[Leaplist] Partitioning Gurus?

["pberry2" at cfl.rr.com]

Chris wrote:
>
> Urrgh - I talked a friend into installing Linux, for which he
> volunteered his new Dell laptop, as long as he could dual-boot.
> So I fired up GPartEd, all ready to slice and dice, and saw this:
>
> /dev/sda1   fat16   47.03 MiB
> /dev/sda2   ntfs    104.99 GiB
> unallocated            7.84 MiB
> /dev/sda3   extended   2.00 GiB
>   /dev/sda5  fat32   2.00 GiB
> /dev/sda4   fat 32   4.74 GiB       
> Apparently, Dell hase all kinds of really wonderful stuff that
> just has to chew up the available partitions. Thank you, Dell.
> I don't know what these are there for - I suspect the fat16
> is for some Dell Diag utility - and one of the fat32s is
> probably for Ghost? - No clue.
>
> Any suggestions that won't kill his existing functionality?
> While I'm in there, I'd like to sneak in a fat32 partition for
> files he'll use in both systems.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
> _____
OK, I read the Dell page on the drive using HPA (Host Protected Area)
here: http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/mediadirect.htm

At the very bottom are FIVE (5) links.  ONE link is about running 
MediaDirect +Windows+Linux:

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread164182.html


Lets thank that kid in Mexico for saving our bacon!

And, I get USED Dells, and do total installs of GNU/Linux on them!  I do 
NOT multi-boot systems as a rule.

Wiping out a windoze drive gives me great satisfaction, because I feel 
like I have vanquished the Evil Empire, fought and conquered the 
multiple convicted Felon pirate Microsoft, and made the world safe for 
democracy!