Im using windows XP but want to set up a partition for Linux. Is "partition magic" software the easiest way of doing this? I have a 160G HDD with 1024 RAM. Ill be using primarily Linux but still want to keep windows. Any tips? Is there anything I should watch out for>memory allocation for instance? Thanks in advance meniscus
its pretty much what people use, but there is cheaper alternatives, just use your fav search engine "partitioning software" EDIT: you'll have to install XP first
Don't bother with any partition software. All *nixes come with partitioning built in and are pretty powerful in themselves. SuSE and Mandriva probably have the best tools though.
As Pelvis_3 said, most Linux distributions include a partitioner. If you want to make any changes to your hard drive, you can do it with these. Some Linux partitioners allow you to resize an existing partition (like the one in Ubuntu for example). So if your Windows partition is taking up the whole drive, you can shrink it. You should create 3 partitions for Linux: 2GB (minimum) for the root drive (system files/program files) 1024MB (double your amount of RAM) for your swap space 5GB (minimum) for your home folder (my documents)