Linux alongside XP Home

[pete3005]

How would I go about installing any flavour of Linux along side XP Home? I really haven't got a clue!

Any good sites out there that take you through it step by step. I have a P4 2000mhz with 80GB HD, which I plan to use , I also have a Cyrix 333mhz which I could wipe and use just for Linux but the processor is no more powerful than a PII 300mhz although it does have 286MB RAM.

Would it be better using the second machine?.... although ideally I want to keep that as a Windows backup and testing station for other browsers.

Any tips or links are appreciated.

Thanks

Pete

[Steven]

Personally this is what I have done on two machines. I would start by installing linux on the seperate computer first, so you can figure out how to do things, navigate, etc... Then once you are comfortable, you can setup a dual boot system on your P4 and partition your hard drive, so in case of anything you will still have your files. The reasoning behind it is that you don't want to mess with the files on your windows machine at all while you are testing linux, so that is why you should test it out first on the older computer, then when you feel secure make the switch. What version of linux would you install, and what flavor? mandrake, suse, redhat, etc...

-Steven

[pete3005]

Thanks for the reply Steven. I have heard that mandrake is easier to begin with but I will be installing Red Hat as that is what I need to learn and more relevant for severs, would you agree?

Pete :)

[Steven]

Yes, I have found either mandrake or suse to be the most user friendly, but most all servers have redhat, freebsd on them (like ours do :) ) so it is best to learn redhat.

-Steven

[CrimsonScythe]

I vote for FreeBSD :D
It's an little bit harder to install, but I like it better than Mandrake/Red Hat. The downside of FreeBSD, though, is that it doesn't have a lot of administration guis. But that's just my opinion ;)

-Thomas