Install Windows first or Linux?

[j2k]

Hi all,

Some of you may remember the time when Tux the penguin was hungry and so decided to eat my Windows XP, taking all of my data with it, but finally I've decided to try Linux again.

I have to repartition and reformat the drive anyway due to all the crud on it, but I was wondering, should I install Windows or Linux first?

I'm planning on tri-booting it - Windows 98, XP and Linux. Which order should I install them?

Also which boot manager do you recommend I use?

Thanks

[The Hobo]

I don't see why the order in which you install them would matter. I'd probably do Linux last as it's more picky on configurations, and if it changes somethings, Windows'll probably be able to handle them without a fuss.

[j2k]

Originally posted by The Hobo
I don't see why the order in which you install them would matter. I'd probably do Linux last as it's more picky on configurations, and if it changes somethings, Windows'll probably be able to handle them without a fuss.

That's what I thought, but I thought I'd better double check just to be sure.

Thanks

[Gandalf_Grey_]

i would do linux last but not so much for Hobos reasons. THe lilo boot loader kicks ass. Everything kneels before it. The windows boot loader licks ass, if you install windows second then you won't be able to access your linux partition because windows detects the linux MBR as "nonstandard" ( it wasn't made by MS) and overwrites it. Linux boot loader detects all the operating systems on your computer and automatically configures lilo to load from them. The lilo conf file is then in linux.

[CyberSurfer]

If you don't mind booting Linux from a floppy disk, you can install it first. Otherwise, as Gandalf said, you need to installl Windows first, as they will overwrite the MBR. Personally, I use LILO as my bootloader, purely because it works and I've never tried anything different. As long as it displays all my OS's and lets me boot into whichever one I want, I'm happy.