LinuxQuestions.org - I've decided on slackware...now... some qns....

Hi There I am hoping to slowly migrate over to a different OS....(Slackware 9.0) basically just to be different and to expand my knowledge :)

Well I am currently running the following:
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P4 1.8A
512 DDR RAM
40Gb ATA hd
2 X 120gb ATA hd in a RAID 0 configuration (using some RAID controller card which utilises the Silicon Image 0680 chip)
P4S333 Mobo
Leadtek Winfast GF3 Ti graphics card.
OS=WinXP and RedHat 9

I have my OS's ONLY on the separate 40gb and all my programs, movies, music etc on my "RAIDED" drives.
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My questions are as follows:

1.

I have installed at the moment redhat 9 and it doesn't detect my "RAIDED" hard drives, but i can remember reading somewhere that from redhat 7.3 onwards it should support the silicon image chip. When I install slackware 9.0 I'm assuming it wont be detected either. How can i get access to these "RAIDED" drives?

2.

I want to completely wipe my 40gb separate hd and install the OS's fresh...and although i wont be touching the raided drives at all.... i fear i will delete the contents of my "RAIDED" drives. (i.e. delete the array because winXp and the drivers, i suppose, reside on the separate 40gb drives?) will this be the case?

3.

if i do indeed wipe my 40gb hd i think i will do the following....plz tell me if this sounds good....and give me any hints you think necessary.

i will install winxp first and then install slackware 9.0 ...using its installation program and set up a dual boot ...BTW if i totally wipe my 40gb separate hd will the MBR be wiped too? (i would like this so i can start fresh) also which filesystem should i use for linux....ext3??
how big should my swap space be?? i.e. wat is the config for best performance?
which boot thingo do people use for slackware eg grub?

4.

This is a general question.....is it good to have programs (such as games, office, photoshop, winamp etc etc) on a separate hd to windows.
At the moment i have put my programs on the raided hd's for performance reasons....but now i am thinking.... wat if i reinstall windows/linux .....will the programs still work ??
(becase isn't information about the programs in registry, shared files, sys files etc. contained within the win OS on which will be wiped??)

perhaps in other words it makes more sense... if i totally wipe my hd and install winXP again on my separate 40gb hd will the programs such as photoshop, office etc...which are located on the "RAIDED" hd's continue to work with this fresh windows that hasnt "seen" or "governed" the installation of any of these programs??

if it is ok practise to put programs on a separate hd under winxp wat about linux? does linux like programs to be installed on separate hd's??

5.

I don't really understand the concept of the 'software sets' in slackware 9.0 which is best? ie do u start of bare bones and add extra later? considering i'm a newbie i would like a GUI...but i dun want useless extra stuff installed which often is the case for newbies (i'm a bit of a crack whore when it comes to 'clean' computers hehe)... also i need to do c programming for uni. Is it better to install all this stuff later?......BTW which GUI works best on slackware??

Well thats it....all my questions have been put forth...

any info on any of the above queries will be much appreciated..

cheers!