HuMJohn

If you have Linux on HDB, and you do reformat your HDA (C:\ in MS parlance) drive, I would suggest that you keep a (Linux) boot floppy around just for booting back into Linux right after you have reinstalled Windows or what-ever on the HDA drive. Having an emergency backup booting method is a good idea, regardless. (Just my 2 cents)

The oldest distribution still out there and getting better all the time. Slackware is the second Linux distribution to be available to the masses. (the first being Software Landing Systems - SLS, which Slackware derived from.) There are no segmented distributions (i.e.: "Professional", "Server", etc.) as everything is included for just about any install scenerio, whether workstation, server, firewall, etc. You do have to be intimate with your hardware and you should know a little something about *nix in general. This is not a glitzy "Look at the fancy GUI while I throw everything on your system and configure it the way we think you should run your computer" installation. (My two cents, your milage may vary. )