Dual boot

[Allochthonous]

I have a blank, 20 GB FAT32 formatted HD that i want to make a dual boot Win98 /Linux box.  Is it better to install Windows into the whole 20 GB partition, then let the Linux installer take care of the repartioning (if available in the installation package) or should i go ahead and repartition now, then install Win98 on one partition and Linux on the other?

BTW, I was thinking about either Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS (I am a newbie)

Can you recommend any FREE partitioning tools?

PK

[Rob Pomeroy]

Re partitioning, see >the essential software tools FAQ<.  Look for FIPS.

Partitioning depends entirely on what you want from both OSes.  Win98 including Office is going to need circa 6GB.  I wouldn't want to throw less that 14GB at a new Linux install, because you can easily install that much software (because there's just so much free stuff)!

[Paja.Patak]

fdisk is free with every MS OS since 1981 (or even before).  
You can make one 10GB partition for W98, and the rest just left blank. Install W98, then boot Linux from CD and choose empty space for Linux. Linux will take care about everything else.

[Allochthonous]

You know, I thought about using fdisk, but was not sure if it would do what I wanted it to do.

PK