Ok just to let you all know, i'm a windows user...i know i know. I'm a .net programmer so i have to keep my windows xp for now. I have a p4 on an intel board, Western Digital HD and some other goodies. As i stated earlier i have Windows XP on my only hardrive. Can anyone help me install slackware with out losing my ntfs stuff? My goal is to have a dual boot setup, with windows XP and Slackware 9.1 THanks in advance

Have you ever used Linux?

If No:

You are asking for someone to run through dual boot instructions. There's tons of info on how to construct a dual boot setup. However, my advice to you if you've never used unix/slackware would be to find another machine to install it on and practice. There is a chance you may have to install a few times just to get it working depending upon your situation with hardware. If you are looking for an easy dual boot and have never used Linux before, try Mandrake. It cofigures your boot loader etc...

If Yes:

Backup your Windows partitions.
Repartition your drive to allow for a couple of gigs or better Linux partitions
Install Slackware
Configure boot loader...

Done.

Assuming Windows is installed...continue to install Slack...

During the Slack install, choose to install Lilo to the root partition. Create a boot floppy for later.

After the Slack install, either boot from the floppy, or boot the cd with the following option (at the boot: screen)...

bare.i root=hda2 noinitrd ro

It will look like this...

boot:bare.i root=hda2 noinitrd ro

Once the system is booted, login as root and do the following...

insert a blank floppy...then do...

mkfs.msdos /dev/fd0

Then do...

dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1

Then do...

mcopy /bootsect.lnx a:

reboot into Windows, then copy the bootsect.lnx file from the floppy to C:\

Right click on "My Computer", click Properties, click the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, click Edit, add the following on a seperate line...

C:\BOOTSECT.LNX="Slackware"

Save the file, reboot, then choose either Windows or Slackware. Anytime you recompile the kernel, or change Lilo, you'll need to follow the process again. HTH.

First, download and burn a bootable CD system. More info here http://www.knoppix.org/ .
This will tell you if your hardware is 'linux ready'. If all is good, you need to use a partition manager to make 2 (at least) empty partitions.

One will be twice the size of your physical RAM with an upper limit of 512MB . This will be the linux swap partition.

The other should be at least 2.5 gigs, as most distro's need about 2 for a full install. This will be the / partition. Boot the Slackware installation CD and follow the instructions at the prompt. If you need help remembering the locations of the partitions you created, reboot the cd and after the kernel has loaded, type

cfdisk

and write down the info, as well as the locations of any fat or fat32 partitions you may have.

Linux partition naming is as follows
Primary IDE drive is hda
primary partitions on the first drive are hda1 through hda4
logical partitions on the first drive are hda5 through hda8.

for a second IDE drive substitute "b" for "a".

Good luck

Well here is what i did so far...i repartitioned my harddrive so i have a ntfs partition withmy windows xp. Then i created a swap partion and another partion that is a linux ext3. I also tried a cd version of linux and everything works cool....where should i go from here? I know I'm a

If you've backed up anything you can't afford to lose, simply pop in the first Slackware CD and reboot. The on screen instructions are to the point and clear. I also reccomend you follow the advice DaOne gave earlier in the thread, about your boot loader.

Sorry...I forgot to mention that where I stated hda2, replace this with where you actually installed Linux to. Like this:


For the primary IDE controller:

1st partition of the master drive = hda1
2nd partition of the master drive = hda2
3rd....etc.

1st partition of the slave drive = hdc1
2nd = hdc2
3rd...etc.

For the second IDE controller:

1st partition of the master drive = hdb1
2nd partition of the master drive = hdb2
3rd....etc.

1st partition of the slave drive = hdd1
2nd = hdd2
3rd...etc.

Hope this helps.

Just a slight correction:

The master of the first controller is hda and the slave is hdb.
The master of the second controller is hdc and the slave is hdd.

One other thing, the primary partitions on a hard drive are numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4, but there can only be four primary partitions. If you use or want to use more than four partitions, then you must use one primary partition to put extended partitions in. This can be a little confusing to understand without an example:

The first hard drive on your first ide channel could consist of:
hda1, hda2, hda3, hda4
but that is the limit with primary partitions.

If you take the last partition and use it for extended partitions, your partitions will for practical purposes look like this:
hda1, hda2, hda3, hda5, hda6, etc. (skipping the one used for the extended partitions)
In reality this is:
hda1, hda2, hda3, hda4<hda5, hda6, etc.>

However, it is entirely possible for you to add extended partitions with fewer than three primary partitions, and end up with something like this:
hda1, hda5, hda6, etc.
Which again in reality would be:
hda1, hda2<hda5, hda6>

So just remember that any extended partitions you have will be numbered starting at 5 no matter how many primary partitions you have and which primary partition contains them. Also, if you want to make more than four partitions, then you have to start making extended partitions once you have three primary partitions.

As a side note: DOS doesn't like more than one primary partition, so a DOS based operating system will most likely ignore any primary partitions beyond what shows up in Linux as hda1, but it will see extended (hda5 and up) partitions correctly.