I think i want to try linux out

  • Thread starter Thread starter Quadruple Bypass
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Linux
AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around setting up a dual-boot system with Windows XP Media Center Edition and a Linux distribution, primarily focusing on video editing and software compatibility. Ubuntu is frequently recommended for beginners due to its user-friendly interface and extensive community support. Users express confidence in running MATLAB on Linux, while SolidWorks may require Wine for compatibility. Networking between Linux and Windows XP for file sharing is feasible, with Samba being a common solution. Concerns about the stability of NTFS drivers in Linux lead to suggestions for using FAT32 for shared partitions. The installation process is simplified by using tools like GParted for partition management during the Ubuntu setup. Users also discuss the ease of upgrading Ubuntu versions without data loss and the advantages of using package managers like APT for software installation. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the practicality of dual-booting and the benefits of exploring Linux as an alternative operating system.
Quadruple Bypass
Messages
120
Reaction score
0
So after punching my computer and sending it to the repair place, i figure they will have to reformat it. I am thinking about doing a double OS (forgot what the term is) with Win XP Media Center edition and some distro of linux. i have a couple of questions though.

1. Which linux should i use? I am going to be doing a lot of video editing and using progs llike MATLAB and solidworks. i assume those 2 progs won't work on it. anyways, I am new to linux.

2. can i somehow network the linux computer to my other windows xp PC's so i can share files?
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
Quadruple Bypass said:
double OS (forgot what the term is)

Dual boot.
 
Quadruple Bypass said:
1. Which linux should i use? I am going to be doing a lot of video editing and using progs llike MATLAB and solidworks. i assume those 2 progs won't work on it. anyways, I am new to linux.

Ubuntu was what was recommended to me first, and that's what I've been using for nearly a year. Doesn't give me problem...of course, my computer's hardware is neither new nor very old (okay, there might be a few tech-junkies out there who may not agree with that. :-p), so everything seems to go smoothly, except for a few problems with display every now and then. (I'm sure it's the 6yo graphics card.)

Of course which distro (short for '(Linux) distribution') you should use depends on what you want to use it for. According to the http://www.mathworks.com/products/availability/Linux_x86.html , the program should work in the Linux environment. This is a pretty useful site for you to look through the list of various distros available.Ubuntu (and a few other distros) provides what is known as a LiveCD. You can actually preview what you'll be installing. Download and burn the .iso file onto a CD or DVD, and restart the comp and boot from the CD/DVD, and you'll have a working desktop, but nothing would have been installed in your computer. If you like, you can proceed to install the whole thing later.

Also you should take some care while trying to dual boot (install two different OS's) in the computer. http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/

Once you have a linux desktop running, you can download the guides to learn the basics of Linux and shell scriptshere.
2. can i somehow network the linux computer to my other windows xp PC's so i can share files?

I'm not sure but, I think you should be able to do that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
thanks for the replies. well i have used knoppix live cd before, and about 4 years ago i installed red hat and windows 2000 on one computer. despite all that, i have used linux in total for about 5 hrs lol its a relief to see that MATLAB works though

ill check out Ubuntu once i get my comp back and see what its about :)
 
Yeah, Matlab works in pretty much whatever linux distro better than in win (imho of course :-p ) . The live cds/dvds are a good idea to start and ubuntu spreading as it is getting 'support' and finding answers is relatively easy. I think it's probably easiest to build a dual-boot system by first installing XP and leaving a free partition for installing linux, the after have gotten XP in there installing linux and a linux distro like ubuntu will take care of installing the boot loader after which the dual-boot system is complete (doing it this way around is I think the easiest way around)(a number of guides exist online how to do this, actually many are mentioned in various posts around Pf).

Linux has a working ntfs-3g driver which enables you to mount ntfs partitions which is the typical filesystem of win boxes. With full read & write abilities. Of course you can set up a samba server pretty easily on some computer which creates a network share you can access from both win & linux which makes living with both OSs really easy.

Once you get going with linux and play around for a while a neat way of getting really multiple OSs (if feel like it) is to get acquainted with virtualization, can install multiple OSs on top of one OS (for example)(I for one have my old win2003 server "running virtual" within my RH EL, but I don't have the system anymore on a separate disk/partition other than as a big image file of it. +A number of linux variants for testing platforms etc.).
 
