win xp + linux

[aym]

I have one hard disk with plenty of space and win xp pro, and I want to try linux, is this possible? And how can I do it?
I want to keep win xp, but it doesn't matter if I have to change my hard disk partitions.
I'm very good in dos and windows but I'm completely new to linux.
Thanks for help.

[obdulio]

There are several ways, depends on which distro you are using. In Red Hat, during installation, it lets you dinamically reduce the size of your Windows Partitions. I never tried it, I prefer to create an empty, unformatted partition first.

This works with Red Hat 7.2:
(Remember to backup all your critical data first)

1) Create a partition (using Partition Magic).
2) Boot from CD.
3) When asked, choose Disk Druid to partition.
4) In the Disk Druid screen, choose your empty partition and create two Linux partitions inside it. For example, to create a Linux part of 5 GB and 500 MB of swap, create 2 partitions:
hda2 Type: Linux Swap
Mount Point: N/A
Size: 500 MB
hda3 Type: Linux native
Mount Point: /
Size: 5000 MB

(In Linux, the First Hard Disk is called hda.The Second is called hdb and so on.
The partitions of the first disk are called hda1, hda2, etc. If your XP partition is at the begining of the disk, it would be hda1, and you need to create hda2 for swap and hda3 for Linux. If you have extra partitions, the numbers may be different.)

At the end of the installation, Lilo, Linux boot manager is installed. Just check that both your XP and Linux partitions are listed and select the default boot.

Hope that helps
Good luck

[aym]

Thanks a lot, but which version of linux do you recommend for a beginner?

[obdulio]

I use Red Hat, which is excelent. I recommend it.

[aym]

Final question:
What is the name of linux file system? Thanks in advance!

[OOPS!]

Usually a typical distro will default to ext2. But you can also use ext3 or Riesiersfs. They are both journeling fs.

OOPS!