rocky wrote:
Hey all, I'm going install debian testing on my Dell Inpiron 1300. I'm going to make it a dual boot system. Right now I have Windows XP home edtion loaded on the laptop. And the 60 GB hard driver is not partitioned. Can any of you help me on the following please? 1, How can I free some space for Debian installation? What are the tools I need to use? Do I need to go into DOS consle to achieve this?
The easiest way to repartition your hard drive would be to use the GParted live CD (30MB download) or live USB (available from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/). There is good documentation on the website. I seem to remember reading that it is no longer necessary to defrag WinXP first, but I cannot confirm that. Google can help you here. Alternatively, if you have a Knoppix disc, you may find Parted on there, possibly QtParted. Make sure that you backup first.
You might consider installing a second hard drive for Debian/FreeBSD, in which case you can leave the WinXP partition alone. (Except: allow Grub to overwrite the boot sector on the WinXP drive.)
2, I have broad band internet connection. It is not easy for me to get a full installation CD. Therefore, I decided to use netinstall CD. Butthere's no Netinstall CD for testing package.
There is! http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
The workaround I can think of is using Netinstall for Stable to install the base system and upgrade to Testing ditribution. Is this the right way?
You can do this. Change the repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list from "sarge" or "stable" to "etch". (Do not change to "testing" or you will not end up with Etch when it becomes stable.)
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-- Chris.