A few years ago, I tried to install Corel Linux, but failed painfully:

I installed it on it's own separate hard-drive. I turned my other, win2k, HD off from the setup. I installed linux and it worked. However, I was unable to boot from the other HD. If I turned it on, I would get an infinite stream of 1s and 0s at the start of the boot process. I could not use my pc with any other HD configuration other than then one I had when installing Linux.
I eventually solved the problem by re-installing windows.

Does Linux rewrite the boot record (I'm don't know too much about boot records =) )?

Is there anyway for it to co-exist with another OS without me having to unplug my other HD?

I would like to give linux another try, but it scares the living crap out of me =(

Help?
Thanks

First lesson in Linux installations involves :not removing hard
drives (unnecessarily), or using bios to modify the boot sequence
of hard drives. Just search the newbie forum, it would help.
Turning a HD off or on doesn't solve the problem. The endless 1s
and 0s are common if u do it.
Yes, Linux installs itl's own boot loader if you tell it to do so during
installation. It's quite flexible in booting, unlike some other OSes.
BTW, Linux boot loader (called LILO or Linux Loader) is a very
powerfull loader that can load a bunch of OSes including Windows,
Linuxes (all), Unix (BSD, OpenBSD), QNX, Solaris and what not.

I assume, you have a second hard drive where you plan to install
Linux. If that's the case, while installing choose that drive. Let
Linux configure it's own way. Select the software you need to
install. But at the end, do not forget to make a boot floppy. If you
are a newbie, it's a must to be able to boot into linux. I also
suggest you using either LILO or GRUB (grand unified boot loader)
to load Linux and also windows.

Do a small research into how Llinux names partitions, directories
etc before install.

One way around this issue is to have a removeable HD tray. They go for about $15 a piece. It's great, all you have to do is power down and swap the drive. I have different drives for linux, BSD and windoze (my wife uses it!).

I had a 10gig maxtor with Win98 on it...got a new 40gig Deskstar and wanted to use both of them....upgraded Win98 to XP then put the 40gig in as a slave...used DiskCopy and Partition Magic to copy everything to the 40gig, formatted the 10gig and installed Linux (Mandrake) on it. I just used the partitioning program in Mandrake....so now I have WinXP on one HD and Linux on the other and can boot to either one.....didn't have to edit anything or do anything special...just the normal partitioning with Mandrake's partition app. (forgot the name of it). Used Lilo, if that makes a diff. also, I do have the 40gig set as the master and the 10gig slaved.
I had problems with installing Corel too...although mine was a video problem....After the install, on the first boot, my LCD looked like someone stepped on it , or a bum barfed on it.....swirly colors all over the place...

I know about the boot loader (didn't know its name though).
I have used linux before (I use is a fair bit), but I've never had it at home.

I think I'll wait till I can put another system together. I'm very attached to my booting sequence. I have a couple versions of windows going without them knowing about it. I was hoping to do the same thing to linux, but I guess that's not going to happen =(. heh