Quadruple Bypass said:
1. Which linux should i use? I am going to be doing a lot of video editing and using progs llike MATLAB and solidworks. i assume those 2 progs won't work on it. anyways, I am new to linux.

2. can i somehow network the linux computer to my other windows xp PC's so i can share files?

1. I haven't had any problems with the linux version of Matlab. Solidworks works by installing the windows version using an API called wine and running it using the same API.

I've always been a fan of slackware and rpm based distors. So I would recommend that you try the very lite Zenwalk (slackware based).

2. It is fairly easy to share files between a networked linux and windows machines:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=1376084&postcount=6
The above is the command line version. If you don't like it, use a GUI frontend like fusesmbtool.
It would be good if you have a separate fat32 partition to share files between your networked linux and windows box. Dont trust the linux ntfs driver!

Oh, if you're doing a dual boot. Install your windows OS first. It just makes things simpiler.
 
Last edited:
lol that was when i had to recover my data this summer! thanks
 
Here is another question. say i use one of those distros you guys suggested, what happens when they come out with a new version? will i have to reformat again to use it, or would it just update without loss of data?
 
Quadruple Bypass said:
Here is another question. say i use one of those distros you guys suggested, what happens when they come out with a new version? will i have to reformat again to use it, or would it just update without loss of data?

With Ubuntu, you either do an upgrade via the internet, or download the new version's ALTERNATE CD(basically it's a non-GUI install CD, which does a few other things, as well.) Insert the CD while you're still working in Ubuntu, and assuming that you have installed all the updates, you can start the upgrade process immediately. It took me just under a couple of hours for the whole thing to get over and restart the system. (Feisty->Gutsy)

Also, they have LTS version (Long Term Support), which is supported for a longer period than other versions. This is for those who don't require bleeding-edge apps.
 
Last edited:
  • #10
ranger said:
1. I haven't had any problems with the linux version of Matlab. Solidworks works by installing the windows version using an API called wine and running it using the same API.

I've always been a fan of slackware and rpm based distors. So I would recommend that you try the very lite Zenwalk (slackware based).

2. It is fairly easy to share files between a networked linux and windows machines:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=1376084&postcount=6
The above is the command line version. If you don't like it, use a GUI frontend like fusesmbtool.
It would be good if you have a separate fat32 partition to share files between your networked linux and windows box. Dont trust the linux ntfs driver!

Oh, if you're doing a dual boot. Install your windows OS first. It just makes things simpiler.

Solidworks working under wine? Haven't tried since was sure it wouldn't, but will try now (using native pro/e usually). What you've got against the ntfs driver? I've thought the latest versions are 'pretty solid' and are included e.g. in ubuntu distros (not quite sure if already in latest or next upcoming ones).
 
  • #11
ntfs-3g is included in Gutsy (current version).
 
  • #13
PerennialII said:
Solidworks working under wine? Haven't tried since was sure it wouldn't, but will try now (using native pro/e usually). What you've got against the ntfs driver? I've thought the latest versions are 'pretty solid' and are included e.g. in ubuntu distros (not quite sure if already in latest or next upcoming ones).

I only made a quick glance at the wine apps database. Looks like there's varied levels of success depending on which version you're using. I myself have never tried it.
http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iAppId=318

I would only use the ntfs driver to read from ntfs partitions, not write to them. If you look http://www.ntfs-3g.org/quality.html , you'll see claims and testimonials praising the stability of the current stable release.
If you look at the ntfs-3g forums, you'll see the problems that people are having. For now I'll keep all data to be shared on a fat32 partition/drive. I cannot run the risk of my data being accidentally overwritten; not written at all; or having the ntfs filesystem not recognized by windows.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #14
yep, Ubuntu is my favorite distribution..

the most distinguishing feature among distributions is the package handling mechanism:

*the Debian based distributions (Ubuntu is one of them) use .deb packages, and apt-get - i find it very easy to install and manage my installed programs with apt-get (or synaptic - the GUI frontend of apt-get).
*the redhat based distributions use RPM packages, there are several tools for RPM packages - yum, Yast, urpmi, smart and now apt-get can handle them too... i don't know how using this packaging system is right now, but two years ago when i used it with SUSE it was quite annoying... i had to look across the net to find the right version of everything so that my new program would install...
*the slackware based distributions don't have a package manager - they just decompress a tar.gz file which contain the source, and type ./configure, make and make install to install their packages - it takes some time to compile these packages and it fails more then never.
*the Gentoo based distributions use emerge, it also compiles the packages, but it's more sophisticated then slackware.

these are the major package handling mechanisms in linux distributions as far as i know.

it's nice to try many distribution and compare them to each other - if you have the time...
I recommend Ubuntu, but have a look here and see their recommendation.



as for MATLAB - i use ipython with scipy and pylab - you should check it out... it covers all my MATLAB needs.
 
