[mythtv-users] Dual Boot (Windows XP and KnopMyth) and other advice?

[Scott Fisher]

I hope this hasn't been asked and answered a million times. I looked
through the list for the past few months to see and didn't notice any
threads on it.

I'm converting an old computer into a MythTV box using the KnopMyth
distribution.  As a preview (waiting to receive my PVR350 card), I
booted off the CD and noticed that the auto install mentioned that my
entire HDA would be formatted/erased.  I've already got a working WinXP
partition on this drive.  I can use Partition Magic or something to make
plenty room for more partitions, if needed.

I'd like to have both Windows XP and MythTV boots available for now
until I see how well everything works.  Can anyone point me to anything
explaining how to do this (or is there an option I can choose in setup
to do this?).  I don't really want to mess with a standard Linux distro
and then install MythTV since I just don't have much time to spend
configuring everything.

Also, I'd like to be able to access my MPEG2 files from either Win XP or
Linux boots and I have a second HDD to store them on.  What filesystem
should I use on it? FAT32, NTFS?  Is it possible to work things this
way?

Any advice on setup to help myself avoid problems?  My (rather old)
hardware is as follows?

-ABIT SE6 Motherboard (Intel 815E chipset)
-ATi Radeon 7000 based video card with 64MB and TV out
-Pentium III 733 MHz (133 FSB)
-512 MB RAM (133 MHz)
-SoundBlaster 128 Value (cheap & nasty sound card)
-Realtek 8139-based network card
-Hauppauge PVR350 Capture Card
-Two Western Digital 15GB (7200 RPM) Hard Drives
-Misc items such as CD Burner and floppy drive

I'm somewhat of a Linux newbie since I've only installed and used it a
few times in the past (once about 8 years ago and once about 4 years
ago), but I'm not a computer newbie.

I know my computer isn't glamorous or fast, but I'm hoping it works ok
for this use.  I could aLmOsT get full frame capture when I was using it
for my old system with a Radeon All-in-Wonder (in W2K).  I'm hoping the
hardware encoding/decoding on the PVR350 will do the trick and take some
of the load off my processor so that I do achieve full-frame capture.

Well, thanks for the helpful people here!  I can't wait for my capture
card to arrive from FedEx.

Cheers,

         Scott