after not paying attention and clicking through too fast when installing ubuntu, i gave it the whole hard drive and wiped out windows. i found my xp install disk, so i want to attempt my original idea, creating a dual boot system without losing all my files. i have very little experience with partitioning, and even less with linux. i don't want to screw up again and wipe out ubuntu now that i have it how i like it. if anyone could give a step by step, or a link to a step by step, that would be awesome.

This should help you significantly.

Since you don't have Windows installed at all at this point and since its normal to install Windows first in a dual boot, if you've got any documentation of how you installed your first Ubuntu installation, why not just install Windows first and then install Ubuntu again? I know it seems like a lot of work at first glance, but your Windows is already trashed. If you have backups of your data on Ubuntu and you haven't installed a lot of extra programs or made very many setup tweaks, reinstalling linux is a snap and a great way to learn the OS and the partitioning process, when you're a noob. I've had a few periods in the past, where I've just reloaded Ubuntu two or three times in a week in the process of getting a problem sorted out, because its just easier than banging my head against the wall on a seemingly impenetrable problem. Its a great way to become more comfortable with the whole Ubuntu thing and it makes it much less daunting to consider doing it in future as well. By the way there's a newer version coming out soon and a bit of practise in reinstalling Ubuntu might make the decision of whether to upgrade to the new Hardy Heron easier (when its a stable OS). I think most users would agree, that its better to do a complete reinstall for a newer version of the OS from scratch, than to do the upgrade thing. Just a personal opinion... Cheers, Thane