ok.......thanks to this good community I sucessfully installed the linux mandrake with windows xp dual boot..although I still have the modem and screen resolution problem....

my question is that, how can access my data on other partitions of my HD..
like C: which contain winddows and D:, E:, F: etc............

Thanks.....

well for me the windows partition is under /mnt/winc/ it's probably the same for the other drive letters

thanks........but I am too new for linux like a baby just born...so can you please explain it in details how I can access it? is there any windows explorer like GUI is available in linux mandrake???

The partitions may already be mounted. If that is the case, you only need to find out where. How they get mounted is listed in the file /etc/fstab.

Here is part of my fstab file:
The first partition is /dev/hda1 and it is mounted at /boot. I can browse to /boot and see what is in it.
The other partitions are all extended partition, so the next partition is /dev/hda5. It is a swap partition, which I can't browse.

Your /etc/fstab should tell you where they are mounted. If they are not mounted, you can go to the Mandrake Control Center, select Mount Points, then Diskdrake. From this program you can add mount points for your windows partitions. Keep in mind that NTFS partitions are read only ( if you are using Windows 2000 or XP ). The windows partitions are probable mounted below the /mnt directory, with names like /mnt/win_c, /mnt/win_d, etc.

Read the output of man mount if you want to learn more about mounting various file system types.

Thanks a lot....now I know how to access them just browse in mnt/winc etc........ thanks m8!