I have a system with 2 harddrives in it. One is 8 GB and has Windows XP Home on it; and the other one is about 1.5 GB and has nothing on it really. I want to set up a dual-boot system with Windows on the first (larger) harddrive, and Linux on the second (smaller) harddrive. I would like to know if there is a version (distribution) of linux that is easy to install/use that can fit (with space left over for programs and files) on such a small harddrive. Thanks,

Start Here with live versions, I believe most will install also. http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php?pick=All&sort=ImageSize&sm=0 Damn Small, Puppy, Feather, Slax would be my first choices. I've also heard Vector is good too. For Larger distros "within 500 to 600mb & up" Ubuntu, Gnoppix, Knoppix, Mepis, And I kinda like SuSE but its live version is almost as big as your hard drive. ASUS A7V8X Athlon XP 2700+ @ 2.17ghz 768MB DDR 2700 nVidia 128mb FX 5200 WD 80gb SE NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW

Gentoo would allow you to install only the apps you really want....but it isn't the easiest of distros to set up.

For me personally, I think I would try and figure out Gentoo, but I have some experience trying to stuff Linux onto old computers with all the kinks and wierd architecture you can imagine. If you have experience, go with Gentoo. If you don't have much in the way of experience, I would say DamnSmall is a good bet.

I put DamnSmall on last night, it's alright. But, I have used CentOS (comes on 1 DVD or about 4 CDs) and Ubuntu. These are too big for the harddrive, but I would like to try and find something similar.

Well, I would say you might look at Gentoo or FreeBSD for maximum configurability. When I started with Linux, I used VERY out of date computers, and extremely small distros that were often frusturating to set up. However, the learning experience definately paid off. I must have reformated my HD about 10 times in the process- I was always screwing up some configuration here or there... but you have to take it as part of the experience. I would say you could definately try and learn your way around FreeBSD or Gentoo, IF you are patient. These are NOT windows replacements; they are extremely configurable to specific tasks.

slack or vector both are vv good and fast vector is easy to set up but at the core they are both basicly slackware so not mch difference vector howerver has a soho verson with alot of cool office programs Ubuntu too is good and is nice for windows converts pitty it does not come with kde as standard ah well you could also look into KDE-light or icewm as a light GUI Get Firefox