can't install on new partition

I'm a newbie. Someone partitioned my HD. I tried installing windows on hda1 and it wasn't working. (15gb of space) Only partially installed after two hours.
Currently I'm running off my knoppix CD and would like to install it on hda1.
How can I delete the partially installed windows and install knoppix?
Currently my boot sequence is set to boot off the CD.
When I don't have the CD in I get a C: prompt so I'm assuming windows is just taking up space on that partition.
In case you're wondering about the other partition it has all my old windows files on it. :roll:
Also is there a diagnostic tool on Knoppix to find out what could be wrong?

I want to clean hda1 and partition it to put on knoppix, but cfdisk keeps wanting to use hda2 as primary linux and create a hda3 as a swap partition even though it can't load knoppix on hda2. I've checked the documentation, but there's no help on the subject.
Does anyone know how I can do this or get info?

You can copy and paste your partition table from cfdisk. Post it here please. Here is a cfdisk how-to that may explain partitioning a bit further for you. An easier tool to use would be qtparted. Simply open a terminal in Knoppix and enter sudo qtparted. That will launch a nice GUI app. You can add, delete and resize partitions with qtparted.

What is your total drive size? Be aware that windows will only install to /dev/hda1 so if you want a windows installation it is advisable that you do it first. Knoppix will install to whichever partition you want it to. Cfdisk isn't telling you which partition you have to install to it is only telling you what it sees. Actually cfdisk has nothing at all to do with installing Knoppix. It is only a disc partitioning tool. A simple answer to removing windows is to just delete that partition and recreate a new one in its place. Then set it as a Linux partition (type 83 in cfdisk).

You can actually be online at the same time you install. I would suggest firing up xchat, go to irc.freenode.net and /join #knoppix. There are alot of friendly people there that can assist you along the way.

:) Thanks for the info. I'll try that stuff out.

When I tried to install knoppix last night and was partioning I did delete hda1. But when I couldn't install knoppix it went back to its original setting. Maybe I 'll have better luck with qtparted. It sounds like it is separate from the knoppix installation process.

I have 20gb. I believe I have 17gb in hda1; that's why I want to install the o/s's there.

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Originally Posted by stoneangel

:) Thanks for the info. I'll try that stuff out.

When I tried to install knoppix last night and was partioning I did delete hda1. But when I couldn't install knoppix it went back to its original setting.

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Don't forget to create a new partition in its place.

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Maybe I 'll have better luck with qtparted. It sounds like it is separate from the knoppix installation process.

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It is in fact seperate. If qtparted works for you just hit 'q' when you come to cfdisk during the Knoppix installation.

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I have 20gb. I believe I have 17gb in hda1; that's why I want to install the o/s's there.

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It sounds as though you want to install two operating systems to the same partition. That won't work. Each os needs its own partition. In fact I would recommend making your partitions something like this:

1 windows (2-5G? or so- depends on your needs)

1 swap partition (apporximately twice the size of your RAM) Personally I have a 1G swap and 256M RAM. I use a big swap for video related apps and software compiling which require alot of memory.

2 Linux partitions:

-1 5G for Knoppix /root
-1 5G for /home (you won't need this partition until AFTER you install.)

These sizes are only suggestions as I'm not really sure what you want. If you want to share data between Knoppix and wimpdoze then you could make yet another FAT32 partition and both OS's can share it. Play around with qtparted- you can make and delete partitions all day until you get it to where you want it. Of course things are alot easier if done right before you install any operating systems. ;)

:D Everything is partitioned! I used cfdisk. Installed Knoppix. It boots up fine and gives me a prompt using my hostname. When I type in something...like, say...run I get
-bash:run:command not found. :(
What did I do wrong?
Or do I have to do something else?

startx

Hi. I just wanted to get back to you to let you know that things worked out.

STARTX works at login. What exactly does that mean to the computer anyway? :)

Stoneangel:

Welcome to Debian/Knoppix! Great isn't it?

Answer, basically:

X is what your GUI (Graphical Eye Candy Desktop!) runs on, so when you type startx at the prompt you're telling the machine to take you to KDE or whatever desktop/ and or window manager is the "default".

If you become "root" at the login, you can also type "kdm" instead of "startx" and you will then get a graphical login screen. (That's kdm not KDM) This is the easy way to discover that Knoppix also has other window managers different from KDE. KDM has a nice little menu of them..check it out. My Knoppix 3.2 for instance has Fluxbox, which is really interesting to try. If you experiment, make sure you log in as an ordinary user from the kdm interface - running X and a window manager as root is a REALLY bad idea!

Have fun!

Thanks for the info. I'll try it. It seems that I'm connected to a site
www.XFree86.Org/
when I use startx. It doesn't seem to want to let me log off. I'm having to reboot and shutdown while rebooting.