obviously I am too noob for now and still need help. ok I took a 4gb sd card out of my old phone. I plug n900 into the pc (ubuntu). I see the 4gb partition as /dev/sdc1. I do fdisk /dev/sdc1 and create 3 partitions. 1 (cause jebber says put fat to shut up maemo) is type fat32 type c 100m . 2 is linux type 83 3gb. 3 is type swap apx 1gb.

root@ubnuntu:~# fdisk /dev/sdc1

WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to
sectors (command 'u').

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdc1: 3959 MB, 3959456256 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 120833 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x69737369

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1p1 1 3201 102424 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdc1p2 3202 101506 3145760 83 Linux
/dev/sdc1p3 101507 120833 618464 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Command (m for help):

next (this confuses me) I do a regular fdisk -l and I think I will see all those partitions but I just see the sdc1 listed as such.

Disk /dev/sdc: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 960 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 959 3866656+ b W95 FAT32
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(959, 127, 63) logical=(958, 127, 63)

so at this point, before I get to copying the or untarring the fedora file system....I am confused. shouldn't fdisk -l show me 3 partitions now? one fat one ext3 and one swap?

I have tried to make a file system on /dev/sdc1p2 but it says "device does not exist".