Linux on windows pc help!!

[U-Toast]

Ok, i dont have my sig yet, so ill post my config at the end if info needed.
I have 2 hds, one 20 gig, and one 40 gig.
The 20 gig hd has 7 gig partition with windows xp home. With the rest i have installed linux
The 40 gig hd is full with games.
I have reinstalled linux a few times to get the dual boot working, but i am unsucsessfull!
Does linux hafta be installed on a 2nd primary partition, or a extended?
And when i have installed linux, i can boot into it, i hafta use the consol thing ( system restor, log in as root, and i am supposed to put the bot sector on a floppy, that i put in root in windows (c I hqave tried to mount, didnt work, so maybe it was already mounted, so i typed the command to copy sector to floppy, didnt work.
My linus is installed as fallows:
hda1 win xp
hda2 swap
hda3 linux with boot sector on first boot sector ( the option i chose)
What the heck am i supposed to do?
I dont mind reinstalling linux, i actually would prefer you walk me through the step to get this right. BTW, i want to use suse 9.1 personal

Specs:
athlon xp 2400+
kt400 chipset
rad 9700pro
logitech mx duo ( i use other keyboard and mouse when booting in linux, it doesnt recognize the wireless)
20 gig HD
40 gig HD

Thanks for any help

[MichaelS]

I'm not all that familiar with SuSE (I only used it a few times for school, but that was it). Anyway, I'd suggest installing SuSE, when prompted, install LILO to the MBR, once you get into your new SuSE install, edit the /etc/lilo.conf and add an entry (similar to below) for your WindowsXP partition. Don't forget to run the lilo command after that and reboot, you should be able boot into either Windows or SuSE.


other = /dev/hda1
label = WindowsXP
table = /dev/hda


Regards,

Michael

[Rugpriest]

Suse llinux is easier than that. On a fresh install it will detect the windows partition and configure grub acordingly. If that fails then the inbuilt YaST feature allows you to configure the MBR very easily. There is no need to go anywhere near .conf files yourself.

[LocoCoyote]

Where is the fun in that??!!

The key to getting a working dual boot win/*nix system is to install Windows first on the first HD on the first partion. Linux can go anywhere, but I recommend putting / and /boot on the first HD on the third partion. The second partion on the first HD should be linux swap(for performance). All other directors (partions, whatever) go on the other hard drives. With your set up, I would make HD2 a fat32 data drive (for both windows and linux) and the third HD either a RAID 1 device for HD2 or a linux data drive.

At any rate, the key point here is to do windows first, linux second. Grub is the better boot loader and SuSE makes all this very easy.

Plan first.

Luck to you