Linuz Newbie wants to go Dual Boot

Hi folks,

My machine is Win98. I heve not installed nor dabbled with Linux before, but I want to get my hands dirty now, DUAL BOOT is a nice phrase that I'd like to practice.

I have a pretty 14Gig HD with 2 partitions, C for program files and D for data, but I don't want to touch this one thus I am buying a second HD for my Linux Install.

Please advise, step by small step;

Thanks y'all!

Start here -> ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/Linux+Win95

>>DUAL BOOT is a nice phrase that I'd like to practice

Dual Boot is bad, very bad, real bad practice. Just don't do it if possible.

Dual Boot is only for people who can't afford to build another system dedicated for Linux but it doesn't seem to be the case for you since you plan on buying a second HD for your Linux Install.
Further, you shouldn't shutdown/reboot your Linux, dual boot by all means is to restart your machine and boot to your win98.
You also may run into many unknown problems with dual boot, especially with networking and it's insecure.
Right, you get to try Linux without having to buy another system. But for development or production environment, you shouldn't boot into this and boot into that at all. I suggest you to build a new system dedicated for Linux only.

[This message has been edited by freebsd (edited November 02, 2000).]

FreeBSD,

Hmmmmm...

HHHmmmm...

Hhhhmmm...

This is totally different from what I've read around the web. I was trying to avoid the option of reformatting my existing HD that's why I went for a separate HD option...

More input on this matter please? Calling, Linux/Windows people

>>I was trying to avoid the option of reformatting my existing HD that's why I went for a separate HD option

Then just install it and set the mount point of your 1st hard drive (hda) to something like /win and its type to vfat or something equivalent like "DOS 16-bit >=32M" and set different mount point for your 2nd hard drive (hdb).
Then, install a bootloader.

Note, this is the wrong forum for your question, you should go to linuxnewbie.org instead. Be sure to RTFM of the direct link I posted from my previous message.