ok ive used windows all my life, but now im seriously considering trying linux. My HDD is partitioned into 2 Fat32 partitions, the first with windows installed on. Will I be able to install linux on the second? Will they work side by side without any problems? [Edited by - imr1984 on June 2, 2005 2:32:34 AM]

I just installed fedora core a few minutes ago ( my first linux distro ) and it is just sooooo beautifull . It is an open source project based on red hat ( free basically ). You will have to format that fat32 partition to a linux file system but that can be done very easily with the installation program ( in fedora anyways )
(haven''t got my password anymore though... AP it is..)

well formatting it into a linux partition is a real problem for me. What do i do if i want to share source files between linux and windows (and i WILL)?

Linux can (Note: I haven't tried this myself) read and write to fat32 drives!

edit- actually I have tried it myself, forgot my USB stick was fat32!

[edited by - flukus on May 1, 2004 6:01:34 AM]

so let me get this right: linux can read a fat32 drive, but i cant install linux ON a fat32 drive ?

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Original post by imr1984
so let me get this right: linux can read a fat32 drive, but i cant install linux ON a fat32 drive ?

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I believe it''s possible but I wouldn''t recommend it. Fat doesn''t support several features (permissions,symlinks, ...) which linux filesystems like ext3 and reiserfs do.

In your case I would split your second fat partition in 3 :
- one swap partition (twice the size of your ram, but 512 MB is enough)
- one fat32 partition to share files between windows and linux
- one linux partition (reiserfs or ext3) with what''s left

you know you can download the suse 9.1 live cd and check it out for yourself.
I used to use redhat till they killed it and now use Suse and love it. All my other linux friends like it too.
And a root partition is one of the only requirements for installing linux unless you using "live" distro.

I''m wanting to reinstall linux myself... but I''m running windows xp, with only one partition (30 gigs), and the various tools I have handy (that won''t delete my info) are all command line partitioning tools so they don''t work with xp... anyone have any suggestions?

partition magic?

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Original post by ZenDarva
I''m wanting to reinstall linux myself... but I''m running windows xp, with only one partition (30 gigs), and the various tools I have handy (that won''t delete my info) are all command line partitioning tools so they don''t work with xp... anyone have any suggestions?

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Yup, I''ve been there recently. Use parted its free. Just download the rescue disk with parted and boot from it. A virtual linux environment will be created. You can then start parted(a visual programm for what you need). Oh and dont forget to defragment your drive first.

imr1984: I just recently installed Gentoo and its great. Runs wonderfully next to my winXP.
Basically all has been said. Use a partition manager to delete your second partition and turn it into the necessary linux partitions. Then choose a linux distribution, install it according to the partitions you created and set up a dual boot system either with windows or ''grub''(a boot loader for linux[lilo is also possible]).
Fat32 reading and writing isnt a problem as far as I know. Once linux is installed you can just mount your Windows partition.

-CProgrammer