Hi ,I want to "really" learn linux so I decided to go for gentoo .not ubuntu . So plz go easy with me :P
I used unetbootin In windows 7 to make a 4 GB live USB with gentoo minimal .
So I have a 120 GB disk 0 :
c:30 gb
d: 20gb
e:20 gb
f:20gb
h:25gb ...this is where i want to install gentoo and i found out using fdisk that this is sda6 .

I logged in and created partitioins as given i handbook all right and i got three sub-partitions:

/dev/sda6p1..boot
/dev/sda6p2 ...swap
/dev/sda6p3...root

and when as pr the book i went to create filesystem so i type "
#mke2fs /dev/sda6p1
mke2fs 1.41.9 [august 09] --no such file or directory

but! when i do :

#fdisk /dev/sda6

command : p
I get a partition table showing me the three partitioins so what`s wrong ??? I re-read the handbook yet I don`t get it .

Plz help guys

I went with gentoo shortly after it's release in '02...you will learn alot.

Basically, you can only have 4 primary partitions on a hard drive. So to get around this, you can use LVM. Select sda6 in cfdisk, and change it's ID to linux LVM. Then (if I remember right) cfdisk will show "empty" after sda6 when you list the partitions. Now create logical partitions to suit your needs. NOTE: your /boot MUST be on a primary partition or it will not work.

You can't subdivide a logical partition like that. fdisk works on devices, not partitions - hence "fdisk /dev/sda6" is non-sensical as fdisk is now trying to treat /dev/sda6 as a disk device.

Use "fdisk /dev/sda" and delete partition 6 - then proceed as per the handbook, but create partitions 6,7 and 8 instead of 1,2 and 3 the handbook uses as examples. Use your numbers everywhere sda1, sda2 and sda3 are referenced.
/boot does not need to be a primary partition - the above will work fine.