using fdisk
 

hi all,

i'm installing linux on my laptop for the first time and need to use fdisk to re partition my hard drive

window and linux both use different file types so linux won't run on a fat32 partitioned disk?

so i need to use fdisk how?

you need to have a windows partition and at least two partitions for linux: one for linux itself, and one for it's swap file... for example, on a 40gb disk, you could have a 20gb windows partition, a 19gb linux partition, and a 1gb linux swap partition...

the tool you'd probably wanna use to do this is cfdisk... you can use it from any live/rescue linux cd...

also, depending on the distro you choose to install, the installer itself sometimes comes with a graphical partitioning tool... such as is the case with mandrake, for example... it also gives you the ability of resizing your current windows partition (to install linux in the free space) in case you can't start from zero...

The first time I used fdisk I used this How-To he walked me througe it fine,plus until you press w you can fix your mistakes just press p after each step to see where you are at.
http://www.bitbenderforums.com/vb22/...?postid=311808