>Can I upgrade from Suse7.3 to 8.0 without any loss of setting to squid, internet, samba and other such utilites.
My own experience is that when I updated (as opposed to a clean install) 7.3 to 8.0 all of my settings came along, and 8.0 didn't even change XF86config settings on me.
Basically, all of my personal settings were left untouched. Setting that 7.3 made automatcially were upgraded by 8.0 automatically.
I also did a clean install following my sucessful update, just to see the difference. The clean install was less successful. I had to redo all of my settings. Fortunately, I kept printouts of them to help jog my memory. But, 8.0 installed a new Xserver driver for my r128 ATI Rage video but it doesn't work as well as the one in 7.3 did. I will probably revert my xserver back to what it was in 7.3

My own experiece was that going from 7.2 to 7.3 was just the opposite of going from 7.3 to 8.0. That is, the 7.2 to 7.3 update was a disaster and the 7.3 clean install was the best ever.

My own personal opinion is that unless you need the data-aware widgets (controls) that Qt 3.0 offers, update to 8.0 from 7.3 is unnecessary.
KDE3 and the 3.0 Qt widgets are the only really new thing added to 8.0, and if you don't use the data-aware widgets in client-server apps that you develop then 8.0 has really nothing to offer over 7.3.

>Can I install Win Xp on the same machine.

XP is very UNFRIENDLY and unsharing with the HD. If you already have LInux installed XP will write over the MBR when you install it, making Linux inaccessible unless you created a boot floppy before hand. A special install technique has been worked out...

Here is one way...
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lolmcbride/linxp.html
and another
http://www.computing.net/linux/wwwboard/forum/8997.html
and another:
http://users.wpi.edu/~naveen/projects/content/d/dualbootlin2000.html
some hints if Lilo doesn't see your XP partition
http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=470


Here is one way to create a dual boot of Linux and XP, copied here in its entirety:

 I am writing this help file after finding the solution at http://www.poopoccurs.com/ and 
asking the permission of it's author to expand on his original document and publish it 
on this site.If you wish to see the original just follow the url above. 

This help file is not exhaustive in content so anything you are not too sure about I would
 firstly check your distros' documentation,check the web for help at Linux Newbies or 
Linux Questions.If you get no joy there then you can e-mail me at the address given
 below and I'll try to answer your question NB I am no Linux expert but will do what I can ok? 

Right first lets go through what it is you want to do : 

Install Linux onto an existing XP/2K/NT machine. 
Configure machine to give you the option to boot into either O/S 


So if you need other installation or Linux help then your in the wrong place 
but,thanks for coming. 

This process will be a lot easier to get through initially if you own or have access
 to Partition Magic 6 or 7 in either it's full form OR the two rescue disks that PM can 
generate because we will be creating and/or resizing partitions on your hard disk 
(scary huh?). Also make sure you have two virus free floppy disks handy - ONE of 
them MUST be formatted for use on Windows. 

Installation

 Use Partition Magic (or other) and resize the NT/2K/XP partition on your hard drive 
to leave sufficient free space for your new Linux installation - This will obviously all 
depend on your own personal needs as to how much space you can spare on your hard drive. 
In the free space you've just made create Linux Ext2 and swap partitions for the install - 
the following are really only a rough guide for sizes so consult your distro docs' or online 
for a helping hand. 
        
    /   - about 300MB should be all you need for this.
        
swap    - this should be more or less equal to the amount of RAM in your system,maybe a bit more for good luck.
        
/usr    - this is going to fill up quite a lot so try to give maybe 60% of the free space left to this partition.
        
/home   - personal programs are going to be put in this directory for each user so give the rest of the free space to this partition.



 Setting up partitions is all based on what you want to do on your system but for a home 
user/hobbyist the above should suffice to get you through initially and you can tweak it all later if needs be. 

Right the reason I have got you to do the partitioning with PM and not let your distro's setup 
software do it is because Linux does not recognise the ntfs filesystem used by NT/2K/XP 
and if you let it do things automatically it WILL wipe your Windows O/S off the drive completely - 
I know because I learned the hard way and lost use of my system for a month while I sorted out 
the mess,but that,as they say, is a different story. 

Now you can install your Linux system onto this drive BUT make sure you do the two following things :- 
At the setup screen for LILO make sure you do NOT install it to the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the 
hard drive but to the first boot partition ( / ) of your installation. i.e. if you have only one drive ( hda ) 
on your system do not install to hda but to the partition marked / . The boot partition is /dev/hda5 
for example on my hard drive but your system may be different. 


<B>MAKE A BOOT DISK - THIS IS IMPORTANT AND THIS PROCESS WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT IT. </B>
Use the non DOS floppy and MAKE A BOOT DISK - this is really important because initially Linux 
will be in accessible and the boot floppy is your ONLY way back in so DO IT!!!

Right,I have been out for a metaphorical cigarette while you do that so have you finished installing Linux
 and have you made the boot disk? Yes , great now reboot your machine and make sure that NT/2K/XP
 still boots (it should as we haven't done anything to disturb it). Excellent you are ready for the tricky (trickier?)
 bit to get both of them up and running. 

OK, use the Linux boot disk to get into Linux and log on as a normal user and then as super user /root access. 
Change directory with the cd.. command until you are at the root drive ( / ) NOT the root directory which is /root .


Type the following command 
df -h



This will display the current file system for linux on your screen i.e. how it is partitioned and 
looks something like this ( your drive may differ but the output will be similar) :-
        Filesystem              Size    Used    Avail   Use%    Mounted on
        /dev/hda                306M    91M     215M    30%     /
        /dev/hda8               3.1G    173M    2.9G    5%      /home
        /mnt/cdrom              615M    615M    0       100%    /mnt/cdrom
        /dev/hda7               5.9G    713M    5.2G    12%     /usr


 Now we are going to copy the boot portion of the boot drive ( / ) onto the DOS floppy with the 
following commands :-


                dd if=/dev/hda5 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1


 This command copies the first 512 bytes of the boot partition into the file called bootsect.lnx.
LILO writes to the first 512 bytes of the boot partition so all the information LILO needs to boot 
properly is now contained in the file bootsect.lnx and is ready for us to copy to our DOS floppy
 with the following commands :-

                mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
                
                cp /bootsect.inx /mnt

                ls /mnt ( this will check to see if the file was copied)


 If it is there then we're almost done so keep going. 
                umount /mnt


Now reboot XP and select the following commands :- 
                Start----> run ----> cmd
                


 Okay? You should have opened an oldstyle DOS command line interface ( cli ) 
with a dos prompt ready for input.The prompt should read 
                c:\windows>


 If it doesn't then cd to the windows directory and type the following command in:- 
                attrib -r -s -h boot.ini
                edit boot.ini



It should look something like this :-
        [boot loader]
        timeout=30
        default=multi(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
        [operating systems]
        multi(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional"
        /fastdetect


 Go to the bottom of the file and add the following line to it :- 
        c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"




Save the file and exit back to the prompt and type
        attrib +r +s +h boot.ini
Now cd to the c:\ directory and copy the bootsect.lnx file there with the following
        copy a:\bootsect.lnx c:\
        
 Right here it is - reboot your machine and you should get menu listing the two operating 
systems and choosing Linux should boot you into your new O/S! I have prepared this file 
fairly quickly so please excuse any typos - if you think of any improvements then let me know. 

Hope this helps
JLK