Evening Malcolm, > Umm ... that does seem anticlimatic ... :-) ... you mean the Linux > installation just detects what space it has the potential to use and > just installs itself there ?
Most Linux distributions these days happily locate an empty partition on your disc, and prompt you to install there. However, you do get other options such as : * Wipe the entire hard disc and use all of it. * Resize the Windows partition and use the freed space. My last install was the former - due to Windows eating my Linux root partition. Now gone forever on this laptop! My first ever install was a dual boot with Windows 98. I had to defrag the windows D drive to get all the free space at the end. Then the installer allowed me to resize the Windows partition non-destructively. I then installed Mandrake 7 (I think) into the freed up space. They advise you run Windows chkdsk after that just to be sure. The best way to dual boot with any flavour of Windows is simply to make sure Windows is installed first - hopefully leaving you with a free partition or otherwise. Regardless, Linux will cope. Doing it the other way around is fraught with danger. Windows, all versions, believes it has a god given right to be the only OS on the computer, and doesn't bother to note that you may already have data - it takes over the entire drive without so much as a by your leave. Windows XP is also redesigned to make dual booting much much more difficult, so, best advice is this : * Run XP or 2000 rather then XP. * Install Linux last of all - it's easier and linux accepts that other OSs may exist. Have fun. Cheers, Norman. _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
