You cannot install Linux on a FAT32 partition. If you want to install Linux alongside Windows, first
of all, divide up your HDD into the desired number of partitions, and install your copy of Windows
on the first partition. When you come to install Linux, make you have a partition of around 4GB
or more, preferably on the end of your HDD, but don't format it with any filesystem.
Leave this unformatted partition as empty unallocated diskspace. The Linux installation program
should automatically detect the unallocated HDD space. If you accept the default partitioning
allocation settings on the Linux installer, it will automatically create Linux partitions, within
the empty space, format them, and install the default Linux filesystem.
You can then move on to the package selection stage, where you can choose from the many
hundreds of different packages available with your chosen Linux distribution. As this is your
very first time with Linux, then as before, just accept the default preset package selection.
It should provide you with just about all you'll need for a beginner to get the best
experience from running a Linux operating system.
You will get at least two different desktop graphical user interfaces to choose from. The two
main desktop GUI's for Linux are KDE and GNOME. Both SuSE and Mandrake use KDE as the
default GUI, but you can select to use GNOME if you prefer. Meanwhile, RedHat uses GNOME
as the default desktop interface, although you can choose to use KDE if you prefer.
I personally prefer to use KDE, as that seems to be the most Windows like in appearance.
You'll get plenty of web browsers to choose from, such as Konqueror, which is part of KDE,
and Galeon, which forms part of GNOME. Needless to say, you'll definitely also get Mozilla!
IIRC, SuSE still bundles Netscape. I least I think it does, as there's a small Netscape logo
on the back of the outer box of the SuSE 8.2 boxed distro, alongside logo for other well
known and respected companies, such as Sun Microsystems, Opera, and RealNetworks.
You'll even get two office productivity suites. There's KOffice, which is part of KDE, and
there OpenOffice, which is (almost) fully compatible with all Microsoft Office file format.
Eitherway, they're both completely free. You'd never Microsoft Office pre-installed
with a standard retail copy of Microsoft Windows, without paying at least £350!
UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (DJGM-i.net)
SeaMonkey = Swiss Army Knife: It's versatile, reliable, and contains useful tools.
Windows Internet Explorer = Old Swiss Cheese: Full of holes, and it stinks!