  • #15
fargoth said:
*the slackware based distributions don't have a package manager - they just decompress a tar.gz file which contain the source, and type ./configure, make and make install to install their packages - it takes some time to compile these packages and it fails more then never.

This is incorrect. Well at least the way the comment was phrased. There is a package management system. Slackware and slackware derived systems use the native .tgz file (slackware package). You can install, upgrade, remove, etc such files like you would on a rpm or dep distro. using tools such as installpkg, removepkg, etc (lookup pkgtools). There is also something similar to apt-get, yum, and the like. Its called netpkg. I believe that slapt-get is also similar. Its not always ./configure, make, make install :wink:
 
Last edited:
  • #16
ranger said:
This is incorrect. Well at least the way the comment was phrased. There is a package management system. Slackware and slackware derived systems use the native .tgz file (slackware package). You can install, upgrade, remove, etc such files like you would on a rpm or dep distro. using tools such as installpkg, removepkg, etc (lookup pkgtools). There is also something similar to apt-get, yum, and the like. Its called netpkg. I believe that slapt-get is also similar. Its not always ./configure, make, make install :wink:

i stand corrected.
do these pkgtools solve dependencies?
 
  • #17
fargoth said:
i stand corrected.
do these pkgtools solve dependencies?

Well if I were to install a slackware package using installpkg, it would not do any dependency checking. You are left to resolve deps on your own. This is because these packages where not designed to be dependency aware. However, if I were to use a networked based tool such as netpkg to install a slack package, it would do dependency checking and fetch those deps if needed.
 
  • #18
fargoth said:
I recommend Ubuntu, but have a look here and see their recommendation.

hmm the ones that came up for me were kubuntu, mandriva, ubuntu, opensuse. I am not going to lie, you guys have me sold on unbuntu for right now. i can't wait til i get my computer (i hope they reformatted it so i don't have to worry about trying to save some old files lol) and get to try it out :)

now only question for myself is how should i split the HD :p
 
  • #19
I doubt you'd want to use the command line (fdisk or cfdisk). You can use tools such as partition magic. But I've heard that people hold gparted in high regards. You can google for a suitable tutorial on using this tool. I believe that ubuntu uses gparted so maybe you can make your life miserable by partitioning from the ubuntu liveCD.
 
  • #20
oops, i meant, the ratio, should it be 50/50? that sounds good right now.
 
  • #21
...I'd endorse & suggest using gparted, don't know of a better tool for doing what you're after (and have understood works well + never had an issue with it). For multiboot getting a large enough drive solves many potential issues in the long run, although for linux adding new drives via lvm when run out of space makes life easy.

ranger said:
I only made a quick glance at the wine apps database. Looks like there's varied levels of success depending on which version you're using. I myself have never tried it.
http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iAppId=318

I would only use the ntfs driver to read from ntfs partitions, not write to them. If you look http://www.ntfs-3g.org/quality.html , you'll see claims and testimonials praising the stability of the current stable release.
If you look at the ntfs-3g forums, you'll see the problems that people are having. For now I'll keep all data to be shared on a fat32 partition/drive. I cannot run the risk of my data being accidentally overwritten; not written at all; or having the ntfs filesystem not recognized by windows.

Got to test the solidworks install if could get it going even that well, one of the 'few' annoying apps without a native.

Yeah, don't know if the ntfs-3g issues are "normal" (issues are always there) or whether should be "worried" about it. Sure since it's filesystem related caution is probably a good idea. Personally have 2 drives attached to a linux box with it which haven't caused issues during the year they've been co-used (for example Server2003 root drive). Although primarily sharing data between linux and virtual-XPs via samba nowadays.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #22
I also recommend that you burn a copy of the SystemRescueCD. (Just to be on the safer side ;)...but it might help you rescue Windows later.)
 
