iBook Hypothetical

[gecina at earthlink.net]

ON THREAD — 
I have a graphite clamshell iBook running OS 9.2.  (also have a 7300 Power Mac
& [temporarily] an iMac).  I'd like to add to the collection a small 12-inch
travel book (ice book?) running OSX/Classic.  Except that when I'm running
Classic on the iMac the System folder scares me.  It looks as though X and
Classic overlap in the System.  I see a lot of blank documents, etc., which
probably belong to OSX.  I'm afraid to be as bold as I can be with the
stand-alone OS9.2 on my iBook.  

I sprang for the $20 machine-independent install of OS 9.2 from Apple (Jaguar
offer).  On an ice book, for example, would it make any sense to use a
partitioned disk with OS9.2 installed on one half (complete system) and OSX
installed on the other half (complete system)?  Does such a plan make sense? 
I realize that a good-sized hard disk is necessary for that.  

Another idea has crossed my mind:  This is a wildly hypothetical question —
With the clamshell iBook, could I plug in a firewire exterior hard disk and
install OSX on it?  That way I could use either system at will without buying
an iBook with a larger disk and the two systems would be completely separate..
 (Somewhere in the back of this non-technical mind the word "firmware" keeps
echoing.)  Thanks for your advice

OFF THREAD — 
Eric B. Richardson wrote [in answer to J.P.Moore:
>>>  Your real bias was evident when you decided to post the utterly ignorant
crap about Clinton being the most effective president, not just more than
Bush, but more than any president in American history.  What a load. You act
like a teenager with a crush.   <<<

Quoting accurately from J.P.Moore:  "he was the most effective president in
our lifetime."   Not all of American history.  How old is E.B.Richardson?  He
sounds young enough to be limited to about 3 presidents in his lifetime.  For
myself, I could argue that Roosevelt was the most effective prez in mine!  But
if I limit the field to post-WWII incumbents, as J.P.Moore probably means to
do, Clinton looks good, better and probably best.  (That's real bias.)
MJ