Booting XP and Linux Mandrake 8.0

[althor27]

Ok guys...here goes. I have a 60 Gig hard drive and I want to install Mandrake 8 and Windows XP to dual boot. What is the best way to do this? I want to install NTFS for XP if at all possible....Thanks.

althor

 

[KenCleanAirSystem]

Do you want to use the NT bootloader or lilo to choose your operating system? I currently dual boot WinXP and Linux using lilo and have had no problem, but some people are picky about how they choose their OS when they boot and dont like lilo.

That choice will partially determine the steps you'll take to set up your dual boot though.

 

[althor27]

Lilo is fine....I just want to get Linux on there so I can get some experience with it....any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Althor

 

[y2kc]

This worked for me anyway. The mandrake 8(.x) install is as easy as windows IMHO so your biggest decision is probably how you are going to partition your HD.

1. Install XP first (NTFS will work)
2. Install Mandrake, the Lilo (or grub) setup will detect your NT partitions as such.
3. party on dude.

But as KenCleanAirSystem said this depends on whether or not you want to use NTloader or Lilo. I've never tried to use the NTloader to boot linux but I think I'll give it a try, sounds like fun. Good luck to you.

 

[althor27]

I'm just wondering how I need to partition for that....doesn't Linux need to be installed in the first 8.4 Gigs of the drive?

 

[KenCleanAirSystem]

Older versions of lilo had that restriction. The version that ships with Mandrake 8 no longer has that restriction so you should be fine installing Linux anywhere on the drive. Just make sure when you partition for windows to leave the room you want for Linux empty. Windows fdisk tends to want to gobble the whole drive for itself.

 

[spamsk8r]

yeah i have a 15 gig hard drive just for windows xp, and i have a 30 gig drive formatted with 5 gigs for linux and 25 for windows, and i installed mandrake on the 5 gig partition on the second drive and it works fine