Last edited:
  • #23
if you're going to use Ubuntu, there's no need to partition the hard disk before you start the installation process.
Ubuntu makes it very easy to partition the drive - and even more so if you just want to resize the current windows partition and create a partition for Ubuntu (it's just a matter of moving the slide to the wanted ratio and clicking next...)

and DON'T use partition magic...

to advise you about the size for each OS i'll have to know the size of your HD.
but if you have more then 100GB I'd recommend using 30GB for Ubuntu, 30GB for Windows (but you probably know better then me how much space your programs take), and make the rest a neutral drive (I'd use NTFS for it, because i never had trouble with ntfs-3g, and i got all my data backed-up anyway, but you could use FAT32 if you're paranoid and want to defrag it once a month...)

install all the programs to the OS specific partitions, and store all the data in the neutral partition.
 
  • #24
neutrino said:
I also recommend that you burn a copy of the SystemRescueCD. (Just to be on the safer side ;)...but it might help you rescue Windows later.)

I can't see why he'd need to use this CD...
Ubuntu is already a live-CD and can be used to fix the system... and if it was just the Main Boot Record that got broken (which is the most common problem with a dual boot) - he just has to insert his windows CD, get into the recovery console, and type fixmbr or fixboot...

anyway, I installed Ubuntu many times in the last two years (on many different computers, there was only one computer which i had to re-install - just to upgrade from 5.04 to 6.06) - and it never gave me any trouble.
 
  • #25
Well, I'm not saying Linux will break his machine. It's always good to have something like this ready. I have this burnt because I only download the alternate install CD, and I'd prefer some graphical interface to "rescue" my computer, if the need arises.
 
  • #26
Don't rescuecd and knoppix for example exceed a typical live-cd/dvd in tools available for various typical system rescue related tasks (for example in a multiboot environment where need to work on a particular os / filesystem)? That's my take at least -- and I never leave home without having knoppix dvd with me :biggrin: .
 
  • #27
I'll second* the rescue disk. I used a different one, but they're helpful. I also highly recommend that he image his windows partition if he's not done so already.

*edit: make that third.
 
Last edited:
  • #28
PerennialII said:
Don't rescuecd and knoppix for example exceed a typical live-cd/dvd in tools available for various typical system rescue related tasks (for example in a multiboot environment where need to work on a particular os / filesystem)? That's my take at least -- and I never leave home without having knoppix dvd with me :biggrin: .


Knoppix has gotten that big that it needs a dvd? You're screwed if you need to rescue a comp without a dvd drive :)
 
  • #29
hmmm... Ubuntu live-cd can read/write every filesystem he could be using - so he can backup / fix everything if the partitions are ok (and even send it to other computers in a network or upload his files to website)... and if the partitions get screwed he can use parted or fdisk.

what else do you need a rescue disk for? assuming it's not a hardware failure you want to diagnose.
 
  • #30
ranger said:
Knoppix has gotten that big that it needs a dvd? You're screwed if you need to rescue a comp without a dvd drive :)
Arguably, computers without dvd drives don't deserve rescuing. :p
 
  • #31
fargoth said:
hmmm... Ubuntu live-cd can read/write every filesystem he could be using - so he can backup / fix everything if the partitions are ok (and even send it to other computers in a network or upload his files to website)... and if the partitions get screwed he can use parted or fdisk.

what else do you need a rescue disk for? assuming it's not a hardware failure you want to diagnose.

yeah, would think live cds do a good job in most cases, but when a system 'really' crashes the tools contained in "rescue disks" can be invaluable when the "panic hits".

Thrice said:
Arguably, computers without dvd drives don't deserve rescuing. :p

:smile: Knoppix still has the cd version sure, but the dvd has so many goodies :-p .
 
  • #32
well good and bad news, they will be replacing my computer. now more than likely, it will be coming with windows vista :(
 
  • #33
I don't see how another gift OS (be it as bad as vista) is bad news... you can easily remove it and install whatever you like.

unless you pay for it.. in which case they can't make you do it (can they?).
 
  • #34
fargoth said:
I don't see how another gift OS (be it as bad as vista) is bad news... you can easily remove it and install whatever you like.

unless you pay for it.. in which case they can't make you do it (can they?).

no I am just worried that ill get hooked on vista and won't give linux a shot.
 
  • #35
Quadruple Bypass said:
no I am just worried that ill get hooked on vista and won't give linux a shot.

