Installing and Accessing Linux on 2nd drive

[lgonzalez71]

Complete newbie here.

I am planning to try some Live CD's to find the distro I like. After I choose, I would like to keep my primary harddrive with Windows 98SE and setup the secondary harddrive with the Linux distro. My wife, at this time, wants me to leave the primary drive alone, since for the most part, it works for her.

My question: is there a way to use a floppy or zip drive (which my PC has) to present an option to boot Linux from my secondary drive when I want to use Linux?

I want the ability to have my wife get to her usual Windows 98SE (on the primary drive) anytime she wants, but let me use the flopppy or zip to re-boot the PC into Linux (on the secondary drive) when I want to use it.

I have an old Dell Optiplex GX1, 400MHz Celeron, 10GB primary harddrive, 4.3GB secondary harddrdive, 320MB RAM. BIOS says it can boot from CD-ROM, harddrive, or Floppy/Zip.

Thanks,
Leo G.

[ph34r]

No problem. Just make a boot floppy when you are prompted to do it during install. Or, you can use whatever bootloader your distro installs (lilo or grub) and use that to point to Windows.

[mrBen]

There are probably 3 different options available to you for booting:

1. Boot from a floppy
2. Install a bootloader on your primary drive (most distros do this automagically) - it can be set to boot Windows by default, so your wife shouldn't notice too much.
3. Install the bootloader on your secondary drive, and then change the BIOS to boot from the other drive whenever you want to use Linux. (Which is fine, until you forget to change it back having been in Linux, and your wife ends up with a Linux login screen......)

Personally, I would recommend the 2nd option.

[JohnT]

I would recommend, to keep the peace, don't install your bootmanger, during install, to the MBR. Choose to install to the super-block of the Linux partition. Then after you have made your floppy during the install process you should have no problem. (Make a spare.) You will have several options, if you choose at a later date to modify this to dual-boot without floppy and not writing to the MBR.