newbie needs help please dont bite

[Dave Wheeler]

Hi There   My name is Dave Wheeler and I am a Linux newbie.   I would really appreciate some help and guidance on installing redhat.   I currently have a 60bg hdd, I am running windows xp pro.   I have just downloaded redhat version 8.0 and have been told that I can install redhat over the top and it will keep my xp data and I could use “grub” to choose what os I boot to.   I have used partition magic to create an unused partition (unformatted) of 15gb   I have booted with the redhat disk 1 in the cd drive, it comes up and I start the process…… this is where I got scared as I opted to remove all existing Linux partitions (didn’t have any!) and went on, it found the Linux partition and a dos one???  Is the dos one my xp? As there was no mention of it.   I panicked and cancelled!   I thought that it would have recognised the xp as an ntfs partition?   I would really appreciate some help! As you ca probably tell I really don’t know what I am talking about when it comes to linux.   !!   Thanks a lot Dave wheeler