Dual Boot Questions - Windows XP x64 and Redhat 64-bit

[cartmanea]

I am new to Linux, and setting up a dual boot with Windows XP x64 and Redhat 64-bit edition. It sounds like I need 4 partitions total, one for Windows, /boot, / (whatever this is), and /swap.

This is on a new dual Xeon system in my school research group....8Gb ram and 500Gb hard drive. I partitioned 256Gb for Windows and the rest is unallocated. How much space should I partition for each part needed for Linux?

Thanks!

[Kernel_Killer]

Really you don't have to plan ahead that much. As long as you install Windows first, and have enough empty space for Linux to sit comfortably, you should be ok. As for your Linux partitioning, depending on what you want to do will decide how you want to partition it. You can have it as simple as 2 partions ( / and swap), or seperate it into more pieces. When you go through the FC install, it will mention these, and how you might want to partition it. If you are just wanting to mess around with it, the 2 partitions will do just fine.

I would say 256GB is going to be more than enough. Depending on what you all plan to do with it really determines how to partition it. If it's being used to learn Linux, and to push the learning, I would say to experiment with the multiple partitions (/, /boot, /etc, /home, /usr, /opt, and swap).

[cartmanea]

Thanks for the info. The Linux install will be used for running finite element modelling simulations, but yes it is more than enough space. Is there anything special I need to do to make it ask which OS to boot to at startup, or will Linux recognise the Windows install and handle that for me?

[BadDudes]

its practically automatic ... but better install windows first and then linux ...