Greg wrote:
I'm a noob to Debian but I'm ready to install Debian to my current machine. (PIII, 512MB Ram, 2 HDs; 60 MB - main and 80 MB secondary). The first HD contains WinME (don't laugh) and the second will contain Debian in one partition and Windows files (mp3s, JPEGs) in the other. I've already partitioned the second HD and burned the installation image files onto CDs. My question is this, I want to use a boot loader that will load either WinME or Debian. Grub seems like the default boot loader per the installation docs I've read. During installation, will Grub be smart enough to see WinMe on the other drive and will itput the boot loader file on the main drive, the one that holds WinME?
I don't know the answer to question question, but it raises a red flag, byt suggesting that you are planning to install Debian on a system with WinME present. That's an unnecessary and risky thing to do, especially for a "noob." I strongly recommend against it, especially if your system is not 100% backed up. Instead you could just remove or disconnect the WinME drive, to avoid the risk of total and irretrievable data loss on the WinME drive. This is not opinion or excess alarm on my part-- the Debian installation software will give you the same warning. Furthermore since you are using separate hard drives, you can probably select the boot drive using the BIOS boot device selection menu (e.g. F8->Boot Menu) available on newer motherboards. There is probably no need in your case to use a boot loader for OS selection.