Ok, I'm looking to install Linux onto my current computer. I've done this before, but with an old version of Redhat and its been a while, so I'm pretty much a total noob.

My first question is, can you suggest a good distro for my experience level?

I currently have RedHat 9.0, Slackware 10.0, Knoppix, Phlack, Gentoo, and Dynebolic distrobutions in my library of CDs, all ready to go, but I can download anything you suggest (as long as it can be downloaded), so thats not a problem.

My second question is, I have WindowsXP installed and I want to dual boot with linux. I have read quite a bit about it recently, but everything I've read has pointed to the fact I can't do it the way I want to. I've read to do this, your linux install must be on the same disk as windows and installed within the first 8Gb.

Heres my harddrive layout.

Disk 1
19Gb NTFS WindowsXP partition

Disk 2
5Gb Fat32 Partition used for downloading large files (would like to repartition this and use for linux)

25Gb NTFS partition used for storing files, its my windows backup partition.
25Gb NTFS partition used for storing media, I do some photoshop and Adobe Premier work.

Is it possible to put Linux on that 5Gb partition thats on disk 2 and stikk have it dual boot correctly with WindowsXP

yes... put /boot (of ~100M) on the front of disk 1.... then put your root (/) wherever you darn well please... (make /boot active on your partition table)

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distros...

it's all preference

there's lots of info here, there, and everywhere, and some people are strongly opiniated... i like to tell people that RedHat/FC are perfec for people who just want it to work, and don't really care how

otherwise my favorite distros are 1) Slack 2) debian
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Well, if its gonna take a little learning to get it to work, thats fine with me, but I just want something within my range.
I'm not affraid to learn, but I would prefer the first distro I use not be too complicated to set up.

BTW, does that mean I'm gonna have to reinstall Windows to get that 100Mb partition on disk 1? I've never messed with resizing windows Partitons.

so... is there a clarification question?? or do you follow?

Well, I'm assuming you mean I have to Repartition disk 1 and add the /boot partition to the begining of it anyways?

I was asking the question about dual booting to see if I could get around reinstalling windows. If I can't then I guess I'll repartition and reinstall.

I was hoping to get more info toward choosing a distro, but since you are the only one who responded so far, I guess it will probably be slackware I install.

Is there 2 or 4 discs for the 10.0 distro? I've seen 2 and 4..

you don't have to reinstall windows -- infact it is better to leave it be -- it is most common to install windows before installing another OS, because windows boot loader only recognizes/configures the system to run MS OSes... linux can recognize and config for MS... it should be installed after windows.

the /boot partition will house your linux bootloader, and should be of type ext2 or whatever you prefer. you should just resize/move windows partition to accomodate the new /boot partition...

on distros...
slack -- there are 4, you need 2 for the install.

slack = "most UNIX-like"

I like to say RedHat/FC (http://fedora.redhat.com/) is most windows-like -- it has lots of graphical utils, and is very userfriendly...

Then Debian -- apt is a wonderful util... if you require a package manager (PMs try to take the sting out of maintaining software installed on a linux system), debian/apt is the way to go

Sorry to keep bugging you but...

I've never had to resize my windows partition before, I would assume Partition magic would do this?

I'm currently looking for some screencaptures of server linux distros, I'm guessing I will be using Slackware or Redhat.

i hang around here because somehow i enjoy being bugged...

slackware (KDE) screenshots: http://kde-look.org/ ...
RedHat screenshots --?? but you can get kde on redhat, so i guess kde-look will proove relevant, as well as gnome http://art.gnome.org/ ... but the thing that is most beneficial about redhat is the GUI utils -- if you browse these docs http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/ you should be able to find some...

and yes, partition magic should nail that resize functionality for you

Oh, you didn't have to find screenshots for me, I was looking around. Trying to resize and relocate my windows partition, but it seems to revert. I'll reboot and see if it works.

Ok, got the partitioning straightened out, about ready to start installing.

Should I install FC3 or Redhat 9?

Any last bits of info or files I need to gather pre-installation? Drivers maybe?

FC is basically like the new RH...

after RH9, there were and will be no more new releases -- RH merged with the FC platform for new personal releases... RH is still being maintained for the enterprise platforms. ($$$)

so, my suggestion is FC as RH is essentially dead. but FC is basically the same thing, because RH puts all their stuff in it.

one of the big selling points for new linux users to use FC is driver support... give it a whirl, and you should be pleasantly surprised.

Ok, I'll download FC3 tonight and install tomarrow.

Will I need to download any special drivers? I have an Nvidia card, but an older one.

btw, thanks for all the info.