All that I really use the pc for is downloading mp3s & vids & browsing the net.It is constantly left on, it has to be restarted about once every 4 maybe 5 days as it battles to open notepad after a few days. I'm Currently using windows ME, DC++ for downloading, Opera for webpages & Winamp or media player for music & videos.

1.2 Athlon, 256 ram

1st hdd,120gb contains mp3s,games,apps & system files.
2nd hdd,200gb contains videos.
3rd hdd,80gb is used for DC++ as a download folder & any unsorted files.

I'm using a Highpoint Rocket 133S pci IDE card to get around Windows 137gb limit

I would like to change to Mandrake 9 or 10, but am thinking of going for a dual boot to keep windows just in case. After having a read through other peoples questions I still have a couple of questions

1) I'm going to partition the 120gb hdd, but how much should I give to linux?
2) I'm gonna try using DCGUI in Linux but can I import my old download queue from DC++ to work in DCGUI?
3) Will my IDE card work under linux? I assume so as it does have driver but anyone know from experience?
4) I'm a bit confused on this one, as all my drives are Fat32, Linux will be able to read but not write to them? Or the other way round? Ideally I would like both Windows & Linux to be able to read/write to the hdds as I would like to be able to download & organise my files no matter which O/S I'm in.
5) I currently connect to the internet using a usb modem, going to get a router when finaces allow for it but will the other pcs in my network speak to Linux or what settings/software is needed to allow other pcs on the network to access my files?
6) I'm hoping that once Linux has been installed I will be able to access all my files & for the machine to be able to be left on for a few days, downloading files & still be able to play mp3s or a movie. Am I wanting too much?


Any help on any of the above questions would be great, sorry if I left anything.

Cheers
slime

1) give as much as you wish...I'd give it much
2) don't know about the DCGUI's import...at least there's no such action in the menus. but check out dcgui.berlios.de for info on if it's compliant with DC++'s filetypes or something.
3) no experience - but if you've got a driver for it, then it almost certainly does work..
4) linux can both read and write to/from fat32 partition. windows, instead, cannot read nor write to/from your linux partition, unless it's fat32 which it shouldn't be
5) the other pcs can access your box, but if they use windozes you should get Samba for the network sharing..if they use linux too, then a nfs might be your tool...
6) you can access the files, if you just set permissions so and get the software for it (for windozes and so on)....and yes, linux can run without problems. I myself have run an old 200mhz pc for over two weeks now without rebooting, and without any kind of performance problems..

im not positive about this but i think that you will want to defrag your hd first so everything will be in one area. ive heard it can get screwed up if you don't. let me know if ou ever get dcgui up and running. i loved dc++ but since i ditched windows ive just been using nicotine (a souleek client). im guessing it would be pretty hard to transer your queue. you also have to make a swap partition but that is really small.

one more thing about the swap partition...even though you must do it, it doesn't mean linux would eat up your hd space for nothing - windows doesn't use a swap partition, but creates a swapfile...one can see this by running some huge games, for example, and checking what happens to your hd's free space: it runs out. windows could basically eat up your whole harddisk space (heh, but I at least hope there is some limit) whereas linux has swap space defined..

Double post

whats a recommended size for a Mandrake 9 partition? Thanx for all the info so far, I just gotta get some cash now for a router.

slime

when you install mandrake linux you can choose recommended partitioning and it will do it for you using recdommended partitions.
I would recommend / 80 gb reiserfs
swap 2gb
/home the rest reiserfs