<Magnus.Moraberg@gmail.com> wrote
> Hi,
>
> I have XP on my computer. I have burned the installer on a CD -
>
> http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst
>
> My computer has a single 80G hard drive. How much memory at least will
> I need in your opinion for Linux.
>
> How can I install linux without loosing anything currently on my
> computer?

This is a lot easier than some replies seem to suggest. While I don't
disagree that doing lots of study and reading will be helpful, it's not
actually necessary to get Debian up and running on your machine. Try this:

1. Boot from the CD you burned, hit enter at the prompt for a 'normal'
install
2. When it gets to the partition manager stage, choose Manual partitioning
3. Select your Windows partition (it is probably the only one, unless you
have one of those wanky OEM recovery partitions or something).
4. Choose "resize the partition" - it will tell you the minimum size you can
make it - this of course depends on how full it is.
5. Reduce it by at least 10GB (this is plenty for messing around with Linux,
but more doesn't hurt if you can spare it).
6. Create TWO new Logical partitions: a small one (1 or 2GB, ideally 2x the
computer's RAM) and a large one (all the rest of the space)
7. Make sure the small one is set as "use as swap space" and the large one
is set to be mounted as / (the root partition).
8. Exit the partition manager and write the changes
9. Proceed with the rest of the install
10. Reboot into Debian and enjoy.

Good luck,

CC