I don't know what I'm doing. (Linux n00b)

[Giant Speck]

Okay... I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop with Microsoft Vista Home Premium installed on it, and I wanted to try Linux for the first time. I downloaded the torrent for Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna Main Edition and I burned the ISO to a CD.

Then I rebooted and booted from the CD.

I have tried the following ways to install it, and nothing works:
- Start Linux Mint
- Start Linux Mint in safe graphics mode
- I tried pressing F6 and entering "noapic," "nolapic," "noacpi," and "acpi=off" (I found that on the Linux Mint wiki. Didn't know what it was or what it was for)

I am extremely new to this and don't know what I am doing [wrong].

Basically, I want it to install, but I don't want to lose the Vista that's already on my computer.
Am I supposed to repartition my hard drive BEFORE I attempt installing Linux Mint, or does it do it itself?
And if I do have to repartition first, how do I do that? (I'm sort of an all-around computer n00b, I guess. )

I appreciate any swift help, as I really want to try Linux.

Thank you,
Jesse

[molom]

Okay... I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop with Microsoft Vista Home Premium installed on it, and I wanted to try Linux for the first time. I downloaded the torrent for Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna Main Edition and I burned the ISO to a CD.

Then I rebooted and booted from the CD.

I have tried the following ways to install it, and nothing works:
- Start Linux Mint
- Start Linux Mint in safe graphics mode
- I tried pressing F6 and entering "noapic," "nolapic," "noacpi," and "acpi=off" (I found that on the Linux Mint wiki. Didn't know what it was or what it was for)

I am extremely new to this and don't know what I am doing [wrong].

Basically, I want it to install, but I don't want to lose the Vista that's already on my computer.
Am I supposed to repartition my hard drive BEFORE I attempt installing Linux Mint, or does it do it itself?
And if I do have to repartition first, how do I do that? (I'm sort of an all-around computer n00b, I guess. )

I appreciate any swift help, as I really want to try Linux.

Thank you,
Jesse

Ok, be careful when you partition becuase you could erase Windows on your laptop. Here are the instructions.
1. Boot from the CD
2. Select 'Start or install'
3. When it has finally booted, on the desktop there is an icon called 'install' select it.
4. Partition with the installer and install (Do not muck the partitioning bit, be sure of what partition you install Mint after partitioning)
5. Then follow the easy instructions.

Thats about it!

Cheers,
molom

[giant-speck]

My only problem with that is that it freezes or doesn't load on the boot screen, and I never make it to where I can start installing.

[MagnusB]

To answer your dual boot questions, you can just use Guided installation, that will keep your Windows installation, and you use a slider to select the % of disk to use.
As for the booting questions, I am not sure. It locks in the splash screen? There is some way to deactivate it, so you get a text only boot mode, then you can see where it looks, but I am afraid I have forgotten how to do this.
Also, on a side note, I also had some troubles installing with Vista installed, removing unicorns solved it though.. Windows generally gives weird errors when combined with linux, I also had troubles booting Win XP install cd with ubuntu installed, and I got the distinct impression that XP runs slower on a dual boot system...