Hi guys i am in need of help with the hard drive. i have a 160gb laptop running Win7, i want to put and older version of SUSE on and not sure of the steps for running a dual boot system. how should i set up my drive?? Please help. the last time i tried this with a desktop and really messed up the hard drive on that system and really dont want to do that on this one..

thanks for any help that is given.....

Normally I would just advise to use the Win7 tools to make some space, then let the Linux install itself.
However on my Win7 laptop I lost (Win) hibernate when I used grub as the boot-loader (which I usually prefer), so I went back to the Win loader. This (usually) merely means telling Linux to install the boot-loader to a partition rather than the MBR.
However ...
Define "older", and define "SUSE" - SLES, SLED or OpenSuSE ?. Makes a difference to the advice unfortunately.

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first i want to say thanks for the quick help. the older version is SUSE Linux 10.1 and i think thats OpenSuSe.
when you say win7 tools are you talking about shrinking the drive??


thanks again for your help

Yes - just shrink a volume, and leave the space unallocated. The (Linux) installer will handle it best that way.
As for openSUSE, go get the current version (11.3 at this time) - that way you'll have less chance of your hardware not being supported.

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ok im downloading the 11.3 when im done can i run the install from win or boot from dvd???


thanks again for your much needed help

Boot the DVD - remember to install the boot-loader (grub for openSUSE) to a partition.
Then go get EasyBCD (free Windows utility), that will add it to your Win7 boot menu. Nice GUI tool.

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so here is the deal i copied the program to a DVD-R but now i cant load/run the program any clues ??

thanks for all your help so far

Did you...

The DVD has to be burned as an image file. You can use this burning program to make it easy.

http://cdburnerxp.se/en/home

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cool thanks for the link to that app now i hope this is the last question i hope anyway but can i run from within win7? or do i need to reboot to dvd-rom

Put it in and push the button...

The DVD will boot instead of Windows.

If you have a system that isn't too old, you should be able either to do a one-time boot or enter your BIOS setup and change the boot order so that your DVD drive is set as the first boot device. Look at the information on your POST screen, the first screen you see when you start the machine.

The DVD is bootable, that is it will load and begin the process to install openSUSE. One of the first things you will see as the DVD boots is a list of options on which you will see "Media Check". Choose it using your keyboard up/down keys and Enter, and it will run a verification of the files on the DVD to see that you have burned a true copy.

i just want to say thanks guys you have both been a GREAT help i am up and running on my dual-boot now just need to get my wireless working but thats a problem for another day lol THANKS again.