[newbie] Installing

[David Batey]

Hi   I have gotten hold of linux mandrake 8.0 and i have tried to install it but it is causing me hassle. It is the partitioning which is causing me trouble.I use windows XP but want to have Mandrake aswell. If linux is installed first then i can't install windows because it causes problems when it tries too get into windows to carry on the installation. And now when windows is installed first it re partitions my drive in the Linux installation. Now I have XP installed and have partitioned my drive so 5 gig is free for linux to be installed but how do i do it without formatting my windows or partitioning the drives again.   Please help me i think linux has a lot of potential from what little i have used of it.   Thanks   David