I don't think trying linux out should be a move motivated -only- from the fact that you don't like your MS OS.
even when it was not good enough to be a replacement for the desktop user, I enjoyed trying different distributions out just to learn new things, and see the advancement over time... (i also tried BeOS when it was still alive, and the variants of BSD, and tried every user interface i heard about...)

with that said, apart from it's nice interface, vista has some very annoying behavior... I'll give you one example (the one that eventually got my friend to install XP over vista) we tried to watch a movie on a pc with vista - and it lagged - this computer had a E6700 processor, 4 GB of ram and geforce 8800 gts 320mb... true, it was also sharing files via bittorrent, but i can do both things on my p4 1.5ghz with 512 ram and have no lags at all with whatever operating system - apart from vista...
and there are these posts around news sites (not just reader's comments, actual news items) which report vista locks itself because it thinks your vista is not genuine when you replace a video card... just google it up, vista has lots of bad press around it.

oh, and i find maintaining Ubuntu is much easier for me.. i don't have to deal with spyware (and most "freeware" for windows contain unpleasant surprises) , and installation of applications and libraries is much easier... as a developer on windows, i find myself compiling many libraries on my own (with many different mechanisms) - it's even worse then it used to be for linux before i got to know apt...
 
Last edited:
  • #36
fargoth said:
I don't think trying linux out should be a move motivated -only- from the fact that you don't like your MS OS.

with that said, apart from it's nice interface, vista has some very annoying behavior

Obviously he hasn't seen Compiz-Fusion yet. :wink: (Frankly, I haven't had the opportunity to try it out, either, because my computer has such crappy hardware. ) Quadruple, if it's just the looks and visual gimmicks that you think might steer you towards Vista, Ubuntu can be made to look like almost any OS's interface you want. As I mentioned in another post, 'Mac'ish and 'Vista'ish looks are very popular. And here's Compiz in action.


oh, and i find maintaining Ubuntu is much easier for me.. i don't have to deal with spyware (and most "freeware" for windows contain unpleasant surprises) , and installation of applications and libraries is much easier... as a developer on windows, i find myself compiling many libraries on my own (with many different mechanisms) - it's even worse then it used to be for linux before i got to know apt...
I love apt-getting stuff! :!)
 
  • #37
:D haha. yea after reading some of the problems for vista, ill still do it. i hope vista isn't like windows ME all over again (LOL). I am going to install ubuntu so my next question is how do i shorten the amount of default time on the OS choosing screen and the default OS? i remember doing it 5 yrs ago, but i don't remember how.
 
Last edited:
  • #38
you just edit /boot/grub/menu.lst
you can only save it as a super user (root privileges), and Ubuntu is one of the few distributions which don't have a root account by default (for security reasons).
so, you just type:
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

comments are marked with # (so the lines beginning with # do nothing but document)
the first two uncommented entries are:
default and timeout - i think you'll know what to do with them =P

by the way, compiz works great on my 6 years old computer, it's even more responsive then metacity. (which is gnome's default window manager - you use it if you choose not to use compiz in Ubuntu)
in fact, the only window manager that felt "lighter" to me was e17 - and it lacks the functionality of gnome, and the beauty of compiz (though it's pretty nice looking too...)

I've also heard about laptop such as ibm T30 that manage to run Ubuntu with compiz (although the one who said it also said it started working very slow for him after upgrading to 7.10... but i guess you can fix it)

the spec for T30 is:
1.8-GHz/1.2-GHz Pentium 4-M, 256MB of DDR266 SDRAM, and ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 AGP with 16MB of DDR SDRAM.
 
Last edited:
  • #39
Quadruple, if you are new to Ubuntu, you should have this site bookmarked - VERY useful.

fargoth said:
by the way, compiz works great on my 6 years old computer, it's even more responsive then metacity. (which is gnome's default window manager - you use it if you choose not to use compiz in Ubuntu)
in fact, the only window manager that felt "lighter" to me was e17 - and it lacks the functionality of gnome, and the beauty of compiz (though it's pretty nice looking too...)

I've also heard about laptop such as ibm T30 that manage to run Ubuntu with compiz (although the one who said it also said it started working very slow for him after upgrading to 7.10... but i guess you can fix it)

the spec for T30 is:
1.8-GHz/1.2-GHz Pentium 4-M, 256MB of DDR266 SDRAM, and ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 AGP with 16MB of DDR SDRAM.

I have an S3 ProSavage DDR - even Ubuntu knows that it's not worth the trouble messing around with Compiz. I tried enabling Desktop Effects in Feisty, but it was no good.
 
