hello friends,

Not much time has elasped since i have downloaded the slackware 13.0 iso file from the official site of slackware. i made a bootable DVD out of it and uptill here everything went smooth. The problem however did arise while partitioning the disk.When creating linux partition with fdisk it says unable to read......again cfdisk reads like the follwing - you don't have enough permission to write on this disk.....

executing
#fdisk -l
shows all the four partitions of windows.....however it does not show the free space that i have.
in
#cfdisk
however shows the free space in the disk but partially, and to my surprise it shows a free space of some 3000 MB when i have more than 200 GB. I really can't understand why isn't it showing all the free space and why a linux partition cannot be created.

Can you please help me solving this problem. You see unless i make a linux partition i am not allowed to install slackware....


please help!!!!!!!

cfdisk might be reading the DVD, run:

thanks brother,
but what's problem with fdisk... i executed the following command
#fdisk /dev/sda
but the same old problem.
on\e more question....if i run cfdisk /dev/sda won't it partition the whole of the hard disc. i don't want to lose my windows partition.

to brainL,

just as a matter of fact, which one do you prefer for a student....slackware or debian(only among these two)

cfdisk is for creating partitions of whatever size you want. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but I've never used fdisk.
Personally I prefer Slackware, with Debian as a second favourite. Just a matter of personal taste.

cfdisk /dev/sda

..will bring up cfdisk menu showing all the partitions on that hard disk. From there, you use the keyboard to indicate what you want to do.

fdisk -l #(that's a lowercase "L")

..will list all known partitions on all devices, and their filesystem types.

Sasha

once again thanks brother....i shall give it a try....just a small question....shall my windows partition exist after i write changes to the disk.
i mean after running
#cfdisk /dev/hda
?????????

Yeah, as long as you leave it alone and make partitions in the free space for Slackware.

Hopefully BrianL='brother' though sometimes I wonder... Those Oldhamites are a sketchy lot

Amongst other things...all bad, Sister.

If you are unsure of fdisk or cfdisk you could use another distro to make the partitions for you.I have seen the partitioning tool in Mandriva being used for this.You don't need to do a full install of Mandrive but just keep going until it has partitioned your drive than reboot with the Slackware disk in the drive.Then you can use your newly created partitions.I know its a cop out but it works.

Thanks Hoodoo, but I was late to accept your advice for I was left with no other options other than using a different distro. I did it and was much successful in installing the distro. However, an error did occer while it tried to install the LILO.

I ignored the "expert mode" and toggled to the option which would have installed LILO automatically.

There was a fatal error and the application terminated. I don't remember the error message which read something like "buffer size changed". They ask me to install it manually instead.

The setup process continued till they asked me to restart. I did it but nothing happened...
Windows XP boots up.

So my question friends....how can i install LILO manually in order to run both slackware and windows???

One more question- can't I install grub(as I personally prefer it) from windows????

At the very end of the installation process of slackware, LILO install opion will be given. You should install it in MBR [like /dev/hda] and it will detect Windows install as well.
If you have already installed slackware but LILO didn't get installed: Insert the Slack DVD and re-install LILO.

Grub is also available in the DVD in /extra.

Could you please tell me exactly how to do that.

Let me explain you the circumstance. I have finished installing Slackware 13.0, however LILO did not get installed. Henceforth whenever i power on my machine windows gets booted up. So now can explain me exactly what to do next in order to get my slackware booted up.

Please let me know how to install GRUB as well as LILO at this stage...at least one.

please help me friends....i am eager to test this LINUX distro....
please help me as early as possible.