How to reuse partitions for new Knoppix install?

[stevesr0]

I have a rather old laptop that has accepted live CD versions of Knoppix quite nicely. I am interested in installing Knoppix to the HD. It is currently has a partition where Win 98 is installed and other partitions (recognized jointly as a separate hd when I boot using the Live CD) which have an old linux distribution installed. I want to install solely to the partitions that linux is current on and particularly not muck with the MBR or the Win98 partition, until I see that it works ok.

So, my question is - How to I tell the installer to "wipe" the linux install and not touch the win98 partition? I am obviously ignorant about the choice of the available partitioning tools and the sequence (repartition first with tool "X" [or delete those partitions], then use the available HD installer and in there direct it to install in the partitions previously used for linux, or simply start with the installer and use it for the repartitioning as the initial part of the install).

I don't mean to be lazy; if there is a howto that would lead me through this, please just send me there.

Thanks.

Steve

[hal8000]

First of all you need to know what partitions are in use, so Fireup your old linux distro and as root type

df -hT

this will give you partitions used, filesystem and about of free space
Example
root@orac:/home/anc# df -hT
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda17 reiserfs 6.1G 2.8G 3.4G 45% /
/dev/root reiserfs 6.1G 2.8G 3.4G 45% /dev/.static/dev
none tmpfs 506M 0 506M 0% /dev/shm
/dev/hda18 reiserfs 2.1G 357M 1.7G 18% /home
tmpfs tmpfs 506M 0 506M 0% /dev/shm

you can see that my knoppix has a / and /home partition on hda17 and hda18 respectively.

Once you have this basic information when installing knoppix and you come to partitioning, choose manual or expert (cant remember exact option) and then you would dictate the installer to create a new / and new /home over the existing partitions.

You must have done this before to install your old linux system.

[rusty]

I don't mean to be lazy; if there is a howto that would lead me through this, please just send me there.

GIYF (Google Is Your Friend), type : partitioning howto or knoppix partitioning howto in a google bar and you should have more than you need.