I need some advice
 

Hello, I am looking at possibly running a dual boot system using my current Microsoft Windows (Or Winblows as I have heard it termed) ME and Linux.

My question is what Linux would you recommend for a newbie to Linux like myself?

I want to be able to install the new operating system with as little trouble as possible.
I have a 30GB hard-drive which I would prefer to keep whole. I did look at a Linux distribution called WinLinux2001 but after reading reviews on that I decided that I did not want to risk losing my device drivers which I read could happen.

I have been learning some Linux at my tertiary eduction that I am doing now. So I am not a complete newbie but just am getting confused with all the information about all the different distributions and all the complicated processes you have to go thru to get Linux up and running

So really to provide a summary of my problems:

I need a Linux distribution that will install and run on the same hard-drive as my windows operating system without any problems.

Mandrake. Everyone usually agrees to Mandrake as every new person to Linux asks this all the time.

I have installed RedHat, Mandrake and Stormix. I would say for complete ease of install, Mandrake is the one. However I had a dickens of a time getting Mandrake to work with my vid card, so after struggling with it I ended up going back to good ol' RedHat.

RedHat 7.1 is a very good distro. I would say you couldn't go wrong with either one.

Advice from another Newbie
 

I have had good luck with Red Had V7.1. I had no problem with installation. The installation program handled the partitioning of my HD.
I never learned how to install Linux in a Windows partition, so have always had a separate Linux partition on my HD. At this point, I don't have any problems with this setup.

Ever heard of SuSE?
 

Suse is a fine German made distro...

Everyone says start out with Mandrake...I did. However, you seem to know a little bit more than a complete newbie. Additionally, I assure you that SuSE Personal 7.2 is only 29$, has a boatload of apps, office, and some mild gaming onboard with the 3 cd set...and very easy to install and set up as a dual or multi-boot system (so far I have 4 os's on the same hard drive).

Everyone on this board says that I am a suse salesman but i promise im not. I just know as a person who is new to this OS (only been using it for 10 months now) that Linux in general is pretty damn awesome and you can do way more things with this compared to Windows ME or any other Microsoft products...

I have tried a lot of distros and SuSE seems (to me) to be able to support a lot more hardware configurations than the rest. You can do the same things I have done with linux on other distros-- to be honest, all have their strengths and weaknesses ,but, SuSE appears to be the simplest and most insructional, because, where it is not intuitive it gives you the opportunity to learn what makes this incredible OS really tick!

Hi,

Suse 7.2 is on different magazines as eval. Version. That is realy good to test and you have not to install anything at all. The point is that your system is able to boot from CD-Rom.

have a lot of fun

I don't recommend installing Linux off those free cd's in magazines. You should see all the posts here in the forums of them never working for people. Just a thought you might want to consider.