NTFS Windows + Linux?
 

I've only ever set up Linux Dual Boots using Windows boxes that have FAT32 before.

On one box with Windows XP + NTFS, can I load linux normaly as I would do with FAT32 or do I need changes?

yeah u can load linux normally though ofcourse u cant mount NTFS as rw & even to mount it read only
u need to have kernel 2.4.x or probably some patch for 2.2......

If you want to mount an NTFS driver, then use it for ReadOnly, because there are some problems with writing to an NTFS drive from Linux.

Make sure that the ntfs filesystem is supported in the kernel, or at least add it as a module, then mount it like you would a fat driver except rather then using vfat as the filesystem use ntfs.

If you want to have a dual boot system i would just recommend using fat 32 for windows

Depends on lilo or grub.

lilo instructions:

Back up your files & favorites on Windows
boot Linux to root
dd if=/dev/hda2 of=boot.lnx bs=512 count=1
cp boot.lnx /mnt/floppy
Boot Windows
copy boot.lnx c:\
edit boot.ini
After multi(0)..., add
C:\boot.lnx="linux"
Reboot

Watch out for /dev/hda?, find yours. Floppy can be formatted in Windows.

I know but I dunno how to convert it

http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagicpro/

Other than shrinking your existing NTFS partition, and then formatting the empty space as FAT32, that is the best option I can find.

I don't want to pay $$

You would think that Windows would let you fall back from NTFS to FAT32, but no...If you want to, the help file says you must reformat to FAT32. Partition Magic, on the other hand, lets you convert from NTFS to FAT32, but the software comes with a price.

I believe there are various freeware utilities on the Internet that lets you convert from NTFS to FAT32, though they are not guaranteed to work and take no responsibilities for screwing up data on your hard disk. Do a search. I am making no recommendations because I also don't want to get blamed for screwing up your data :). Back it up, back it up, and back it up, before you run those programs!

Another workaround if you want to read and write files from NTFS and ext3 filesystems that I find handy, as I am in the same situation you are, is to simply copy files over the network to a Windows 9x share or vice versa.