* Joe Fox wrote in alt.comp.os.linux:
> I'm currently a win98se user, but I'd like to learn more about linux
> environments and the differences between that and windows.

A good start already. Knowing that Windows and Linux are different is
half the battle.

> Can I do a full installation of linux on my current windows system and set
> it up to offer me a choice of which OS to use on boot without having to
> format?

Absolutely. By default most of the major distributions (distros) will
do most of that for you. If you have a free partition it will make life
easier.

> What flavor of linux would be considered the overall better choice to use?

That is a religous questions in *nix groups. I would suggest you have a
look at one of the many Live distributions Like Knoppix, Mandriva or
Ubuntu come to mind. These allow you to boot into a running linux
environment and play around before you decide.

> Can I manage this without having to burn a CD? (my current mobo won't see
> my burner... at least not in windows or msdos)

Its likely that Linux will just recognize it. You can get some boot
disks to start the install and it will download hat it needs. Again,
most major distros support this feature. Have a look at
http://www.distrowatch.com for reviews, news and rankings.

> Can I fit this into around 2GB of space or less?

Yes.

> I'll probably end up with boatloads of questions, but this will do for a
> start.

Indeed you will, and you should subscribe to and lurk in some of the
more popular newsgroups.

alt.os.linux
comp.os.linux.misc

are good, non distro specific groups.

Good luck and welcome to Linux.
--
David
She has an alarm clock and a phone that don't ring -- they applaud.

On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:28:44 -0500, Joe Fox
wrote:

>I'm currently a win98se user, but I'd like to learn more about linux
>environments and the differences between that and windows.
>
>Can I do a full installation of linux on my current windows system and set
>it up to offer me a choice of which OS to use on boot without having to
>format?
>
>What flavor of linux would be considered the overall better choice to use?
>
>Can I manage this without having to burn a CD? (my current mobo won't see
>my burner... at least not in windows or msdos)
>
>Can I fit this into around 2GB of space or less?
>
>I'll probably end up with boatloads of questions, but this will do for a

If you can't burn a CD, the cheapest way to sample Linux is to
find a local user who will give you a Knoppix or other "live CD"
distro. These let you experiment without installing anything to
your hard disk. If you don't like what you find, just eject the
CD and reboot. If you don't know a Linux user, the Ubuntu
project will mail you a CD gratis. Last time I looked, they
didn't even charge for postage. See www.ubuntu.com for details.
I have Ubuntu Linux on my laptop, and everything works except
for the touchpad pointing device (which I don't like) and the
Broadcom Wi-Fi tranceiver. It's possible to get unsupported
devices to work in Linux by means of a hack called ndiswrapper,
which allows a copy of the Windows driver to run in Linux, but I
haven't got around to it yet.

2GB is a little tight for a full Linux installation, but most
Linux distros incude a lot of software that you may never use.
Most of them let you do a less-than-full install. There are
some distros, like Puppy and Damn Small Linux, that need only
about 50MB of disk space. A good place to see what's available
is www.distrowatch.com