Very Computer

        I'm thinking of installing Linux on a Windows '95 machine but I do not
want to have to do anything to keep the existing data on the drive.
Basiacly I'm not that intrested in backing up the machine if I don't
have to, but I realise that it may not be possible.  Is there anything
that I can safely do to install Linux without risking the loss of the
existing HD?  And can Linux write and read the existing HD (it has
"long name support").  Mostly what I'd like to do this for is to have
my own machine and this machine both running Linux accross an
Eithernet (or similar suported network) and to start playing around a
bit with the networking options availible.  Does this make sence to
anyone?  I sure hope so.
                                                 Dromio

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You _should_ re-partiton your drive (aka "you're going to have to backup
and restore your Win95 stuff") and use some linux native partitions (for
swap and at least a root filesystem).

There are utilities that allow one to re-partition your drive on the fly
(w/o having to re-format the drive), but I havent' heard very good things
about them.

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1. Defragment the disk. Do that with Win95's Defrag utility.
2. Repartition with FIPS. This utility can be had from most any shareware
repository. Allow some extra space on the Win95 partition in case you want to
install more DOS/Win stuff later.
3. Start Linux installation on the newly created blank partition.

I've used FIPS a few times. The only problem I have with it is that it's too
easy! Once you've shrunk your DOS partition to its minimal size, there's no
going back... :-)

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