I hope this isn't a repeat, but I posted a question earlier (30 min) and it hasn't shown up yet.

If this is a repeat, I'm sorry. If it isn't, here's my problem....

I have a windows system, 2 hard drives, hd1 is ntfs,C: and F: ( D: and E: are dvd drives) and hd2 is 80g vFat32. There are only 2g of random files stored on G: I partitioned off 15g as a secondary primary partition on G: and tried to install fedora. I got the error message stating that the partitioning could not take place because there was not enough space for "None". I tried it again using all the default settings on the remaining 65g on space on G: and got the same message... not enough space for "None".

I have no idea what "None" is or why it won't install on basically an empty 80g hd formatted vFat32.

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Larry
Hoping to be "Microsoft Free" in 2008

I'm not positive Fedora will install on fat32. You might consider making the first primary partition /boot, about 100 MB large, and formatted with ext3. You can make the second primary partition /, about 15 GB large, and also etx3 filesystem. After you've got those done, you can make at third partition as a swap space, about 1 GB large, and those don't get formatted. Finally, you can make an extended /home partition with fat32, so you can get at it with Windows.

Trust me on this one. You would never attempt a Linux system repair from within Windows, so the system partitions in Linux can be ext3. You user files go in /home/<username>, so you might want that fat32. I've gotten away from keeping MS Windows partitions because there is a free virtual machine creator called Virtual Box, that allows MS Windows XP to be installed within Linux, and called to run in a window as needed. Virtual Box isn't quite as good as VMware Workstation, but I have both, and Virtual Box is a lot less hardware piggish. Both VMware and Virtual installed for me, without a hitch, and I'd have to say VMware is better, but I use Virtual Box on my lappy to conserve HDD space.

Qemu is a program that will launch a windows partition in Linux. Virtual Box does that also, and so does VMware, but qemu is only about 8 MB, and if you already have the Windows on the machine, all you need to do is run it. Qemu does not allow for installation of an operating system, which is a huge impediment. Virtual Box is a professional product, but is free for non-commercial use. That means: if you don't make money with it, or use it as part of a business, you don't have to pay; but you don't get telephone support.

I don't think you should be formatting partitions for Linux at all. Use the Windows tools to remove whatever partitions are occupying the space you want Linux to use, leaving just "free space." Then let the installer take care of the formatting.

A piece of advice ... being a Windows power user is more likely to prove a frustration than a help in getting Linux up and running. You really need to adopt an attitude of forgetfulness toward everything you think you know about computers.

I tried it with basically an empty hd and I got the same message (about no space for "None".... which I still don't know what it wants)

Also.... I agree with you completely about the frustration from being a windows power user, but since I started with DOS and the command line, I am hoping to have an easier transition!!

Thanks for the reply

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I had read that ntfs was not readable by linux, but I had never heard of ext3! I will try your partitioning advice tomorrow (since it's 11:30pm and I'm fading fast!)

I'm really looking forward to being a help rather than a drain on this community.

Thanks again,
Larry

Linux can read NTFS (and also write with things like ntfs-3g) and ext3 is a Linux file system, hence why you'd not have heard of it. I can only guess as to what "none" means and my guess is that it may be referring to the mount point of the partition in the file system, or perhaps the label of the partition.