FreeBSD that allows you to install and update the different pieces of software very easily and automatically.

After installing Linux, you'll need to install a GUI [if you want one...]. KDE (http://www.kde.org/) and Gnome (http://www.gnome.org/) are the most popular alternatives. I have had zero problems with drivers [all automatically detected], but I just use Gentoo in console mode for various things, not as my primary OS.

-Steven