Thanks for this forum...the LinuxQuestions.Org...this will be great...helping newbie in Linux Environment.

I Have A IBM R32 Laptop with 256MB Memory and 40 gig Hardrive. is it possible to have a dual Operating System such as the XPSP2 and a Suse Linux Enterprise Server Ver.9. and is there a step-by-step process on how to install and make adual OS in this type of Laptop.Thanksss....

Answer: Yes

However, if you are a newbie, I highly recommend that you read about harddrive partitioning before following any advice I give you here. Also you should back up any/all data on your windows partition before starting...



During the Yast installation process, the installer will detect your windows partition and add it to the boot menu automatically. You will also find that when booting into SLES 9 that your windows partition should kindly have been mounted under /windows for you... (if it DOES NOT detect windows at all, STOP!!!!) and come back and report it

Basically... always install windows first (because windows overwrites the MBR)... I would give your windows partition about 15 gigs (NTFS). (make sure you leave space for linux and maybe a FAT32 partition (for file sharing between Linux / Windows) you dont want to resize later cos that can be slow

After you have installed windows (and hopefully done all the updates), go ahead and install SuSE... when you get to the partition manager it should have detected and suggested that it will mount your windows partition as /windows.

Create a FAT32 partition of 2Gigs, then after that, a swap parition (which should be double your RAM) and then an EXT3 partition to fill up the rest of the space. Some people will argue that Reiser is better... humm I dont think so... if XFS is available, you should choose that, cos I think that beats everything hands down!

Continue with your install choosing packages that meet your requirements.

Hope it all works out for you.

BTW... if your computer is already installed with windows and you have important data, I recommend you back it up first... If you do not know about HD partitioning then you should NOT continue with the guide I have given you.

cheers

//rey

Thanks for info rey.... ill try to reconfigure my laptop first then ask you again if i got an error messages.

is there any website wherein Suse Linux Enterprise and Windows XP have a comparison, so we can have an idea to browse like using XP and how to install software like installing in XP. thanks