I am a new comer to linux world. I used Windows all the time, but I really want to start using Linux to feel the power of controlling my operating system.

I am also pretty new to linux, so when I installed I made my system Dual Boot (mandrake 10.1/ win xp) and left most of my 40 GB HD for windoze, this turned out to be a mistake becouse now I spend about 95 % of my time in linux, and the partition is almost full (I am in windoze right now becouse I am downloading a DVD ISO that won't fit on my linux partition). Any way I can't say that I am good enough with linux to feel this control over the computer that everyone speaks so fondly of, however I do like the fact that I can choose how my computer looks and "feels", choice of GUI / window manager, menu setup, as well as the fact that once you learn it iI think the files system makes more sense (being able to mount drives to the folder you want, not just all to a central place called "my computer")

anyway, i'm just trying to be encouraging, I have found linux to be more inspiring and make me want to learn more (I am taking a linux/UNIX fundamentals class at the local community college next month).

Why don't you use partition magic to resize your hard disk.

I'm thinkin about it, i think i'm gonna pretty much leave the desktop as is for a few weeks, cus i'm putting suse one the laptop and if I like it maybe i'll do that on the desktop, so maybe i'll size the patitions better then.

just a hint for dual booting: set up a FAT32 partition in windows that's separate from the OS (if OS is NTFS), and you can mount that in linux to store files so they are also accessible in both linux and windows.

yea, I plan on doing that on that laptop, and i am trying to use my external hard drive to do that on my desktop but I am having trouble getting it to mount reliably in linux (by reliably i mean, one time , I got it to detect and mount, till I rebooted)

Hey synaptical, I heard that there is a new driver to make linux detect the NTFS drives. Correct me If I am mistaken.

i think there is, i'm not sure how reliable it is for writing yet though. i used it on my laptop when i was trying to restore windows after upgrading to a new drive, and it didn't work right. maybe it's okay, but i still wouldn't trust it until i read more about it.