[YLUG] Installing Linux

[Charles Forsyth]

>with XP) onto my laptop. My main concern is losing all of my 
>applications installed onto my HD (which is currently already 
>partitioned), since i imagine i will need to repartition and possibly 
>format some, if not all, of the HD. I do however have an External HD i 
>can send files to should i need to.

i've not had any trouble so far with just booting the Ubuntu installation
DVD and letting it shove Windows into a smaller space.  the Windows file system
needs to have a suitable amount of free space.  i think you
need to read the prompts quite carefully.  i'd also do a backup if i were you,
just in case.  (i never do, as it happens, but that's because i am in fact me,
not you, and rarely have anything all that valuable on the Windows partition.)