Hey guys.
I'm upgrading my HDD to a much larger 500GB one and thought I'd use the opportunity to test out linux. Basically, what I'm planning on doing is having the majority of the HDD dedicated to W7 but a 50GB or so partition for Ubuntu 10.04.
Being a complete newbie, what would be the best way to go about doing this?
Install W7 on the whole hard drive, if you want to you can partition it and whatever but it is much easier to just install it on the whole hard drive. Install Ubuntu. In the installation it will ask you about how you want to go about partitioning. I don't exactly remember what the options are, but I think you have to say manually format partitions or something. Then resize your windows partition and install Ubuntu on the remaining space. The installation is very straight forward and it will tell you everything you need to know. Just read the options and you can easily see what's up.
[editline]10:12PM[/editline]
It will recognize your Windows installation and it will configure GRUB to dual boot automatically. Ubuntu is very user friendly on the installation.
Good luck with Linux, it is a great OS and just takes a bit of poking around to get the hang of it. Don't be afraid to ask questions in the questions thread and Ubuntu has such a large userbase that someone almost always has had your problem and has posted instructions somewhere on how to fix it.
One thing, don't be afraid to check out documentation for other distributions. I'm a Debian user, but I occasionally read documentation for Arch, Gentoo, or Ubuntu-specific issues.
Wubi :v:
I've been thinking of trying out Ubuntu as well since i have a partition about 50GB in size with Windows 7 beta on it. I've only used it a few times, and now it's useless anyway since its time has ran out(i think?).
In fact, i've burnt the Ubuntu CD just a few hours ago and already booted up from it once, and now i'd like to install it. I'm currently using Vista as my primary OS, so i'd like to keep Vista and install Ubuntu on the small partition.
So i can reformat the partition normally during installation? Is it possible to have two partitions with different filesystems on the same harddrive (I'm guessing linux doesn't support NTFS)? What about the bootloader? It won't mess anything up, will it?
Also, i'm going to need some help setting up the internet connection. I'm pretty much a complete noob when it comes to configuring network connections, since Windows usually does everything by itself. :shobon: It would be good if I managed to get it right the first time I boot into Ubuntu, so I can ask further questions from there, without needing to reboot to Windows and then back.
Also how can i import bookmarks and all the other user data from Firefox? I've used MozBackup previously when i had to reformat, but there is no linux version of it.
[QUOTE=pebkac;21185007]I've been thinking of trying out Ubuntu as well since i have a partition about 50GB in size with Windows 7 beta on it. I've only used it a few times, and now it's useless anyway since its time has ran out(i think?).
In fact, i've burnt the Ubuntu CD just a few hours ago and already booted up from it once, and now i'd like to install it. I'm currently using Vista as my primary OS, so i'd like to keep Vista and install Ubuntu on the small partition.
So i can reformat the partition normally during installation? Is it possible to have two partitions with different filesystems on the same harddrive (I'm guessing linux doesn't support NTFS)? What about the bootloader? It won't mess anything up, will it?
Also, i'm going to need some help setting up the internet connection. I'm pretty much a complete noob when it comes to configuring network connections, since Windows usually does everything by itself. :shobon: It would be good if I managed to get it right the first time I boot into Ubuntu, so I can ask further questions from there, without needing to reboot to Windows and then back.
Also how can i import bookmarks and all the other user data from Firefox? I've used MozBackup previously when i had to reformat, but there is no linux version of it.[/QUOTE]
Everything should work fine, Ubuntu will give you a bar representing your HDD.
Ubuntu should connect to the internet exactly like Windows does and as for Firefox bookmarks, I use Xmarks, an addon for firefox itself.
Hope it goes well.
When i booted into Ubuntu off the CD, the internet connection wasn't working, so i guess i'll have to configure it manually? As for the Firefox, i was hoping for something that would backup more than just bookmarks, that MozBackup program also saved all the plugins, saved passwords, cookies, basically everything. It really saved me a lot of trouble when i reformatted my computer.
[QUOTE=pebkac;21185007]I've been thinking of trying out Ubuntu as well since i have a partition about 50GB in size with Windows 7 beta on it. I've only used it a few times, and now it's useless anyway since its time has ran out(i think?).
In fact, i've burnt the Ubuntu CD just a few hours ago and already booted up from it once, and now i'd like to install it. I'm currently using Vista as my primary OS, so i'd like to keep Vista and install Ubuntu on the small partition.
So i can reformat the partition normally during installation? Is it possible to have two partitions with different filesystems on the same harddrive (I'm guessing linux doesn't support NTFS)? What about the bootloader? It won't mess anything up, will it?
Also, i'm going to need some help setting up the internet connection. I'm pretty much a complete noob when it comes to configuring network connections, since Windows usually does everything by itself. :shobon: It would be good if I managed to get it right the first time I boot into Ubuntu, so I can ask further questions from there, without needing to reboot to Windows and then back.
Also how can i import bookmarks and all the other user data from Firefox? I've used MozBackup previously when i had to reformat, but there is no linux version of it.[/QUOTE]
Ubuntu does all the network configuration itself. It is really userfriendly. You should have no issue there. Also, you can have two different filesystems. Linux will recognize NTFS systems. That is really useful if you fuck something up in Windows and can't boot into it to fix it. You can mount the partition in Linux. Have fun with it. If you are like me and hate GNOME then use Openbox once you figure out how to do that. I would reccomend it.
Could i copy the folder from appdata/roaming/mozilla folder on the windows partition? It seems that the user data is in there. Where do i have to put that folder when i move it to the linux partition?
[QUOTE=pebkac;21186721]When i booted into Ubuntu off the CD, the internet connection wasn't working, so i guess i'll have to configure it manually? As for the Firefox, i was hoping for something that would backup more than just bookmarks, that MozBackup program also saved all the plugins, saved passwords, cookies, basically everything. It really saved me a lot of trouble when i reformatted my computer.[/QUOTE]
It saves passwords too. Not cookies though
So now i deleted the windows 7 partition, created a 4GB swap partition + the rest of the space to an ext4 partition, on which i installed Ubuntu. Now i don't know much about filesystems, so i just left it at default ext4. Is that ok?
The internet connection still doesn't work. Do i need to install some drivers or something?
Now i also have to go through two bootloaders to get to my Vista install, how do i remove the Windows 7 entry (i deleted the OS but it's still in the bootloader)and make it skip the second bootloader?
Head over to /boot/grub and find menu.lst. In it you will find the entries for the menu. Find the block that is titled Windows 7. Delete that block. You may have Grub2, which means the menu settings will be in grub.cfg or something like that. Which bootloaders do you have? Usually Grub will splice two grub boots together into one. I am just going to assume one is grub. In the grub settings add in [code] (2) Windows Vista
title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,0) - CHANGE THIS TO WHATEVER PARTITION IT IS ON. It will be (0,*whatever partition windows is one - 1*)
makeactive
chainloader +1[/code]
For example, if you installed Windows on sda1, or the first partition, then you would set it to (0,0) like it already is.
Make sure Grub has the settings to boot into Ubuntu as well, then delete the other bootloader. Post the settings file you have if you have any issues.
[editline]03:12PM[/editline]
For the internet, do you use a wired connection, or do you use a wireless NIC? Ubuntu (really any linux distro I have come across) will be able to connect through almost any wired connection. To get the appropriate drivers for a wireless card, connect directly tot he internet with a cable and Google "Getting *wireless card device number* to work in Ubuntu Linux". Most of the time someone has posted something about how to make it work.
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