How to install to hdd and partition hdd ?

i am new to linux and i tired to install knoppix to hdd last night...... when i opened the terminal program and typed in su knoppix-installer it says that it detected that the installation requirements are not fullfilled yet.... then a program came up for partitioning my hdd.... i have no idea what to do...... i have searched the forums for some info about this but i do not understand it..... i also have windows xp installed on this computer and around 19gb of hdd space left....can anyone help me out ? i would also want to be able to go into knoppix and windows after hdd install....thanks !

Do a full defrag of Windows first. You can then use the partitioning tool to squash the Windows partition and make space for Linux (squash oi from the far end, so to speak. Do leave some space for Windows to grow.

The bootloader should enable you to choose which system to boot into: it's pretty late in the install.

i don't get it all
anyway if u have only one partion (C) do as fingers99 say defragment then u will have to make 2 partion (beside C)
the first is(ext3)
the secound will be swap(just likevirtual memory)but notice that it must be double size of your memory for example if your memory 128 it schould be 256 and so on

thanks ! so i need to make 2 partitions....but where do i click to partition after i defrag my windows...... i typed the install commands again to check out the partitioning program and i just see /dev/hda on the left side and after i clicked on it ..... it shows /dev/hda1 (fat32) (3.98 GB, used space 3.39 GB), dev/hda2 (ntfs) (active) (33.28GB, used space 12.91GB) and /dev/hda1 (free) (7.38 MB, used space 0) (hidden)....... hope this helps..... sorry for the questions

Try and resize dev/hda2

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Originally Posted by empro

and /dev/hda1 (free) (7.38 MB, used space 0) (hidden)

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i think u mean hda3 is that right?

I'm not sure if the existing partitions have been reported correctly as I see two hda1s!

Anyway, the main ntfs partition needs to be shrunk.

ok..... i have resized the ntfs thing from orginal size to 15GB..... now what do i do ? hda-1 shows up then i clicked create and selected ext3 just as 1 guy mentioned here.... then how do i create the swap partition thing ?

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Originally Posted by empro

ok..... i have resized the ntfs thing from orginal size to 15GB..... now what do i do ? hda-1 shows up then i clicked create and selected ext3 just as 1 guy mentioned here.... then how do i create the swap partition thing ?

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Fire up cfdisk from the command line:

you'll want to type

cfdisk /dev/(the ext3 partition)

Don't go mad with swap, 1/2Gig is the very most you'll need.

ok..... thanks ! i got the partition and the swap file now...... but which installation should i choose beginner, knoppix or debian ? and is there anything i should do before i install it in my hdd /

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Originally Posted by empro

ok..... thanks ! i got the partition and the swap file now...... but which installation should i choose beginner, knoppix or debian ? and is there anything i should do before i install it in my hdd /

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I'd choose Debian, every time.

That should be it. Just wait for it to load completely (plug in any scanners beforehand), pop open a terminal and write

sudo knoppix-installer

and it should all be pretty painless. If not, you know where we are! ;-)

thanks for all your help ! i have done the debian installation and everything turned out fine ! :D

Great!