  • #40
oh, and after getting used to running linux as a simple user, I recommend you start learning to do the real magic.
what really makes linux so powerful is shell scripting (though many people prefer python nowadays for it's prettier syntax and the power a full blown programming language offers).

i'll just give you an example of what you can do with it:
(this shell script is a gnome specific script, just to impress you with some GUI =P)

http://g-scripts.sourceforge.net/nautilus-scripts/Multimedia/Video/video-convert

just follow the instructions at the beginning of the script.
copy and paste it into a file at /home/YourUserName/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts
to make it executable you need to type chmod +x ScripName
or right click it, choose properties and under permissions check the allow execute as a program...

if you want to learn bash scripting, you can look here:
http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/
 
Last edited:
  • #41
neutrino said:
I have an S3 ProSavage DDR - even Ubuntu knows that it's not worth the trouble messing around with Compiz. I tried enabling Desktop Effects in Feisty, but it was no good.
I can't imagine doing without beryl anymore. Try sabayon on it see if the livecd works.
 
  • #42
hey guys, me again. ubuntu website asks:

What type of computer do you have?
-Standard personal computer (x86 architecture, PentiumTM, CeleronTM, AthlonTM, SempronTM)
-64bit AMD and Intel computers

if i get a Satellite A135-S4499 laptop with a core 2 duo processor, which version do i get? i would assume 64, but i don't want my computer to explode or something so i ask you guys lol :)

im also going with 7.10 instead of 6.06, would anyone advise against this?
 
Last edited:
  • #43
go with 7.10, and if you got less then 4GB of RAM there's no real advantage as far as i know for using 64bit... and the disadvantage would be no adobe flash (only the free ones got versions for 64bit, and they aren't that great yet...), and your programs will take more memory...

you can use both 32, and 64bit... but 32bit has more software precompiled (and sometimes that's the only software there is, when it comes to commercial software).
 
Last edited:
  • #44
In daily use the difference probably isn't that pronounced and a 32 bit system can probably be a bit easier to handle. In math intensive benchmarks, if you'd be doing something like "high-performance computing" or overall something which really makes your system work, 64 bit systems excel and would definitely recommend a 64 bit install (if you've something running in 'native' 64 bit). Running 32 bit appls on a 64 bit OS as far as know doesn't lead to performance decrease should be worried about. 64 bit ones have some extra issues occasionally, but it seems like so do 32 ones :-p (been running 64 bit systems as long as they've been on the market and personally don't think there really are any more "issues" than in 32 bit systems). For example the firefox problems are resolved running the 32 bit one in a 64 bit OS, with the flash and all works without missing a beat.
 
  • #45
Hey guys, i just got my replacement computer today, and i got screwed over by toshiba. they didnt send the recovery cd with the computer and when i called them they said i can buy it from them for 40 bucks (no thanks a-holes). can i still install ubuntu without losing vista?

edit: i meant because of the partitions
 
Last edited:
  • #46
With 99.99% prob yes (which means barring any unforeseen unusual unexpected glitch ) ... typically it's quite a bit easier to 1st install win and then linux, linux can handle setting up the bootloader for multiboot without any "issues" unlike win. Before you can do the install need 'just' to get your partitions in order (or if your ubuntu install media has the tools for it, like "gparted" so that you can repartition if need to during the install process without cleaning the system). So is the whole drive in one piece + if some of you ubuntu guys could say a word whether the install media for ubuntu has the partition tools included [RH rules! :-p]?
 
  • #47
well i did it. ubuntu is installed and running. i had some sound problems (a135 toshiba satellite) but i quickly went to google and found a lot of people had the same problem. took me a while, but i fixed it :) i am loving it so far.
 
  • #48
...way to go! After a while you'll notice (:-p ) a growing urge to re-format your windows partition and add the space to your linux install (which you can do seamlessly in linux without new weird drive letters of course), perhaps having a virtual machine of a windows install somewhere for those weak moments when may need the thing for some "trivial" task.
 
  • #49
Congrats!
 
  • #50
Hi,

I'm also trying to start using linux, but I wan't to know if I could install linux in an external hard drive.

I want to have windows on the internal harddrive and the linux in the external hard drive and when ever I want to use linux connect the external hd and use it.

My other question is, can I make two partitions on the external hd, one for Win files not related to any OS and the other for linux OS?


Thanks
-Link
 
Back
Top