Is there someone willing to be on MSN messenger for me for the next few hours, just 'on call' while I install Debian, just as a go-to in case I have trouble? I'd really appreciate it, here are my specs:
[MSN:] jthollister@gmail.com

Going to dual-boot Debian/XP
26gigs (or so) of space
Already burned CDs, etc
Going to start as soon as I find someone...

And I'm not positive this is what I need on the following, this is what I have been told. If the 'someone' who decides to be on MSN for me can explain a bit...like, why I need two Linux partitions (???) And if it is possible to have just one drive to store files on and one to store programs for Linux, and one for XP progs? I'd like to save files in the same place if this is possible.
I'm sort of a noob, but not a fan of Mandrake and I'm told Debian is the best and semi-easy to do. Sooooooooooo.....is this correct for what I specified?

Hda1 Boot 70mb
Hda2 Swap 300mb
Hda3 Linx 8gb
Hda4 Linx 8gb
Hda5 Win 10gb

Also how do I go about doing the dual boot, which cd first and ...etc

Thanks so much guys

Please? I really REALLY want to be on today.

Your partition scheme looks fine, but what do you plan to use the two Linux partitions for?

It is perfectly acceptable to use a single partition for your entire linux install if that's what you'd prefer to do (not counting swap space - so you need two partitions minimum). The reason for splitting into more partitions is to save yourself hassles if you want to change things later on. For example, if you use one partition for / and another for /home, you can install Debian, Mandrake, Gentoo or whatever over your old / partition, and your /home could just be re-used without losing any data. It is a good idea if you're a 'tinkerer', but not really important if you plan to stick with Debian for a long time.

As for the dual boot - install XP first. All windows versions like to recklessly overwrite your MBR, making linux inaccessible without a boot disk. You can usually use a distro CD to recover from this, but it's an added hassle that can be avoided by installing in the right order.

I despise MSN, but if you have questions I will try to answer them in this thread. As long as you have a recent Debian CD/DVD, I don't think you will encounter any major problems. Also, remember the advice of the Hitchhikers Guide - Don't Panic. If something goes wrong, it's almost certain you can recover from it - it is very hard to irreversibly damage your entire system.

Lol, I can think of a few...

rm -rf /

not doing lilo right

deleting needed things in unix

...heh, there must be a lot more

Thanks much though

I meant there's not much you can damage irreversibly during the install... messing up LILO can be repaired with a boot disk/CD, and in the worst case you can use the XP CD to restore a Windows MBR. Naturally if you're going to deliberately delete the system, you'll have trouble

Anyway, use grub - if you mess the config up for that, you can learn to use the shell to get back into your system... it is very handy.

lol, heh yea thanks for the help

I'll use grub