Mandrake Multi Boot

[dogbreath]

Hi all, I'm about to embark on my first Linux experience, I will be installing it on a dual boot windows system that has 2 HDD's, 1st HDD is set up thus, MBR 1st partition, 15 gig Primary Partition running Win98se, followed by an extended Partition containing 2 logical Partitions of 15 gig each, the last Partition on this drive is where i want to put Linux, My 2nd HDD also has 1st, 20 gig Primary Partition running WinXP Home followed by 2 more 20 gig logical partitions used for file storage. So my Questions, Is my planned location good for the Linuk Install??, will Linux Mandrake 9.1 format it's own Partition or should I use something Like Partition Magic, or will the XP Partition Manager format it?? and if I do format it myself, do I make an Ext2 partition followed by a Linux Swap Part followed by the OS partition?? and what sizes do i want to make them, OH, I lied, one more, do I need to increase the size of the MBR file to accomodate whatever Linux will add to it or would I be better off to configure Linux to Boot from a floppy?? God Bless and Thanks, Dogbreath from Alaska

[slapNUT]

Since this is your first install just put the whole thing on that partition. When you become more familiar with the Linux filesystem structure you will start using separate partitioning for more of your filesystem. Mandrake will guide you through it and will do the formatting. I would suggest using reiserfs or another journeling type fs. If you want to use a swap partition then Mandrake will resize the partition and you can put it after the last partition. I prefer to use a swap file myself. And no you don't need to do anything to the MBR. Linux will make a backup copy in case of a disaster, but MBR's are easy to fix.