Live Mediums don't require partitioning to "try".

Burn
boot
"Try" #is the usual description

I'd go light on the install\DE &c, heavy on games once you find one you like... (cough, cough Debian testing.) :D

>>>I am a little lost at why dual booting is really even necessary? You have just finished saying you have bought a new pc, which I assume will be some form of Windows, so why not just install linux over the top of the old pc all together?

Although this is the lazy easy way of doing it I recommend learning to dual boot. It is good practice in case you later want to put Linux on your new fast PC as well. It is much less risky using an old PC that you care less about.

>>>Another good strategy is to get a copy of VirtualBox (it's free ...), and to run Linux on top of Windows in a virtual machine.

While this is an easy way of trying Linux it is much less efficient to run especially on older hardware.

>>>Installing Linux to replace Windows on a machine is pretty easy. Installing to dual boot CAN be pretty easy, if the installer can reduce the windows partition without loss, but is a slightly greater risk.

You wouldn't use the linux installer to do this. You would use Windows to shrink the Windows partition as others have said.

>>>I'd install linux to the completely separate PC to greatly simplify the process. Dual boot can be done, but can be a pain. Many tears may be shed if you're inexperienced with that particular process.

So you want the OP to get a third PC. They already have an old Windows PC to play with.

>>>You would not need to mess with partitions this way. Mint installer will nuke'em all for you.

With the lazy way you won't learn anything. Besides what is the danger in "messing with partitions" that you are recommending they 'nuke'. If it works they learn something for the future. If not it won't be any worse than what you are suggesting. You are apparently worried about them damaging partitions that you want them to wipe.

When I started with Linux, dual-booting was the norm for newbies. People would defrag their Windows partition, shrink it with Partition Magic, and then install Linux in the empty space. The day you finally got rid of the Windows partition was a recognised rite of passage.

True, but considering how anal Microsoft and many support vendors are about supporting only Windows (and often requiring more money for everything) I can understand why a new user might want to preserve the Windows that came with the device, and not want to risk messing up those partitions.

Windows machines once came with Windows install media. Later they came with a program that would CREATE Windows install media pre-registered for your hardware for recovery purposes. If you messed things up you could aways re-install. Today you need the registration and product keys and pull them from online sources (which they disable at will) a limited number of times. If you need Windows to keep your hardware supported, the risk is real.

Some of us really do not care and routinely re-load everything anyway, but the viewpoint is valid and I respect it. For those users, live media and virtualization are a godsend!

All sorts of good suggestions here so far. I was you 8 years ago. Today, all my laptops are dual-boot : I've reduced the Windows partition that comes with the computer to the minimum required ... usually around 80Gb, and set linux up as my primary OS. My home network is also built around a linux server, sharing files via Samba for Win clients and nfs for linux clients.

I agree it's best to start simple, though. IMHO, from simplest to more complex:

1) Live CD / DVD ... dead easy and riskless
2) Virtualized install using Virtualbox on Windows
3) Dual booting a native linux install.

Have fun !

Windows makes it hard to install linux - on purpose
 

Does Microsoft make it hard for new laptops running their OS
to partition and make way for Linux. Say for instance you got rid of Windows
OS all together would it affect the newer laptops function? Specific mention to
recovery keys (factory reset)if you decided to keep the windows os and linux running together.
Would you lose the factory reset for Win OS if you partition?

If you just want to investigate a basic Linux you can go with one of the Puppy versions. I tried Slacko Puppy. Can run it from a CD.

As to dual boot:

I am new to Slackware myself so take my advice based on that.

I downloaded the iso for Gparted and used that to partition the drive. Basically I divided the hard drive in half. I did make a small partition (about twice the size of my RAM) for the swap partition.

I made one of the partitions NTFS for Windows. I then made the other large partition Linux and the small partition swap.

Next I loaded XP on the NTFS partition going through the whole format thing.

Then I installed Slackware on the remaining partitions (remember I had one as a swap)

Then one of the beautiful things about the Slackware install is that it ran a program called Lilo which set up the boot menu.

Hey linux-man : as long as you leave the system recovery partitions untouched, you would be able to restore the factory image - the hot keys will remain functional during initial phase of boot (before bootloader loads). I have several computers set up to dual-boot linux and Win and I've kept the System Recovery partitions for Win. Hope this helps.

Partitioning is done before or after the install to keep the system recovery
 

Is the partition process a part of the linux distro install? Am I meant to
do that before or during the install with the live cd or usb?I am aware that
linux distro's contain a partitioning tool;I would not be able to use it
anyway since my linux knowledge is not up to scratch yet. Which means I
will have to use 3rd party partitioning product.

Which free open source partitioning program do you recommend and
how will I know to tell the partitioning program "leave the system
recovery partition alone"?

If using an external hard drive (for initial install) instead of DVD or USB,
does one use the LIVE CD method or the USB method? I want to partition my HD and
have it running from there, not on the external HD drive.

Many of us here install so often that it does seem easy, and it IS easy! Alas, it is ALSO easy for someone who does not know what they are doing to destroy existing partitions and render their OLD operating system useless or unrecoverable. (Microsoft once gave you a way to write out recovery media, but now they want $$$ for that process.)

No matter how you install, actual install to a hard drive does involve a partitioning step. (Exception, FRUGAL install of LiveCD images that support that, such as TinyCore, Puppy, and DSL=Damn Small Linux). Often the automated method that reduced an existing partition that has unused space is safe, but not all installers support that option.

If what you want to do is TEST drive Linux, better to run from a live-cd image NOT installed to the hard drive (or installed in a virtual container ALA VirtualBox) until you know enough, or have the right help, to install safely. May live-cd images allow you to set a home folder on the HD and save/reload settings and added packages using that location so that they run almost AS IF they were HD installed, but without partitioning.

I regularly install multiple operating systems to multiboot on my devices, but I do not do windows.

These days Linux users are not rare. You may want to check for a LUG (Linux Users Group) in your area. Such are often associated with a local library, educational institution, or IT heavy business group.


I hope that this helps.

Another option if you really want to install Linux to your PC's internal hard drive, clone your entire hard drive onto say an external hard drive, using say for example Clonezilla. Make sure your clone image is good and then you can safely install Linux onto your internal hard drive.

Clonezilla requires knowledge of Linux to use? I'm still a novice though
and only have windows OS at the moment; Cloenzilla is for linux OS.

Is there something else I can use to partition for a dual OS setup?

Dunno, I run all my Linuxes on Virtual Machines these days . . . to heck with dual-booting.

"You wanna try Linux on what ya got, without monkeying with what ya got?" Grab VirtualBox, install it, mount a Linux install-DVD image, boot the VM from it and away you go. Done.