Linux installation

[Potatoman]

I use winXP with no space for a new partition, so i will have to reinstall. How do i dual boot XP with mandrake linux 10.1? Does it recognise NTFS file storage? Windows MUST be on the C: partition. Say i have 2 part. on 1 disk - windows on the primary, and nothing on the second - will the linux installer give me the option to choose, and pick up that i need to dual boot?

[scatman]

First of all, if you have never used linux and you have precious little free space, take a look Knoppix. It is a linux that doesn;'t need to be installed and runs straight from CD.

the Mandrake installation will ask which partition you want to install to and it will format that partition so make sur eyou choose the right one.
Once it is all installed, you'll get a boot loader which detects other operating systems on the pc and lets you choose which to booth to. You can edit this to set a time out and the default boot option so you can boot then go and make a cup of tea.

[OBonio]

The Linux distributions I have come across use LILO which supports booting from whichever partition.  Install XP, then Linux and let LILO do the work.  Installing XP after Linux will only boot XP.

[OBonio]

Oh, and linux does support NTFS.  You might need to setup fstab to do it properly, but that's another question.